Teaching from the Grave?

[mleok]

This raises a related question, I prerecorded a series of lectures for a course last Spring, and next quarter I will be teaching that class again, and I intend to reuse those prerecorded lectures. For reference, I'm in a field which does not change significantly on the timescale of a year. Put another way, how do opinions about this issue change (if at all) if one is reusing one's own lectures?

[downer]

I have found that just using someone else's syllabus to teach a course is often difficult. Thinking back to when I was a TA (a long time ago) I often didn't much like how the professor explained things, so needed to put things in my own words when interacting with students, and I needed to consult with the prof for some grading issues. So it is hard to imagine using someone else's pre-recorded lectures when they are not available to consult.

All those issues go away when you use your own pre-recorded lectures. (Unless you start to disagree with the methods of your previous self.)

I can imagine that if the pre-recorded lectures of the dead professor are good, then I could get used to teaching from them, and maybe adding some updates or extra thoughts when appropriate. But it probably would be just as much work as doing the lectures myself.

[the_geneticist]

This raises a related question, I prerecorded a series of lectures for a course last Spring, and next quarter I will be teaching that class again, and I intend to reuse those prerecorded lectures. For reference, I'm in a field which does not change significantly on the timescale of a year. Put another way, how do opinions about this issue change (if at all) if one is reusing one's own lectures?

I don't think it's a problem to reuse your own materials.  You created them and you know your thought process behind the lesson (the overall goals, rationale for choice of examples, etc.).  If a student wanted to talk more about a particular example or process then they could ask you and it's easy for you to answer. 

[marshwiggle]

This raises a related question, I prerecorded a series of lectures for a course last Spring, and next quarter I will be teaching that class again, and I intend to reuse those prerecorded lectures. For reference, I'm in a field which does not change significantly on the timescale of a year. Put another way, how do opinions about this issue change (if at all) if one is reusing one's own lectures?

I don't think it's a problem to reuse your own materials.  You created them and you know your thought process behind the lesson (the overall goals, rationale for choice of examples, etc.).  If a student wanted to talk more about a particular example or process then they could ask you and it's easy for you to answer.

Yeah, I'd put your own prerecorded lectures in the same category as your own previous lecture notes, assignments, etc. They all get updated if/when you feel they need it. The weird thing in the situation that started this thread is the idea that updating any course material seems to be explicitly forbidden.

[ciao_yall]

Prerecorded lectures sound like a crashing bore to create, and even more boring for students to listen to.

One colleague told me her students love her prerecorded lectures because the students can replay parts they don't understand until they get it. Okay... but if the issue is that they don't understand the way you explained it, then how does listening to it again and again help? It's very different in class when a student asks a question. I don't just repeat what I said. I step through and check where they didn't quite get it, and why. Often it involves bringing in other concepts or ideas.

As faculty for accreditation purposes we have to demonstrate "regular and effective contact." If I prerecorded lectures a few years ago and have robograded quizzes, then, what kind of learning are students really doing?

And I can't imagine a field in which information quickly needs to be updated. I had a student today say "Wow, this pandemic is the first recession since the Great Depression!" How quickly we forget 2008... 2001...

[downer]

I'm a fan of the Great Courses lectures and often listen to them, sometimes more than once. But it's for my own personal edification, and I don't take any exams. They are good lectures recorded professionally and created in consultation with the Great Courses company.

I definitely would not recommend that students listen to my amateur recordings of my own regular lectures unless they had to.

[mleok]

Prerecorded lectures sound like a crashing bore to create, and even more boring for students to listen to.

One colleague told me her students love her prerecorded lectures because the students can replay parts they don't understand until they get it. Okay... but if the issue is that they don't understand the way you explained it, then how does listening to it again and again help? It's very different in class when a student asks a question. I don't just repeat what I said. I step through and check where they didn't quite get it, and why. Often it involves bringing in other concepts or ideas.

As faculty for accreditation purposes we have to demonstrate "regular and effective contact." If I prerecorded lectures a few years ago and have robograded quizzes, then, what kind of learning are students really doing?

And I can't imagine a field in which information quickly needs to be updated. I had a student today say "Wow, this pandemic is the first recession since the Great Depression!" How quickly we forget 2008... 2001...

I will admit that prerecording the lectures was more about my need to time shift my work around the fact that the kids are at home for remote schooling. I understand the point about students asking questions, but it's unclear that synchronous lectures work well anyway for a very large class, and it's sometimes easier to address this during office hours as opposed to taking up class time doing so. In particular, reusing lectures might allow one to transition to a flipped classroom format instead, and use the time that would otherwise be spent giving the same lectures again on more one-on-one interactions.

[mleok]

I definitely would not recommend that students listen to my amateur recordings of my own regular lectures unless they had to.

How it is worse than listening to your regular lectures live on Zoom?

