The on-line lecture concept-a comparison of two approaches

Students overwhelmingly wish to be taught through live lectures. There is an overwhelming desire to have access to online lectures at all times of the day, even though they will not necessarily access them. If online lectures are to become a widely adopted delivery medium, then their construction must demand only the effort of the lecturer. The material must be easily edited so that courses can be kept up-to-date. The dynamics offered by projecting an online lecture during a live presentation should enhance the overall experience. Students who are partially sighted or blind taking courses whose delivery has a strong visual content are disadvantaged compared with those with normal sight. However, given that recorded speech conveys the lecture narrative, there is reason to believe that, with some enhancement, useful support for the visually impaired may be possible. There is also a need to offer students support for fast nonlinear access to specific topics that might be buried in a particular lecture. Thus, it is proposed to provide automatic support for searching, based on string, symbol and visual browsing techniques without further lecturer effort. There is a need to identify some guidelines that reflect best practice. Another important advantage of electronic course delivery is the extensive online testing that it is able to provide. The online lecture offers a means for exploiting information technology motivated by the possible production of higher quality course material, the ultimate in student notes, and the widening of access for both distance learning and for those with impaired vision