This year’s Open Ed conference
brought to light a strange, new, phenomenon of students listening to
prerecorded video lectures at double speed in order absorb the
information faster. In theory, that sounds like a neat
idea: Listen to a lecture in half the time and you can listen to twice
as many lectures in the timespan it would take you to listen to one
live lecture.
The problem with that scheme is that the humanity is being stripped from the lecture in favor of speed over content.
Good teachers weave a story.
They pause.
They change the tone of their voice.
They let silence ring.
Fast-forwarding
ruins the storytelling experience of a good teacher and that practiced
performance is a big part of the learning dyad.
Real
time happens for a reason in a live classroom and if we hope to
preserve that intimate learning experience online, we need to force
online lectures to be watched in the same rhythms and silences as they
were originally delivered.
The real speaks to authenticity.
The fast-forward strips out the context that was carefully prepared to shape meaning.
