Put It Online
Today's students demand anytime, anywhere access to
content on the web-- any content.
For those still concerned that utilizing
lecture capture technology
will result in students not showing
up for class, it's time to wake up.
A recent report from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison E-Business
Institute, "Insights Regarding Undergraduate
Preference for Lecture Capture", has revealed just how
important class capture is in the minds
of today's college students: According
to the survey, an impressive 82 percent
of respondents (7,500 UW undergraduate
and graduate students)
prefer courses with an online lecture
option. Sixty percent are even willing to
pay for lecture capture services, preferably
on a course-by-course basis.
Why is class capture so popular with
students? Sure, they use it as a study
aid; 78 percent of responding UW students
ranked "improving retention of
class materials" as a top benefit of having
lectures webcasted. But for 93 percent
of respondents, the most important
factor was that lecture capture helped
them make up for a missed class. Yes,
students are missing classes-- and not
just due to alarm clock "malfunctions."
A growing number of nontraditional
students juggle work responsibilities,
childcare commitments, and class
schedules, and classroom time can't
always be a priority.
The fact is, the need to consume content
asynchronously-- and the demand
for anytime, anywhere access to content
via the web-- has become more pervasive
than you might think. Take, for example,
the success of Hulu.com, a free
internet streaming-video service that is
making full-length TV shows and movies
available to anyone in the US (and it's
legal). The company has partnered with
television giants Fox, NBC, and others,
convincing them that they should freely
give away their proprietary content
online. Network executives have come
to accept that their audience will no
longer respond to that bastion of television
power: the Programming Schedule.
Daytime, prime time, late night-- all are
becoming irrelevant, replaced by 24/7
access on the web.
As a business model, the ideological
move to embrace internet TV content is
nothing short of revolutionary. "This is a
tectonic shift," noted Hulu CEO Jason
Kilar in a Wired magazine interview. "And what it
does is allow network heads to find the
audience they always should have had
but couldn't reach."
Fifty-one percent of Hulu users are
between ages 12 and 29. That audience
represents the generation of students
coming to your campus-- and they
expect the online availability of the content
they need. Any content. Simply
put, like the TV networks, colleges and
universities now need to embrace the
shift to providing content online, or
risk losing relevance in today's web enabled
world.
--Rhea Kelly, Managing Editor
What have you seen and heard? Send to: [email protected].
About the Author
Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].