Is an online lecture useful?
Online Lectures
The question of the usefulness of the various learning activities in your course is always relevant, especially when you teach online. What can you let students do at their own pace, at their own moment? Is online lecturing useful? Hanne ten Berge discussed this in a post on the University of Utrecht website. We provide you with the translation below.
A lecture online, do you have to?
When face-to-face education is not possible, you as a teacher are faced with the question: am I going to maintain my lecture (online), and if so, how? It can help to think carefully about how best to do justice to the function of the lecture. Hanne ten Berge discusses five functions of a lecture. Decide for yourself is you need an online lecture and what function of an online lecture you want to emphasize.
1. To give an overview of the subject matter
Students often have to read several books, chapters or articles. In a lecture you can create the coat rack that helps students get an overview of the literature they study during a course. You can separate main and side issues.
2. Connecting, broadening and deepening the sources students study
Authors contradict each other, speak from a different context, or provide only part of the input for an issue. In a lecture you can create coherence and give a framework, indicate how the different authors relate to each other and the discourse in science, and broaden and deepen the knowledge students have gained in literature. At the same time, this gives the opportunity to add recent insights that have not yet been published in an article that is easily accessible to students.
3. Clarifying difficult literature, concepts and problem solving procedures
Specifically in the case of literature that is difficult to access, it helps students if a lecturer outlines the common thread and points out the literature.
4. Adding practice
A lecture gives the opportunity to link the subject matter to practice by giving examples. By doing so, you indicate the relevance of the subject matter. The examples can have a motivating effect and form a bridge to processing assignments.
5. Enthusiasm and motivation
During a lecture a teacher can convey good enthusiasm for the subject and thus motivate students.
Additional tips
For numerous additional teaching tips to promote social and cognitive presence see the below pages: