So as per last week’s blog post, recording your lectures is beneficial to students and should not negatively impact on lecture attendance but what will help increase lecture attendance?
Between MT 2015 and LT 2017, academic developers from the Teaching and Learning Centre co-convened and reported on a series of focus groups with students in 8 departments across the School to learn more about students’ experiences. These focus groups found that LSE students value:
Lectures that are inspiring and motivating
‘…I’m listening to him and he’s showing his enthusiasm for the topic and his research, and I’m sitting there thinking this is stimulating me and I want to know more about this’.
Lectures that are well structured
‘A good lecture is structured and I see the structure from the start.’
Lectures in which students understanding is checked
‘every lecturer that I have, they just talk at you, and there is no chance to make sure that you know what you need to know, or that you understand stuff.’
‘… Because sometimes a lecturer is in flow and you don’t want to just disrupt it … But when he just pauses and asks ‘This is good time now to ask your question’ – I think that’s very valuable.’
‘… something he does that I really like is that when he’s concluding a bit of material he’s trying to get through, he does say ‘Do you have any questions on this?’ and nearly every time there isn’t anything, but you know it gives me an opportunity to think ‘Actually have I understood that properly?’ and ‘This would be an appropriate time.’
Lectures that are interactive and not too long
‘You go there and you sit: it’s a very passive process. I think lectures need to be more active. Not in the sense of asking questions but in the sense of doing … I’m fed up with being talked to for hours.’
Rethinking the lecture
As many institutions shift towards opt out lecture recording (see post from last week) there also appears to be a move away from the standard model of lecturing and a move towards an active blended learning approach.
Technology can often help facilitate this for example:
- Using the lecture recording facilities to create online resources and take a flipped learning approach.
- Using online voting to check student understanding, engage in peer learning activities and carry out agile teaching.
- Using collaborative tools such as padlet, google docs, one note/one drive (now available as part of your LSE account) to enable students to produce content which can be shared and developed between ongoing cohorts.
- Using creative commons or copyright cleared images and media to make presentations more engaging, see Box of Broadcasts huge archive of films, TV and radio programmes that are all available under LSE’s ERA licence.
- Using social media to facilitate Q&A sessions.
- Using Moodle discussion forums to guide lecture preparation and discussions on course readings.
- Using mind map apps (Poplet, Mindomo, Mindly) for break out activities to encourage active note making.
This interactive model will present some issues that institutions need to consider including:
- Gaining consent from students to be recorded or ways to edit or stop and start recordings easily.
- Rethinking learning spaces
LTI have been working with Estates, AV and TLC to renovate learning spaces and have been working on various projects to evaluate the type of learning spaces (furniture, technology and layout) best suited for collaborative or flexible teaching approaches. We have also been working with estates to create signage to inform staff and students that recording is taking place and will be working with AV to investigate more agile recording systems that allow lecturers to stop and start recording in the room.
If you would like some advice and support on how to use technology in your teaching contact LTI. Calls are currently open for LTI grant projects including those that have themes of innovative use of space and transforming your teaching with technology. See the LTI website for more information.
References
Armellini, A (2018, Jan 11) ‘The large lecture theatre is dead’