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A Lecture, Uncaptured

3/5/2016

 
L. LYKOV
Volume 9, Issue 9

A New Year of Recordings
Starting in 2016, Learning Environments (LE), part of the Academic Services division of Melbourne University Services, was endorsed by the Academic Board of this university to record every lecture under the UniMelb banner, under an opt-out model. It stands to reason, given that all of the newer lecture theatres are outfitted with recording devices built into their lecterns. Students need not fear missing important information in the degree they're paying for, as they can now just retrieve it through the LMS. Unless you are unfortunate enough to be receiving a seminar, as is every student at the law school.
Picture
Image: Lionel Allorge
What is a seminar?
The historical basis of the seminar is based on the Oxbridge approach. While also utilised in a number of their more exclusive undergraduate courses (shout outs to PPE), the seminar format calls for a small number of students, to be guided through a discussion of reading material. While the teacher is still officially in charge its methodology recognises the aptitude of the student and delivers to them an education on as equal terms as one can get. Oxford's BC, recognised as one of the top law postgraduate courses in the world, is delivered in this manner.

Seminars include lights being on in the room so participants may check their notes and read material over as it is relevant to the discussion at hand. It is also unrecorded, for if nothing else the logistical challenges faced in a room where anyone may deliver a substantial point of argument.

Seminars: The Melbourne Model
From the above description, we can see MLS having many similarities. We have small class sizes. You and 59 of your closest friends! We have the lights on, so students can read along with the group. Although from what I can see, students don't so much read as fastidiously write what the lectu – er I mean, seminar leader is saying. Finally students have the ability to speak back.  But more often than not I hear the old “talk to me in the break” effectively nullifying the point of a seminar. Not looking too much like our English forefathers, are we?  

The Case Against Recording Seminars
The university claims if seminars were recorded attendance would go down. Last year, I enjoyed the twice weekly company of a feared MLS teacher. Teacher took ill, as such they were forced to record a makeup seminar. Despite the promise this would be recorded, I knew of students taking work off to make it down to hear this teacher speak. We are not snot nosed undergrads looking to play hooky, we are some of the best students of this country and we are here to learn.

Moreover, under the new LE directive a lecturer must provide a reasonable ground for not recording their lecture. Drop in attendance is explicitly NOT one of these, as LE states, “While there is limited published research in the area, studies have generally found that the provision of lecture recordings has limited impact on attendance.”  

The Case For Recording Seminars
Minority groups such as English as an Additional Language students, which the law school take on in ever increasing numbers would vastly benefit. Sure we all know the cool Canadian guy in our class, and our Kiwi mate has all but lost his weird vowel after clerking the summer at “Allins,” but those with limited English skills from non-english speaking nations face a whole different set of challenges. I saw a student bring a Chinese/English dictionary into the contracts exam. The fact of the matter is that students come here and the law school is failing them, all while taking their money and dining out on an increasing “international outlook” score on QS rankings. Being able to relisten to a class, pause, and rewind may not solve all of the problems these student face, but it’s a start.

Some students get sick. Some have work. Some have a disability. Even a student with everything going for them could listen to a recording again to glean that last bit of information from a convoluted trusts class.

Oxford We Are Not
We need not sit an Oxford seminar, because I know the teacher is better than me and I need to be taught at. In my opinion, this is what already happens in the vast majority of classes. So let's call it what it is: a lecture. Our teachers are given the title of lecturers, one would assume that is what they deliver.

Melbourne Law school, along with other UniMelb post grad faculties refuses to do right by its student body and record lectures. What goes unrecorded mostly, is the damage this does to those trying to learn.

Find out all about the “new lecture capture process” here

L. Lykov is a second-year JD Student​
The rest of this week's issue:
  • Are University Ranking Leading to Massive Student Exploitation?
  • Law Ball Review & MULSS Response
  • The Clerkship Diaries: Nobody Cares
  • I’m Sorry, But I Can’t See the Pattern

More De Minimis:
  • What's A Girl To Do? Sanitary Bin-Sanity
  • Other People's Money: Life As A Law Student
Christine
3/5/2016 08:12:27 pm

Regularly recorded lectures would be awfully splendid for this "lazy" student with dyslexia that needs them to verify her often nonsensical lecture notes.

Anonymous
4/5/2016 08:26:34 am

I'm curious, even if we accepted the argument that lecture attendance would drastically decline, isn't one of the selling points of the JD the 'small' and 'intimate' nature of the class sizes? I would have thought smaller classes would greatly benefit the students who attend, rather than diminishing their learning experience.

ANON
4/5/2016 11:18:26 am

Jeremy Gans recorded every lecture for crim last year and the attendance at each of his classes was just as high as any other I have taken. The drop in attendance excuse is rubbish and not backed up by any evidence.

Duncan
4/5/2016 04:13:07 pm

The real problem with recorded lectures is that it might have a silencing effect - lecturers won't want to say anything controversial on the record and so will self-censor.

