{"id":1167,"date":"2020-10-01T18:18:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T01:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2020\/10\/01\/how-can-universities-fix-online-lectures-after-the-pandemic-scramble\/"},"modified":"2024-06-03T10:07:24","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T17:07:24","slug":"how-can-universities-fix-online-lectures-after-the-pandemic-scramble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2020\/10\/how-can-universities-fix-online-lectures-after-the-pandemic-scramble\/","title":{"rendered":"How can universities fix online lectures after the \u2018pandemic scramble\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Russell Ginley, Director of Business Development at Microsoft, speaks to academics facing the problem head-on<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When hit with the cold reality of COVID-19, universities scrambled to provide online learning. How it was achieved wasn\u2019t as important as how fast<\/em>, leaving many institutions with a jumble of tech and ad hoc approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many academics feel ready to implement a serious online lecturing solution. With a fresh intake of students for 2021, there are concerns whether current online lectures can justify the fees, let alone recreate the rich university experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudents used to walk into half million-dollar lecture theatres, designed by architects, with professional acoustics, AV equipment and microphones,\u201d says Dr David Kellermann, who teaches engineering at the University of New South Wales<\/a>. \u201cNow that half million-dollar facility has been replaced with a $49 webcam. It\u2019s not fair and it\u2019s not even close to parity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Education consultant Dr Ruben Puendetura agrees we need to move beyond \u201ctechnology access as a direct substitution [for real-world lectures] with no functional change\u201d and toward a model that can modify and even redefine<\/em> what it means to teach online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, a new paper<\/a> published by Richard Mayer and Andrew Stull of the University of Georgia, and Logan Fiorella of the University of California, found ways to increase the effectiveness of online instructional video. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choosing the right technology platform is vital. \u201cI saw this as an opportunity not just to survive remote teaching, but to make it better,\u201d says Dr Kellermann, who decided to build his own \u2018lecture studio\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do this, he positions a laptop at standing height in front of a Microsoft Surface Hub 2S<\/a> interactive whiteboard. This allows him to deliver a dynamic lecture to the laptop, while engaging with the faces of his students on the whiteboard. \u201cIt\u2019s great because I\u2019m actually looking at my students on a screen behind my camera,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just like having them there, and it improves both their engagement and mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s time to tear off the band-aid solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So what does <\/em>work when it comes to online lectures?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How can technology support these techniques?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n