Status: Complete

lobby the university to improve recorded lectures

Given that teaching will be predominantly online for the forseeable future, I am surprised by how little preparation seems to have been done by the University. The failiure of Panopto and slow performance of Blackboard on the first day of teaching was especially concerning.

Training: Lecturers need some basic training in the proper use of online lecture tools: how to use them, which to use for what purpose, and how to deliver an engaging video presentation. Online teaching can be really engaging, but it requires a slightly different approach. The University needs to produce a strategy for this.

Blackboard: Face to face lectures are hard to miss, so long as you read your timetable; this is not the case for untimetabled lecture recordings. Departments need to issue guidelines on how to structure and signpost a blackboard page. Content should be intuitive to find but also listed in a comprehensive, hyperlinked index document. Perhaps 9am Monday briefings could also be standard for every module, to clarify what the live sessions will be and to remind students of the week's recorded content.

Lecture Audio: It would be really helpful if all lecturers could be offered a good-quality headset. This would improve many lecturers' audio, especially for those whose laptop microphones pick up fan noise.

Some effort at volume level normalisation would be nice, too, but if I can find the lectures and hear what's being said that would do for now.

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