Digital thinking: This week I have been self-isolating but still delivering lectures!

Many HE institutions pride themselves on the power and prestige of that tried and tested delivery mechanism of the face to face lecture.  They then compound the idiosyncrasies of this system by "capturing" these episodes with Lecture Capture (see my blog "Watching Paint Dry").

But what if the lecturer cannot be in the lecture hall because of illness, self-isolation or other reasons?

My answer - prepare PODCASTS.

Photos from Kisspng and Unknown Author, licensed under CC BY-SA

Microsoft Powerpoint (other presentation software is available) provides some excellent help in recording a slideshow and then exporting it as an MP4. (Just go to "Record a slide show" on the Powerpoint HELP tab).  What the lecturer needs to do is to split the 2 hour lecture into a series of 10 minute podcasts - it is surprising how few you actually need to span a 2 hour "lecture" and then record the podcasts, save them as MP4 files and upload them to the VLE (or directly to the Lecture Capture space).

Put this together with the 5 Rs of Pedagogic thinking in a previous blog and you may even end up with blended learning!