As I speak with faculty and approach them about using lecture capture, one issue comes up every time.

 Students will skip class more.

See, here’s the summary of everything I’ve read on the topic.

The availability of lecture capture doesn’t significantly impact class attendance.

I’m no fool. An 8AM Monday morning class in the dead of winter may have a few less people if it’s being recorded. But will it have a statistical impact over the course of the semester? Nope.

Research done at other universities confirms this. Our pilot confirms this. Students surveys show that they feel that it is not a suitable replacement for coming to class.  I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that suggests students pay attention in class more since they don’t have to take notes so furiously.

What’s lecture capture good for?

Lecture capture is great for when you miss class or want to review material but it’s not great for primary introduction to material. Certainly not as good as actually being there. Students have a hard enough time paying attention to a 5 minute youtube video let alone watching an entire class. If your plan is to skip class and just watch the videos, you’re gonna need another plan.

Obviously I have a completely different perspective than faculty.

• I’m not judged on class attendance.
• I don’t have to worry about my contract being renewed.
• I don’t have to worry about tenure.
• I don’t have to worry about instructor feedback.

But let’s assume for a minute that there is some percentage of the student body that would skip class more. Here are some questions I have about the resistance:

• What about the students that have to miss class due to illness? It seems like you’re letting the actions of a few poor students impact those that really need the service.
• What about student athletes? This could be a tremendous benefit to them and ease the burden for both of you.
• Should students be treated as adults or children?
• Do you have an attendance policy in your syllabus?

I think those are valid questions, but again, I don’t have that same perspective as a faculty. I am likely missing a lot of those concerns.

I understand that there are other reasons and objections.

• Maybe you don’t want to censor yourself in class.
• Maybe you want students to feel free to speak openly.
• Maybe you have a phobia.
• I don’t know.

This is where it might get touchy…

But with respect to this one question of attendance here’s my biggest question: I realize it might be very sensitive and ruffle some feathers. I’m not trying to be insensitive or rude when I ask it. Keep that in mind.

Here goes:

If the recorded class experience is the same as the in class experience, what value is added by your instruction and why should students actually attend class?

A colleague from another university also made the following statement:

“If faculty do not add significant pedagogical value to the live component of a lecture then they are using outdated teaching methods.”

I’m not sure you can go quite that far. At least not in all cases. It’s pretty tough to be an innovative instructor when you have more than 250 students in a classroom. Sure it can be done but it’s the exception rather than the rule. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount effort involved.

When I try to look at it through the eyes of an instructor, I think I understand many of their fears. I also see a much larger issue though.

In this age of online learning and distance education if watching your class is the same as attending your class, I think you’re in danger of being replaced. Not allowing your class to be recorded does nothing to address that issue.

Could another professor be brought in via video conference? Could students be watching a video from another university? With Google Glass and iPhones, are students recording your class already?

Perhaps not now. Perhaps not here at Notre Dame. But in 5 years? 10 years?

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. – Lou Holtz

It seems like higher education is changing rapidly. Adaption for both institutions and faculty is mandatory. Some will need to change more quickly than others. At Purdue they are doing a redesign of their entire curriculum and are trying to flip 50 courses a year. Many of them use lecture capture to accomplish some of that.

If lecture capture were mandated by your administration, would you embrace it? Would you look at it as a chance to do something new or would you do it reluctantly and try to ignore it as much as possible?

But you tell me. What am I missing and what would it take to convince you?