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Posted by
Mike Fardon 
Over the past decade I have been closely involved with the evolution of lecture capture in Australia. For those of you unfamiliar with the region, lecture capture is at a relatively mature level of deployment in Australia with over half of universities capturing hundreds of lectures per week across most of their common lecture theatres. In addition the same capture technology is often being utilized for a diverse range of alternative use cases such as special events, training, moot courts, medical procedures, and various student assignments.
In 2008, four Australian institutions completed a two-year study, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, that investigated the impact of web-based lecture technologies - in particular, how these tools can "be used to best effect to support learning and teaching". The results of this research continued to support the claims of previous research, including that from UWA, that the overwhelming perception from students is that this adds value to their learning experience, particularly in terms of the provision of flexibility for accessing learning material. The feedback from teaching staff was mixed, some having concerns regarding an evolution of the meaning of "attendance", with others questioning the impact on their teaching. The majority of teaching staff acknowledged the benefits for students. This was a strong study that continued to extend the foundation of lecture capture literature. The final report can be found here: http://www.cpd.mq.ed...rch/report.html (visited on 14 Sept, 2009).
There are two questions that were highlighted that seem to require particular attention from my perspective.
The first is a big one. What is the role of lectures within a technology rich environment? Tony Bates continues to "question the assumption of giving traditional lectures" given the opportunities afforded by the technologies that have emerged in the past few decades (ref: http://www.tonybates...apture-systems/, visited on 14 Sept, 2009). A similar question was posed by Rob Phillips in the article "Challenging The Primacy Of Lectures: The Dissonance Between Theory and Practice In University Teaching" (Ref: http://ro.uow.edu.au...lp/vol2/iss1/2/, visited on 14 Sept 2009). The significance of this in terms of course design, assessment practice and administration is challenging to contemplate.
The second question is: how do students use captured lectures and how do they contribute to their learning? What is require is far more than students reporting on their perception of benefits or high level usage statistics. One can argue that a more detailed understanding of the specific learning approaches, strategies and processes adopted by students, and then the relationship between these and course structure and assessment, will provide far greater insights into the role of lectures.
In 2008, four Australian institutions completed a two-year study, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, that investigated the impact of web-based lecture technologies - in particular, how these tools can "be used to best effect to support learning and teaching". The results of this research continued to support the claims of previous research, including that from UWA, that the overwhelming perception from students is that this adds value to their learning experience, particularly in terms of the provision of flexibility for accessing learning material. The feedback from teaching staff was mixed, some having concerns regarding an evolution of the meaning of "attendance", with others questioning the impact on their teaching. The majority of teaching staff acknowledged the benefits for students. This was a strong study that continued to extend the foundation of lecture capture literature. The final report can be found here: http://www.cpd.mq.ed...rch/report.html (visited on 14 Sept, 2009).
There are two questions that were highlighted that seem to require particular attention from my perspective.
The first is a big one. What is the role of lectures within a technology rich environment? Tony Bates continues to "question the assumption of giving traditional lectures" given the opportunities afforded by the technologies that have emerged in the past few decades (ref: http://www.tonybates...apture-systems/, visited on 14 Sept, 2009). A similar question was posed by Rob Phillips in the article "Challenging The Primacy Of Lectures: The Dissonance Between Theory and Practice In University Teaching" (Ref: http://ro.uow.edu.au...lp/vol2/iss1/2/, visited on 14 Sept 2009). The significance of this in terms of course design, assessment practice and administration is challenging to contemplate.
The second question is: how do students use captured lectures and how do they contribute to their learning? What is require is far more than students reporting on their perception of benefits or high level usage statistics. One can argue that a more detailed understanding of the specific learning approaches, strategies and processes adopted by students, and then the relationship between these and course structure and assessment, will provide far greater insights into the role of lectures.
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