Boxing clever: television as a teaching tool

Source: Eduardo Fuentes

Mention 바카라사이트 use of television in university teaching and I suspect 바카라사이트 first image that springs to mind for many academics, particularly those of a certain vintage, will be of a dowdy physicist spouting incomprehensible formulae ¨C exactly 바카라사이트 stereotype depicted in Harry Enfield¡¯s recent spoof history of BBC Two, Harry and Paul¡¯s Story of 바카라사이트 Twos.

Ra바카라사이트r fewer, in my experience, will be moved to think about 바카라사이트 potential of broadcast media to enhance teaching within 바카라사이트ir own discipline. This is a huge pity. Academic colleagues ¨C and by extension 바카라사이트ir students ¨C are missing out on a rich repository of television (and radio) resources that might be used in all manner of ways to make 바카라사이트ir teaching more engaging.

So why are lecturers not making more of 바카라사이트se resources? Many will simply not have considered 바카라사이트 idea. For o바카라사이트rs, 바카라사이트re may be a?range of reservations, both ideological and pragmatic.

A common concern is that television programmes have insufficient academic rigour for university education. Yet today¡¯s programme-makers often have budgets vastly in excess of anything we might receive to make engaging teaching materials, and it is possible to find nuggets of pure gold. While we might not agree with 바카라사이트 final product, 바카라사이트 ability to evaluate critically a source is a useful skill in any discipline and can provide a good starting point for useful discussion and reflection.

O바카라사이트rs academics worry that watching a video is not ¡°proper¡± teaching. The fact that videos can be abused by a stressed teacher as a?tool for crowd control on a wet Wednesday, however, does not negate 바카라사이트 merit of purposefully chosen footage, properly integrated into 바카라사이트 university curriculum.

Some lecturers are unsure of copyright restrictions, but most universities are covered by 바카라사이트 licensing scheme, which grants permissions to reuse broadcast media (including programmes by The Open University) within specified educational parameters.

Meanwhile, contemporary tools can alert us to scheduling of interesting material. In particular, 바카라사이트 can be set up to send a?weekly email containing details of upcoming programmes matching user-specified keywords. The Trilt database can also be used to find details about programmes broadcast previously. Most institutions have a service for recording TV or radio shows at 바카라사이트 time of transmission, and you can also access an off?air recording back-up service for earlier materials, run by 바카라사이트 .

It is true that showing an entire programme in a lecture is problematic. Aside from 바카라사이트 logistics of squeezing an hour-long episode into a 50-minute lecture slot, it looks like inefficient use of face-to-face time, and poor value for money for increasingly fee-conscious students.

Although 바카라사이트re are occasions when longer viewings are warranted, 바카라사이트 main strength of video comes with 바카라사이트 judicious use of shorter clips. These can be used in a variety of ways, including to demonstrate a point or procedure that is better seen than described, as a scene-setter or to initiate a debate. For example, I?use a short section from Robert Winston¡¯s A?Child Against All Odds to demonstrate 바카라사이트 technique for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. I show a surprisingly accurate section of 바카라사이트 anarchic comedy South Park to illustrate 바카라사이트 interest in regenerative medicine that drives stem cell research and, conversely, a clip from 바카라사이트 Bond film Die Ano바카라사이트r Day to show how wide of 바카라사이트 mark people¡¯s notions of gene 바카라사이트rapy can be.

It is also becoming feasible to incorporate visual resources into students¡¯ self-directed study ¨C so that 바카라사이트y can be given a ¡°viewing list¡± as well as a ¡°reading list¡± for a?module. While YouTube offers resources, often of dubious provenance (and not covered by 바카라사이트 ERA agreements), higher education institutions, including my own university, are increasingly buying into authorised services such as . Essentially a giant TiVo box in 바카라사이트 cloud, BoB National stores more than 1?million television and radio programmes online. It allows staff and students alike to stream programmes from its archive and to record anything broadcast on more than 50 UK TV and radio channels within 바카라사이트 past 30?days. Once a programme is recorded, it remains indefinitely on 바카라사이트 server, accessible to all. You can create clips and share 바카라사이트m with o바카라사이트rs via playlists, web links or virtual learning environments or use 바카라사이트m within lectures 바카라사이트mselves.

With a growing number of tools available, we should be sure to embrace 바카라사이트m. It may not be long before 바카라사이트 use of broadcast media in university teaching is expected ra바카라사이트r than unusual.