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Cambridge (try to) stop recorded lectures

64 replies

Fathercrossmas · 04/01/2023 15:22

I have to admire their stance here. While I think that recorded lectures should be available for those who might struggle attending or need them to support inclusive learning profiles, I do think for the majority they lose out in the long term. Binge watching lectures a week before an exam is no way to engage with a subject.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/03/cambridge-scholars-face-student-backlash-scrapping-recorded/

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Hadalifeonce · 06/01/2023 18:08

DD dislikes recorded lectures, she would rather be able to ask questions and seek clarification if necessary. Plus, it means she has to leave her tiny little room.

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onyttig · 06/01/2023 17:25

Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 16:56

Have you ever tried listening/watching back the recorded lectures? The sound quality is generally really poor

A radio lapel microphone works quite well to ensure all that is recorded is your voice. The only downside is that question and answer sessions can be a bit one sided. Adding them to the FAQs in the online course material is one way around it, although a bit of a faff.

You have to be very careful what you say while the mike is turned on. I was once using a very heavy item as a prop and dropped it on my fingers. I had to edit the recording.

You can repeat what students say back, as long as that’s practicable.

Works best if they’re asking the questions, or with short responses to your questions.

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Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 16:58

When they were only online some of them were three hours long.

We were instructed to break them down into 15-20 minute videos. There were more of them, obviously.

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Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 16:56

Have you ever tried listening/watching back the recorded lectures? The sound quality is generally really poor

A radio lapel microphone works quite well to ensure all that is recorded is your voice. The only downside is that question and answer sessions can be a bit one sided. Adding them to the FAQs in the online course material is one way around it, although a bit of a faff.

You have to be very careful what you say while the mike is turned on. I was once using a very heavy item as a prop and dropped it on my fingers. I had to edit the recording.

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RampantIvy · 06/01/2023 16:29

DD says that during lockdown when all lectures were recorded the lectures were much longer. In a lecture theatre they were 50 minutes long. When they were only online some of them were three hours long.

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Wallywobbles · 06/01/2023 16:26

damekindness · 04/01/2023 20:58

Have you ever tried listening/watching back the recorded lectures? The sound quality is generally really poor because we're shoehorned into unsuitable and overcrowded rooms with limited audio/tech aids and the in person students are not exactly spellbound into silence. It's a bit like trying to hear someone teach on platform 3 in Euston. If students are relying on that in place of attendance I fear for their assessment performance!

So true.

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dreamingbohemian · 06/01/2023 16:14

Ideally I'd like lectures recorded but not shared with students automatically. Students could access them in term if they have a fair reason for it (disability, illness) -- e.g., if one of my students tells me they can't come to class because they have covid, I could give them access to the recording so they don't feel they have to come in. Then perhaps share all the recordings once term is over.

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RampantIvy · 06/01/2023 16:07

In my experience, the higher achieving students prefer to do both. Not having to worry about taking notes during the lecture means that they can concentrate fully on what is being said/shown.

DD said that watching a lecture live in a lecture theatre then going over it again online really helped consolidate the topic. She was working at a first all the way through university and achieved a good first class degree. I would have thought this a good way to work regardless of which university the student is at.

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ErrolTheDragon · 06/01/2023 15:53

Fathercrossmas · 06/01/2023 14:46

9am is convenient and expected to the working population. It's not like we are demanding them in for 3am drills.

A bit of a rush to get there after rowing for some I suppose.Grin

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onyttig · 06/01/2023 15:44

I actually uploaded mine to turnitin to see how many matches I would get. And how many of them were going to fail regardless of their plagiarism.

There were no exams on the programme I worked on.

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Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 15:41

We don't give our notes to students because we know, from experience, that they'll get regurgitated verbatim in exams with none of the interpretation that we're looking to assess.

This was my argument too. Not always well received.

A transcript of the recorded lecture is automatically created in MS Streams. They can copy that if they want, although apparently it’s a right pain.

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GCAcademic · 06/01/2023 15:34

onyttig · 06/01/2023 15:28

I used to just let my students have my speaking notes (in the PowerPoint).

The students who thought this was a substitute for attendance (and often reading) didn’t tend to do very well, as you can imagine.

