Old technology

So I rocked up to present on day two of my block course, very under prepared. Due to marking pressure and other lifes little happenings I had not previewed the lecture power point on medical conditions and made the compulsory tailor made changes that every lecturer does, to put their own little touch in place. Twenty minutes before the lecture started I was in a haze as to what to do. There was simply not enough time to familiarize myself with the content, let alone personalize it. Then it dawned on me…..the reverse classroom. Instead of new technology I reached for the good old textbook…well actually 8 of them, a bunch of coloured whiteboard markers and some giant post it presentation pads. Instead of talking to them about it, I decided each group would research a disease process and then present it to the rest of the class. I breathed a big sigh of relief.

The process went much better than expected. The students were really engaged and all worked well as a group. While there were holes in the information, given they only had an hour to research the topic (from text books or any online material), on the whole it was well done. I simply sat back and filled in those gaps. It probably worked even better than if I had just tried to present it from a power point slide. Some technologies never go out of fashion 🙂

In the limelight

So while lecturing on a paramedic block course today I went to demonstrate how we wanted the students to perform a certain task. Out whipped at least 10 iphones on record to capture the moment. Two thoughts passed my mind:

1. What a great way to capture information so you can recall it at a later date – good for reinforcement

2. I have no control over where this content goes!!

While 1. is probably a good use of technology to enhance the learning process, 2. could potentially be troublesome. What if someone decides to post the video on their facebook page, blog or some random website where my education session is suddenly exposed for all to see and critique on? Now, I am the first to admit that I am not perfect – and I am always open to constructive criticism, but could this come back to bite me?

What does everyone else think? Do you permit video recording in your lectures? Do you have concrete guidelines on where this information can be used/posted?

#mosomelt