Thanks, Brynn! Theater sounds like such a valuable background for a teacher to have!

Thanks, Chen! I’m so glad the format works for you!

Thanks, Claire! Good point about an authoritative lecture as a relief from the barrage of information. I am very aware that I nowadays teach in competition to everything that’s on the internet. Mostly, I have thought about this as a challenge to make my teaching more attractive. I hadn’t considered that a lecture without lots of bells and whistles might be appealing in itself. Thanks for giving me a new perspective 🙂

Thanks for letting me join this conversation belatedly!

Academic lectures definitely are a weird genre. In any other context, being talked at for long stretches of time seems highly unappealing if not downright antisocial, but I will quite happily sit through a one or two-hour lecture delivered by an authoritative speaker. There is such a barrage of information available online today that it is a welcome relief to become a passive recipient of (professionally curated) knowledge for a while.

Not too passive though: I discovered that old-school note-taking is still as important as ever after trying to listen to the lecture like a podcast (ie. on in the background whilst cooking dinner). It turns out that, while lectures are a performance (as Hanna so nicely put it), they still require some active audience participation in order to get the quiz answers right!

Thanks, Hanna! A good lecture is the performance of thinking!

Thanks, Chalermkwan! You are right about concentration. Concentration is incredibly important to learning, and devices are distracting. In f2f teaching, I ask my students to put away their devices but keeping everyone’s attention has become more and more difficult over the years. I think even the most engaging teacher has a hard time competing with the temptation to check social media feeds these days … This is one of the reasons that engaging with written texts and commenting on them in this forum is such an important part of this unit. It allows everyone to attend to the materials at their convenience and commenting requires a certain level of concentration 🙂

Thanks, D.L! We’ll get to studies that look at the different learning outcomes of note-taking by hand vs on a device later in the term. As always there are pros and cons but the research is consistent that digital technologies aren’t as great for learning as everyone thinks they are, mostly because they impede concentration. Here is a quick overview if you want to read ahead.

Thanks, Ally! Hope to see you in the Zoom tutorial tomorrow 🙂

Thanks, Monica! If you want to see my face during a lecture, try this video, where I talk about “sociolinguistic complexity in a multilingual society”. The thing about adding my face to the videos is that “looking good”, i.e. professional, in front of the camera, adds a whole additional lawyer of complexity. You need to dress up, wear make-up, look at the camera all the time, think about lighting, add a teleprompter etc etc. Essentially you need a studio set-up and a support cast. Academics don’t have that and so usually look dowdy or worse …

I have experienced once in recording audio with PowerPoint last semester, I have tried so hard to make my lecturer understand the content. I have tried to make my voice clear in several times by re-recording over 3 times each page. However, this way can boost the education system that easy to help both teacher and student connection. Although I live in an era that technologies have influenced our daily life, I still have problems and not good at using technologies in some situations.

I prefer to learn face to face more than an online class because the concentration on online class is very difficult for me. If I study on campus, It feels like the classroom environment will push me focusing on lecturer and discussion with classmates. At this time, it can mention that both teachers and students have to build a high effort in learning and teaching. However, an online classroom is a new experience that is very useful and easily connects between teacher and student.

I really enjoy reading your writing and looking forward to the next topic

Thank you so much

This research blog post is quite interesting as it refers to current changes in our teaching and learning experiences due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With current advancement in technology today, our education continues from face-to-face learning to online learning. Every change comes with both positive and negative outcomes. With social-distancing practices in place, encourages students to minimize social gatherings in close proximity including study groups and in-class activities. On the other hand, this minimizes social interactions among peers and other students. Pre-recorded lectures are a great as it allows students to be flexible with their schedule. Mixing genres will be interesting, as most academic lectures consist of ‘typing’ rather than hand-written note-taking.
Thanks

I had to do a short presentation last term with 8-9 slides and then present them orally. After I spent a lot of time writing them I thought recording the oral presentation would just take a couple hours but in the end it took a week. Having to listen to my voice over and over and re-record my slides was a very painful experience.

My preferred style for lectures at this time is zoom lectures, with the lecturer using visual slides and having group discussions in small breakout groups. This way I can see the professors face, visual aids, interact with other students and ask questions at appropriante times. I also like that they are recorded so I can go back and rewatch them to fill in my notes. Audio recordings are the most challenging for me as listening is my weakest learning style.

I really like our quote:” “To reach the mind, knowledge has to flow through the hand” as I am a compulsive note taker and really find this is an essential part of my learning process. I’m really looking forward to learning together.