The Video Lecture Conundrum
DAVI THORBURN: In thinking about how the course has to evolve given the availability of all this new technology, one thing I've especially thought about-- worried about, actually-- is how much of my own lecture material, which I now have on video to make available to them, as against my live performance, and whether my live performance is even necessary at all. How does it differ from-- and I still haven't worked that out. For two semesters now, I have taught the course with a combination of live lectures and video lectures. And I've asked the students to tell me in commentaries whether they saw much difference, and whether they preferred one to the other, or whether they had strong feelings. And so far, the testimony has been, meh. They don't seem too interested in the question, which makes me a little nervous, actually. So my feeling is that it's still an open question. One thing I definitely have decided I will be able to do with this video material...