Archiving lectures helps students, doesn't hurt attendance

Is a university lecture better viewed live or recorded? Will attendance drop off because students can listen to lectures after the fact? These are concerns that teachers have now that many lectures are available to students online, reports Campus Technology.

According to University of Alabama geology Professor Dr. David Brommer, who uses Tegrity Campus 2.0 to record lectures of his Principals of Physical Geography course, he had some initial worries about a drop off in attendance but it student attendance has been steady throughout the semester.

"I don't believe students are going to use this as an excuse not to show up all the time. Those who are not showing up weren't going to show up anyway," said Brommer.

Brommer said that the software helps augment with students are already learning.

Tegrity Campus 2.0 isn't just an audio file downloaded from the Internet. Students who have a fast connection log on to a searchable database. They just click on a URL in WebCT and view the lecture.

For both students and teachers, Tegrity Campus 2.0 has been well received. Teachers find it a relatively simple chore to record the lectures. After accessing the recorded lecture through a WebCT connection, the teacher edits it to delete dead air and posts it on the web.

Student polls indicate use has jumped from 30 percent after the first exam, to 60 percent after the second.

"Most of the students I've talked to said it has helped them in studying, because they can jump around within the lectures if they need to," Brommer says. "They can listen, and watch what's going on."

Brommer has plans to use Tegrity to record "virtual field trips" of his storm chasing for his geology students.

"This is an opportunity for 173 students to join me in the field, without really having the logistical problems of having them there."