[downer]

I definitely would not recommend that students listen to my amateur recordings of my own regular lectures unless they had to.

How it is worse than listening to your regular lectures live on Zoom?

I only teach asychronously online. I have never done a Zoom lecture, and don't much want to.

I was referring to my classroom lectures.

[mleok]

I only teach asychronously online. I have never done a Zoom lecture, and don't much want to.

I was referring to my classroom lectures.

What do you do differently in your asychronous lectures as opposed to your classroom lectures?

[downer]

I only teach asychronously online. I have never done a Zoom lecture, and don't much want to.

I was referring to my classroom lectures.

What do you do differently in your asychronous lectures as opposed to your classroom lectures?

I don't have online lectures as such. I have reading assignments (textbooks, articles, my own notes) and writing assignments. But I have started providing slides with some audio of me speaking, which can end up serving the same purpose as lectures. They are easier for the student to browse through, replay bit, or skip bits. In terms of technical quality, it is easier for mic recording to be satisfactory, (though my recordings do get interrupted by sounds of lawnmowers). Amateur video recording always looks amateur.

[marshwiggle]

I only teach asychronously online. I have never done a Zoom lecture, and don't much want to.

I was referring to my classroom lectures.

What do you do differently in your asychronous lectures as opposed to your classroom lectures?

I don't have online lectures as such. I have reading assignments (textbooks, articles, my own notes) and writing assignments. But I have started providing slides with some audio of me speaking, which can end up serving the same purpose as lectures. They are easier for the student to browse through, replay bit, or skip bits. In terms of technical quality, it is easier for mic recording to be satisfactory, (though my recordings do get interrupted by sounds of lawnmowers). Amateur video recording always looks amateur.

Very similar to what I have. I have lots of short* videos, which are voiceovers of me going through essentially powerpoint-type presentations. From surveys I've done in various courses over several years:

• About 20% of students always prefer the videos.
• About 40% of students always prefer the text documents.
• About 40% of students say which they prefer depends on the topic.

*Most videos aren't more than 5 minutes or so. In a given lecture period I'd go over a handful of these different topics, rather than having the whole time as a stream-of-consciousness monologue.

[Caracal]

Prerecorded lectures sound like a crashing bore to create, and even more boring for students to listen to.

One colleague told me her students love her prerecorded lectures because the students can replay parts they don't understand until they get it. Okay... but if the issue is that they don't understand the way you explained it, then how does listening to it again and again help? It's very different in class when a student asks a question. I don't just repeat what I said. I step through and check where they didn't quite get it, and why. Often it involves bringing in other concepts or ideas.

As faculty for accreditation purposes we have to demonstrate "regular and effective contact." If I prerecorded lectures a few years ago and have robograded quizzes, then, what kind of learning are students really doing?

And I can't imagine a field in which information quickly needs to be updated. I had a student today say "Wow, this pandemic is the first recession since the Great Depression!" How quickly we forget 2008... 2001...

I will admit that prerecording the lectures was more about my need to time shift my work around the fact that the kids are at home for remote schooling. I understand the point about students asking questions, but it's unclear that synchronous lectures work well anyway for a very large class, and it's sometimes easier to address this during office hours as opposed to taking up class time doing so. In particular, reusing lectures might allow one to transition to a flipped classroom format instead, and use the time that would otherwise be spent giving the same lectures again on more one-on-one interactions.

And that's totally fine. They are still your materials and you have full control of them. You can make changes if you decide something didn't work well or add supplementary materials or anything else. You're still fully directing the course and interacting with students. Obviously someone could learn a lot by watching recorded lectures without any possibility of interaction with the person recording them. You can learn a lot from reading a book too. You just shouldn't be charging people money and pretending that its a college class...

[polly_mer]

Amateur video recording always looks amateur.

Yes.  I'd much rather watch a very well done video over watching someone do something amateur.  One physics professor who made excellent videos about 10 years ago stated that it took him about 25 hours to get a good half hour video and that was with a professional production team at an elite institution that supported his outreach efforts.

Almost always, I'd much rather have an excellent video over a poor live lecture.  A 1:1 mentoring session in which my learning is the primary purpose is almost always better than a lecture (per ciao_yall's comment about questions), but many people aren't nearly as good at lecturing as they think they are.

[Prof_Poirot]

As the very much alive professor caught up in this Twitterstorm, I wanted to follow up here.

For anyone interested in the real story, not the sensationalized and distorted clickbait offered by the Chronicle, etc, here is a good article.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/01/28/concordia-university-says-lectures-from-dead-professor-were-teaching-tool.html

And this blogger explained the situation well:
https://cogdogblog.com/2021/01/dead-professors-society/

The late professor was a passionate teacher, beloved of at least a couple of generations of students. In fact, he went out of his way to build this online course several years after he retired. His enthusiasm is very clear in the videos. And every student gets individual feedback from my and my team. We're emailing back and forth with students every day.