I have meaningful interaction among students and me in a class of 120.

John


-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of e marshall wick
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 8:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Course Casting

>But critics complain that digital lectures delivered through earphones
cut down on the vital interaction between professors and students. And
parents, who shell out tens of thousands of dollars for tuition, aren't
convinced that kids who rely on the lectures-to-go are getting their
money's worth.
>  
>
           'Vital interaction' between professors and students in
classes of 50, 75, 150, 250, 500
           students?   The critics gotta be kidding me.     During a 
typical session, at best,
           5 to 10 students will have an opportunity to ask questions or
discuss materials.

           Parents who believe that shelling out tens of thousands of
dollars for tuition means
           their children are basically learning from the typically 12
to 15 hours a week of classroom
           instruction are surely being misled. 

           Granted, there are some possible downsides to digital 
lectures.   One of them
           is the missing interaction between students following
classes.  Some others
           are pointed out in the article:

>Students learn an important skill when they are required to show up for
a lecture: creating a schedule and sticking to it. Being in class keeps
them in regular contact with professors, which, experts say, is a key to
keeping dropout rates low. Lectures, too, force students to focus for
long, uninterrupted stretches. 
>

>Course casting might work, says Lee Knefelkamp, a professor of
education at Teachers College at Columbia University, if a professor is
trying to deliver facts and concepts for later regurgitation. "Students
can listen to that anywhere." But a topnotch lecture, says Knefelkamp,
"should be provocative, catch you up short and make you think in ways
you never have before." 
>
            Why isn't this possible on a taped as well as live lecture?

            Finally, the article by using the term 'course casting' 
gives the impression that
           this approach is new.    Actually thousands of distance 
learning courses have
           included lectures on tape, CD and more recently on streaming
video to the
           students over the past 10 years.

           While I don't have video for any of my own classes, they are
all web based
           and i stopped the 'sage on the stage' well over 5 years ago
myself and
           use the entire class time for structured student group
discussion (and thus
           interaction among themselves which is carried over beyond
class time.)
           I think it would be neat if I also supplemented this with
video lectures
           for those who might additionally benefit from this but I have
never gotten
          around to doing this.

          Hope this starts some further discussion on the topic.   

               cheers
                 Marshall

        http://homepage.gallaudet.edu/Marshall.Wick/bus447/