I once had a student actually try to quite aggressively grab my notes out of my hand at the end of the lecture because she was so insistent that she was entitled to them.

We don't give our notes to students because we know, from experience, that they'll get regurgitated verbatim in exams with none of the interpretation that we're looking to assess.

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onyttig · 06/01/2023 15:28

I used to just let my students have my speaking notes (in the PowerPoint).

The students who thought this was a substitute for attendance (and often reading) didn’t tend to do very well, as you can imagine.

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Fathercrossmas · 06/01/2023 15:22

I do think note taking is actually problematic for most students. I encourage mine to listen and engage rather than scribble away frantically. I signpost all my sources so it's not like the info needs to be noted constantly.

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Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 15:16

When her university went back to F2F teaching she said that attending lectures in person was much better than watching them online.

In my experience, the higher achieving students prefer to do both. Not having to worry about taking notes during the lecture means that they can concentrate fully on what is being said/shown.

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Oakbeam · 06/01/2023 15:11

9am is convenient and expected to the working population

I think 9am Thursday morning has to be the worst lecture slot ever for attendance.

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CatJumperTwat · 06/01/2023 14:59

I did my first degree the traditional way, attending all lectures in person. There were no recordings if you missed one, though some lecturers would upload their presentations.

I did my second fully remotely/long-distance. The only thing I ever attended in person was the final exams.

I got firsts in both but enjoyed the second one much more, and if I do another degree I would absolutely choose long-distance.

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Fathercrossmas · 06/01/2023 14:46

9am is convenient and expected to the working population. It's not like we are demanding them in for 3am drills.

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onyttig · 06/01/2023 14:44

Fathercrossmas · 06/01/2023 13:48

The morning issue irritates me beyond belief. Having students declare they 'can't' attend (even online) anything before 11 is ridiculous when I've been up all night with a toddler, and left the house at 6 to be there. And they want us to make them employable!

It’s dire. Especially when you’re given a module with only 9am classes. You know that you’re going to get crap evaluation scores and terrible attendance (plus the resulting lower attainment) compared to people who got 11am classes.

The idea that it should be convenient is problematic. Life of rarely convenient and higher education is should not be evaluated as if it’s Spotify or something.

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Fathercrossmas · 06/01/2023 13:48

The morning issue irritates me beyond belief. Having students declare they 'can't' attend (even online) anything before 11 is ridiculous when I've been up all night with a toddler, and left the house at 6 to be there. And they want us to make them employable!

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onyttig · 06/01/2023 10:36

Greatly · 06/01/2023 09:16

Students think the course should be enjoyable and convenient

Ideally it would be!

It often just cannot be. Because learning is not always enjoyable or convenient.

Actual learning can be deeply uncomfortable. Studying is often inconvenient in various ways. Like having 9am classes on a Friday.

Ideally, the course will be stretching and enriching and challenging and a whole variety of things that students do not experience as or associate with enjoyable.

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FlySwimmer · 06/01/2023 10:36

@GCAcademic Yes I’ve found my Year 1s very engaged and ‘on it’, which is promising. The Year 3s are also ok mostly - perhaps the pressure of the final year. The less said about the Year 2s the better…

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damekindness · 06/01/2023 10:31

@onyttig has nailed how it feels working as an academic in HE currently

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RampantIvy · 06/01/2023 10:28

DD has CFS. If her university hadn't recorded their lectures she would have missed several as she struggled to stay awake during lectures. She attended most of her lectures and used the recordings to consolidate her lecture notes.

The only drawback was that they used to wait a couple of days before they got put online so, on one occasion when she slept through the first lecture in a series of 9 (3 lectures over three days) she couldn't attaned the subsequent lectures because each one built upon the previous one.

Wouldn't it be better to take attendance and reward/penalise non attandance instead?

When her university went back to F2F teaching she said that attending lectures in person was much better than watching them online.

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GCAcademic · 06/01/2023 10:09

Now there’s only in-person, and some students are realising that if they don’t show up, they don’t get the teaching & associated benefits, and there are some disgruntled students out there.

Hopefully this issue will work its way out with the current Year 2 and 3 cohort. We've found the current Year 1 more engaged, and also (now we've removed self-awarded extensions) less inclined to ask for extensions for no good reason.

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