To lecture, or not to lecture...that is the question

These Lectures Are Gone in 60 Seconds - Chronicle.com

Take a 60-minute lecture. Cut the excess verbiage, do away with most of the details, and pare it down to key concepts and themes.

What's left? A "microlecture" over in as few as 60 seconds. A course designer for San Juan College, a community college in Farmington, N.M., says that in online education, such tiny bursts can teach just as well as traditional lectures when paired with assignments and discussions.

Skeptics, however, argue that lectures involving sustained arguments, such as literary analyses or explanations of complex equations, cannot be boiled down in this way.

HOW TO CREATE A ONE-MINUTE LECTURE

Professors spend a lot of time crafting hourlong lectures. The prospect of boiling them down to 60 seconds — or even five minutes — may seem daunting. David Penrose, a course designer for SunGard Higher Education who developed San Juan College's microlectures, suggests that it can be done in five steps:

1. List the key concepts you are trying to convey in the 60-minute lecture. That series of phrases will form the core of your microlecture.

2. Write a 15 to 30-second introduction and conclusion. They will provide context for your key concepts.

3. Record these three elements using a microphone and Web camera. (The college information-technology department can provide advice and facilities.) If you want to produce an audio-only lecture, no Webcam is necessary. The finished product should be 60 seconds to three minutes long.

4. Design an assignment to follow the lecture that will direct students to readings or activities that allow them to explore the key concepts. Combined with a written assignment, that should allow students to learn the material.

5. Upload the video and assignment to your course-management software.

 

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http://chronicle.com
Section: Information Technology
Volume 55, Issue 26, Page A13

Mike: Let me be not the first to suggest that this is not an either/or proposition.  Surely there is value in these chunked, modular pieces of content - particularly when they are supplemental and not primary learning materials.  You might have a different view, but for the online learner a talking head in the box does have limits just as for the lecture hall student the podium speaker has limits.  Mix, match, engage, supplement to meet the students where they will meet you.