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0 pointscolinmhayes5y ago0 comments

I just graduated from a top ten computer science program in the world. The department recorded all the lectures. By the time you got to the upper level classes completely booked 200+ person lecture halls would have less than 50 students show up because everyone watched online. The recording system allowed you to watch at 1.5 or 2x speed and skip to the next slide when someone asked a stupid question. The math department had a similar system for the calculus courses except they modeled the schedule around MIT's and just posted the MIT lectures that corresponded to each class.

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9 comments · 2 top-level

bsder5y ago· 5 in thread

> By the time you got to the upper level classes completely booked 200+ person lecture halls would have less than 50 students show up because everyone watched online.

I don't know whether to blame the professor or the students here--my gut feel is to blame the professor.

I taught at a far less "prestigious" university and that wasn't my experience. I used to record all my CS lectures and practically all my students showed up anyway. And I never took attendance.

Even when I had a "marketing and sales" guy come in to deliver a lecture for me (because, let's be fair--a significant fraction of CS students are going to wind up in non-tech roles so students need exposure to that side, too), practically the whole class showed up. It completely stunned the poor presenter flat who expected that maybe one or two students would show up and instead wound up with a full house.

If good students regularly aren't showing up for lectures, the person delivering the lecture needs to do some serious soul searching and fix the content of the lecture.

haditab5y ago

Why is there a need to blame anyone? The goal is for students to learn, not that they show up in class out of duty. If they found a more efficient way to learn from the class that involves not showing up in person, I think they should be encouraged to do it.

bsder5y ago

I have a fundamental belief that delivering a lecture is an active experience. I use and gauge student reactions to questions or comments to tell how well a class is receiving the information I am presenting. I also use it to pinpoint possible weaknesses of the class (did they miss the point of a prerequisite class, for example).

If I am not doing that, what's the point of a "lecture"?

Otherwise, you might as well read a book. It's faster than a lecture, likely more thorough, and not tied to a specific timeslice.

2 more replies

colinmhayesOP5y ago

Everyone went to discussions, and office hours were effectively mandatory, so there was still plenty of staff interaction. In the end I don't feel like I miss much by watching lectures online. I honestly believe asking questions during lecture is extremely disrespectful bordering on immoral when there are more than 100 people listening, so why show up?

bsder5y ago

> Everyone went to discussions, and office hours were effectively mandatory, so there was still plenty of staff interaction. In the end I don't feel like I miss much by watching lectures online.

Okay, that's a LOT of missing context.

Having a "discussion" section is unusual for most universities outside of beginner prerequisite classes. And, office hours have never been mandatory for students anywhere I have taught.

Given that, yeah, I can see that interrupting a lecturer is problematic and that watching a recording is probably okay.

pretendscholar5y ago

What if it's a good question?

kyawzazaw5y ago· 2 in thread

I thought MIT mostly only opens access to old recorded videos.

Reelin5y ago

Higher level math continues to advance but calculus itself doesn't change much. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus)

kyawzazaw5y ago

My comment was more relating to how their schedule (in timing relative to MIT) will be affected, assuming they were trying to use newly made videos.

Probably not the case and they just structure their own course to be similar to MIT's courses.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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9 comments · 2 top-level

bsder5y ago· 5 in thread

> By the time you got to the upper level classes completely booked 200+ person lecture halls would have less than 50 students show up because everyone watched online.

I don't know whether to blame the professor or the students here--my gut feel is to blame the professor.

I taught at a far less "prestigious" university and that wasn't my experience. I used to record all my CS lectures and practically all my students showed up anyway. And I never took attendance.

If good students regularly aren't showing up for lectures, the person delivering the lecture needs to do some serious soul searching and fix the content of the lecture.

haditab5y ago

bsder5y ago

If I am not doing that, what's the point of a "lecture"?

Otherwise, you might as well read a book. It's faster than a lecture, likely more thorough, and not tied to a specific timeslice.

2 more replies

colinmhayesOP5y ago

bsder5y ago

> Everyone went to discussions, and office hours were effectively mandatory, so there was still plenty of staff interaction. In the end I don't feel like I miss much by watching lectures online.

Okay, that's a LOT of missing context.

Having a "discussion" section is unusual for most universities outside of beginner prerequisite classes. And, office hours have never been mandatory for students anywhere I have taught.

Given that, yeah, I can see that interrupting a lecturer is problematic and that watching a recording is probably okay.

pretendscholar5y ago

What if it's a good question?

kyawzazaw5y ago· 2 in thread

I thought MIT mostly only opens access to old recorded videos.

Reelin5y ago

Higher level math continues to advance but calculus itself doesn't change much. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus)

kyawzazaw5y ago

My comment was more relating to how their schedule (in timing relative to MIT) will be affected, assuming they were trying to use newly made videos.

Probably not the case and they just structure their own course to be similar to MIT's courses.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse