"Listen carefully – I shall say this only once"

Older readers may be familiar with the 1980s BBC sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo, set in occupied France during the Second World War. At some point in every episode, the character Michelle (leader of the local Resistance) gathers her co-conspirators together with the command “Listen carefully – I shall say this only once”.

I was reminded of this recently by comments from an academic colleague doubting the value of lecture capture. Indeed, there are a number of well-known learning technology bloggers who have misgivings. In many cases, the reasonable concerns expressed by academics (notably that “if we put the lectures online, the students won’t attend”) are simply not supported by any evidence, either locally or across the sector. (If you can find a paper where the use of lecture capture has been shown to have a negative impact on attendance, please do let me know!)

But ultimately, if we can agree that there is still a place for ‘traditional’ lectures to large groups in HE, I would suggest this: by and large, if it’s worth lecturing, it’s worth capturing.

That is, unless (like Michelle) you’re only willing to say it once!