P8 Integrating recorded material with on-campus teaching: an interview study
Background and purpose
During the pandemic teachers created a lot of recorded material [1,2] to replace on-campus activities.After returning to campus, the new challenge is instead integrating this material into the course structure[3] together with on-campus teaching. This interview study aims to find out how teachers have done thisso far, how they plan to proceed, and how this affects their work situation.
Finished work/ongoing work
Eight teachers on basic physics courses, given in the first or second year of bachelor studies for elevenbachelor programs, were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews [4] were centered around sixquestions: 1) a short description of the course, 2) description of existing recorded material, 3) how it hasbeen used since the return to campus, 4) changes made to on-campus teaching, 5) desired changes torecorded material, and 6) effects on the work situation of the teacher. The interviews were recorded(sound only), transcribed, and analyzed. Additional interviews with students are in the analysis stage.
Results/observations/lessons learned
As a first attempt, most teachers used a parallel strategy where on-campus lectures were given as before the pandemic, while the recordings, which covered the same material as the lectures, were made available to students. Students had the choice to attend the lecture or watch the corresponding recordings. Two teachers chose a series strategy, where students used the recorded material to prepare for the lecture, and the lecture itself focused more on applications and problem solving. After a first attempt, those two teachers changed to the parallel strategy. As one of them analyzed the situation, the existing recordings were created to replace the lecture, not to support it. To use the series strategy would require new, shorter recordings to avoid overloading students.
Student attendance varied hugely and seemingly randomly between different courses, likely affected by factors not controlled in this study. While no clear conclusions on attendance can be drawn, implications for teacher well-being are clear: most teachers fear low attendance, some explicitly pointing out how it lowers their work satisfaction and motivation.
Three main kinds of new recordings were suggested: preparatory material viewed before the on- campus activity, parallel material that duplicates the on-campus activity, and material used after the on- campus event. As mainly parallel material is currently in existence, this suggests a need for new recordings developed in the years to come.
All teachers in this study are well aware that academic teaching is changing, and all spend time and effort learning to handle and adapt to the situation. “… it’s like you’re in a new field where you have to learn again” a teacher states. Some do this with optimism, others fear the teacher role is changing for the worse. For example, a teacher who has talked about the joy of participating in student understanding, expresses his fears that teachers will just do administration of pages in the Learning Management System and questions whether this will be enough for work satisfaction.
Take-home message
Teachers are aware of the upcoming changes due to digitalization, and already spend their time and effort trying to find new ways of teaching. Any change programs at university level should assume teachers are already changing and aim to support them in this process.
There is a risk recorded materials from the pandemic, created to replace lectures, must be replaced to fulfil the demands of integrated digital and on-campus teaching. Any change progam should consider allocating time and resources for this.
References
This project was carried out within the program Future leaders for strategic educational development 2022, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. I thank my fellow participants and all involved for valuable feedback.
- Gorissen, P., van Bruggen, J., and Jochems, W., ”Students and recorded lectures: survey on current use and demands for higher education”, Research in Learning Technology 20, 297-311 (2012).
- Noetel, M., Griffith, S., Delaney, O, Sanders, T., Parker, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., and Lonsdale, C., “Video improves learning in higher education: a systematic review”, Review of Educational Research 91, 204-236 (2021).
