Like most writing teachers, I seldom lecture. Class time is
spent in discussion, small groups, individual tutoring--seldom in lecturing. My
rule of thumb is that I should never spend more than fifteen minutes waxing poetic in a monologue in front of snoozing students.
So, I was shocked to find out from a student that a colleague
was posting hour and twenty minute video lectures for an online class. When I asked the student how that went, she told me that she kept nodding off trying to watch the first lecture, one of many. She read the writing on the wall (not the syllabus) and dropped the class, realizing that her attention span would only get shorter as you tried listening to two such lectures every week.
This is a telling example of why the best lecture class in the world won't make a good online class. Or, to put it another way, online teaching is about interaction, not information. Or, to put in in even another way, a lecture is just a verbal Wikipedia site.
Perhaps there were times and places when lecturing was a useful way to share knowledge, say, when books were rare and expensive, or when the Irish Hedge Schools sprung up under British rule when Catholic education was forbidden.
This is a telling example of why the best lecture class in the world won't make a good online class. Or, to put it another way, online teaching is about interaction, not information. Or, to put in in even another way, a lecture is just a verbal Wikipedia site.
Perhaps there were times and places when lecturing was a useful way to share knowledge, say, when books were rare and expensive, or when the Irish Hedge Schools sprung up under British rule when Catholic education was forbidden.
Today? Let's face it, lecturing is an outdated technology.
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