Maaike van Leijen University of Amsterdam Back to Homepage	Capturing lectures at the University of Amsterdam Maaike van Leijen University of Amsterdam
	This summer was a time of fast decisions for the Biology and Psychology department at the university of Amsterdam. The Biology department faced a big growth of the student population. At the same time there was a lack of university Biology teachers. The Psychology department was confronted with the tragical sudden loss of one of their best teachers, who would teach the introduction course for 650 students, shile only 500 students can sit in one room at the same time. Both departments decided to videocapture the lectures, independent from each other. The Biology lectures were captured and shown to students who were sitting in a room nearby. The teacher could walk to the students in that room and give them the possibility to ask him questions. The video lectures became available in the virtual learning environment Blackboard. The Psychology department lacked the possibility of another room where students could watch the video similarly with their colleague-students. Therefore the main part of the students followed the live lecture while it was being captured by camera and sound. The rest of the students watched the video lecture a few hours later, in the evening, in the same space. At that time a live introduction by a 'real' professor was provided. Students watched the video lecture together because it is their first introduction course in their first year. A remarkable thing that happened was that as soon as the talking head of the professor disappeared in the video, the hullabaloo began. Before that it felt like the professor was in the room. The thing that is interesting in both cases is that video is used to solve practical problems, with many implications for pedagogy. Will both departments use the video streams next time the courses are being taught? Will they collaborate and share their experiences? Will the university develop a way in wich departments can capture their lectures in a practical way? Will departments share material or re-use each others material? Will they collaborare with other universities in the Netherlands or maybe abroad? What do students think of this type of education? Do they like to follow the complete courses together or do some prefer to follow certain parts in their own time at their chosen place? What kind of assessments are required? So many questions. We hope to find some answers in the time that follows. Back to Homepage
	This document was prepared for the DIVERSE newsletter November 2004 - ref: www.diverse-net.org/diversenl1104mvl1.htm