To paraphrase from a famous movie: “Gentlemen, you can’t learn in here! This is the lecture room!”
Five of 160 students attended my Wednesday lecture last week. The lecture theatre had room for 500. Social distancing was simple.
The 50-minute video of this lecture has an average view time of 25 minutes, which is very efficient: double the speed of the video and learn twice as fast.
Only 24 students watched the video within two days. One week later, it had 59 views. Most will (re)view the videos within the last days before the final test.
But I’m not sure we should call this “learning”.
The average score on the last test was a C: by far the worst outcome in my nine years of teaching. While a few students argued that the test was too hard, last year’s version included two harder questions. And last year’s class averaged a B.
In case you wondered: lecture attendance last year was way above 50%.
Before COVID-19, attendance in my class was 60-70%, last year it was above 50%, but this year it is only about 20% (all very smart students).
And it isn’t just my class. This drop in engagement can be seen almost everywhere: every field, University, and country is affected.
How did we get here?
Since 2020, lecturers have done their utmost to make sure students could continue their studies despite COVID-19. We are now all Zoom experts.
Universities and schools have instilled a habit of online “learning” over the last two years. I don’t think open-book online exams are as challenging as closed-book paper-based exams, so grades did not fall, despite the drop in engagement.
Recordings give a false sense of security: “I’ll watch it later”, but “later” never comes. Further, even in my days, students had jobs, did charitable work, and enjoyed social life. These are not arguments for recording lectures.
New technologies can complement lectures. Lecturers should make recordings available to students with accessibility issues or disabilities. But students need in-person lectures. They help students stay on track and provide social engagement that can’t be found on Khan Academy.
Some have suggested that as universities look for cost savings, they could use AI. If universities are easier to run without students, imagine how much easier it would be without academics!
Only 24 students watched the video within two days. One week later, it had 59 views. Most will (re)view the videos within the last days before the final test.
But I’m not sure we should call this “learning”.
The average score on the last test was a C: by far the worst outcome in my nine years of teaching. While a few students argued that the test was too hard, last year’s version included two harder questions. And last year’s class averaged a B.
In case you wondered: lecture attendance last year was way above 50%.
Before COVID-19, attendance in my class was 60-70%, last year it was above 50%, but this year it is only about 20% (all very smart students).
And it isn’t just my class. This drop in engagement can be seen almost everywhere: every field, University, and country is affected.
How did we get here?
Since 2020, lecturers have done their utmost to make sure students could continue their studies despite COVID-19. We are now all Zoom experts.
Universities and schools have instilled a habit of online “learning” over the last two years. I don’t think open-book online exams are as challenging as closed-book paper-based exams, so grades did not fall, despite the drop in engagement.
Recordings give a false sense of security: “I’ll watch it later”, but “later” never comes. Further, even in my days, students had jobs, did charitable work, and enjoyed social life. These are not arguments for recording lectures.
New technologies can complement lectures. Lecturers should make recordings available to students with accessibility issues or disabilities. But students need in-person lectures. They help students stay on track and provide social engagement that can’t be found on Khan Academy.
Some have suggested that as universities look for cost savings, they could use AI. If universities are easier to run without students, imagine how much easier it would be without academics!
Dennis is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Otago, the Vice President of the New Zealand Association of Economists, Editor-in-Chief of New Zealand Economic Papers and Associate Director of the University of Otago’s Economics PhD Programme. This article was first published HERE
3 comments:
Well and sadly said Dennis, from an alumna of OU waaay back. What about seminars? I enjoyed lectures and the lecture theatres were full - more so for some I suppose - they do have to be interesting. But seminars of up to half a dozen were more confronting, we couldn't get away with waffle.
Times were very different though. At the inaugural lecture for timid little freshers, awed to be in the 'halls of academe' Dr Margaret Dalziel harangued us brutally.... We needn't come here thinking we knew it all - we knew nothing NOTHING! We were here to learn from people who did know ... She was scary but we believed her. It was bracing! She wrote on one of my essays, 'The crass stupidity of your interpretation completely overwhelms me!' and the pencil went through the paper. We survived.
I suspect the current lot are mostly completely ruined.
We've had helicopter parenting, childcare from 6 moths old, open classroom learning with more children per teacher with no proof of better outcomes. We don't compete, we're here for the fun and we won't stay if it doesn't feel right/safe. And cellphones and digital tech have taken over their lives. They are probably more introverted, in numbers, and really don't want to engage in person.
The big question is, is this by design or accident/stupidity?
Fortunately there will be some with the nouse to get ahead and support society but it will be all uphill.
A big day of reckoning is coming.
MC
I'm reluctant to point out Dennis what is so obviously (from my perspective) the biggest problem here. The biggest issue is not that students are not attending your lectures or watching them online- it is the fact (as you point out) that they can ignore the lectures and material and still pass with a C grade!
I earned 3 university degrees overseas in the 1970s and early 1980s. It took a huge amount of hard work and dedication. Getting a C grade back then took concerted effort and attention. Now, NZ university studies have been so dumbed down that students can pass with little to no effort. I saw this when my own children went through university - the NZ curriculum was complete fluff. I'm sorry to say, Dennis, and don't want to demoralize you, but most NZ university degrees are not worth the paper they are written on.
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