Screencasting and its effect on the traditional lecture

Abstract

The use of screencasting at James Cook University (jcu) has increased heavily over the last five years, and we have extended our resources to include complete sets of live lecture recordings captured via annotations and commentary on a tablet computer. At JCU, screencasting is now used extensively in mathematics subjects at all year levels both as lecture support and lecture replacement for entire subjects. The aim of these screencasts was to create greater flexibility for our students, engage them through a familiar medium and to encourage them to work outside of the usual lecture and tutorial times. However, many lecturers have expressed concern that increased flexibility will result in a reduction in lecture and tutorial attendance. In order to address this concern, a study was carried out on the second semester first year engineering mathematics class at JCU. A survey was used to determine the students' perspective of the impact of screencasting on their own study methods, as well as their attitudes to attendance at traditional lectures and tutorials. The results of this survey should provide some reassurance that total flexibility is not ideal and the traditional lecture still remains a valuable resource for our current body of students. References

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