We might lose a certain something if nothing is ever off the record.

Tim
4/5/2016 04:43:29 pm

Yes Duncan it's great that my lecturer can get his potentially controversial two cents in without repercussions but I'm denied access to listen to the education I'm paying for whenever I want. Deffo outweighs it

Duncan
5/5/2016 10:42:38 am

I agree with Contrarian below that the entitlement attitude can be problematic. An education shouldn't be about market forces - students shouldn't be thought of as customers. This is one of the cultural problems with the corporatisation of the univrsity.

My dad, for example, is a lecturer, and I know he is now quite careful about saying anything political. He realised that he'd said the Greens' transportation policy was the best mainstream party policy in one lecture he gave and had to have that edited out of the lecture recording. I don't see the apoliticisation of lectures as a positive

Anonymouse
5/5/2016 12:10:42 pm

This is to the reply below but I can't reply to that one...

Lecturers are protected by academic freedom too, so they can actually say pretty terrible things and be basically fine. Case in point, a number of years ago now a lecturer at another law school in Vic publicly advocated torture as an interrogation method. Shit hit the fan quick, but the Uni backed him because they have to. It settled down. He eventually became Head of School.

So yes I get it, lecturers have to be careful if being recorded. But they do have a unique position such that they can get away with more than the average peon working in a professional environment. Hence this gives me less concern then say, sick students missing out.

Duncan
5/5/2016 01:28:47 pm

Fair point about sick students missing out. As I said below, however, I understand that students are already able to access recordings if they have health issues.

See the discussion in this article: http://www.deminimis.com.au/home/melbourne-university-law-students-society-summary-of-the-student-forum-on-17-march-2016

Tim
5/5/2016 03:16:16 pm

It can be a difficult and embarrassing process to claim special status as a sick student or have to justify yourself. This doesn't do much to mitigate the issue.

Contrarian
4/5/2016 07:03:16 pm

Personally I'm against lecture recording.

First of all I don't buy the whole entitlement attitude which says 'I pay for my education therefore I get what I want'. This attitude is the reason teachers are often pressured to pass students who really shouldn't be passing - they're paying for a degree after all! It's toxic to our education system.

Second I fear a silencing effect on lecturers as mentioned in the comment above.

Third, although admittedly I'm not in possession of any cold hard evidence that attendance would drop, I personally believe this would be the case. I enjoy classroom discussions and hearing what people have to say, so I'm concerned about losing input from people who choose to listen at home.

Fourth, I don't need another incentive not to attend lectures.

I recognise that there are some strong arguments in favour of recording (such as to catch up a lecture one couldn't attend due to sickness or the like), but ultimately I don't think the benefits outweigh what I see as the negatives.

Anon
5/5/2016 12:50:59 am

There is an alternative that mitigates the issue of attenandce, and that is that the lectures are recorded but aren't immediately released. Rather they're released via streaming at say the mid semester break and during swot-vac. There is still the option to relisten and revise later. But also enough incentive to keep up with class and attend.

Students who are unwell or need access to lectures early due to disability can be given accees to streams earlier. That's actually not hard to do at all via LMS.

On the issue of lecturers feeling stymied the solution is simple; don't say stuff in public and from a position of authority that you wouldn't want repeated or attributed to you. Then you don't have to worry while also getting the bonus feel good feeling of facilitating the learning of the school's most vulnerable and disadvantaged students (plus the students just trying to get the most out of their revision).

Monika
5/5/2016 11:00:55 am

I agree 100% with this. I completed Law at Melbourne some years ago with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The nature of my illness means that some days my immune system attacks my joints. I wanted to graduate with honours so I attended every seminar, even when I was unwell and in incredible pain.

The price was high. I graduated with Honours, and hips so worn down that I needed left and right hip replacements.

I won't ever compromise my health because of a ye olde rule again.

Also...is it reasonably foreseeable that by failing to record lectures when students are managing health issues such as mine, mismanagement could lead to permanent joint damage. Is the causality there. Lol.

Duncan
5/5/2016 01:27:12 pm

You and Anon above make fair points.

I understand, however, that students are already able to access recordings if they have health issues. See the discussion in this article: http://www.deminimis.com.au/home/melbourne-university-law-students-society-summary-of-the-student-forum-on-17-march-2016

2 CENTS
7/5/2016 03:06:29 pm

Sorry, I realize I'm coming to the party quite late on this one...

There was a study conducted at the University of Western Australia back in 2010 regarding the impact of lecture recordings in the law school. Although it's only one study, it's interesting to note that the data they obtained "indicates that the availability of lecture recordings has a significant impact on attendance."

Although the article doesn't cover the issue of the learning issues faced by international students, it does discuss a number of the issues you raise. In the final pages it also touches on a number of reasons why it isn't appropriate for lecture capture to be used as a learning tool within law schools.

If you want to check it out, you can find the paper here:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UWALawRw/2011/8.html


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  • Home
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