University lectures are the ultimate meritocracy
Sometimes profs complain that putting lecture slides on ACE hurts lecture attendance. That isn't necessarily the case.
Two profs I have this term use slides in their lectures. Both have put the slides on ACE. In one, attendance has shot through the floor: we still have 79 people in the class (according to the schedule of classes) but fewer than half actually come to lecture. In the other, the vast majority of students enrolled (88 people) attend lecture.
What's the difference?
The two profs have similar slides in that they contain all the material I need to learn for the course. But in one class, the prof just reads the slides. Over and over again. In the other class, yes, he explains the material on the slides. But he also adds context. Background information. Interesting anecdotes related to the material. Making connections between and outside the material. The slides are sufficient to learn the material, but people still attend lectures, because lecture is a value-add proposition.
Back when I was in first year (before ACE), there were two profs teaching PHYS 121 - One was weak, one was fantastic. Guess what? The weak prof's lectures were sparsely attended. The fantastic prof filled every seat, to the point where people were standing at the back and sitting in the isles.
Here's what I'm getting at: "I won't put my slides on ACE because then people won't attend class" is a weak excuse. All students want to learn the material. Some are actually genuinely interested. But all students hate wasting their time. The greatest determining factor in students attending a lecture is the quality of that lecture. Nothing else.
To the credit of the prof who reads the slides, she does still put the slides on ACE, and doesn't complain about poor attendance. The textbook she chose is good, and her reading list is clear and complete. She doesn't care what students do as long as they end up learning the material. But there are other profs who do complain about their apparent unpopularity, yet still have terrible lectures. Forcing people to attend bad lectures does not make one a better professor.
Two profs I have this term use slides in their lectures. Both have put the slides on ACE. In one, attendance has shot through the floor: we still have 79 people in the class (according to the schedule of classes) but fewer than half actually come to lecture. In the other, the vast majority of students enrolled (88 people) attend lecture.
What's the difference?
The two profs have similar slides in that they contain all the material I need to learn for the course. But in one class, the prof just reads the slides. Over and over again. In the other class, yes, he explains the material on the slides. But he also adds context. Background information. Interesting anecdotes related to the material. Making connections between and outside the material. The slides are sufficient to learn the material, but people still attend lectures, because lecture is a value-add proposition.
Back when I was in first year (before ACE), there were two profs teaching PHYS 121 - One was weak, one was fantastic. Guess what? The weak prof's lectures were sparsely attended. The fantastic prof filled every seat, to the point where people were standing at the back and sitting in the isles.
Here's what I'm getting at: "I won't put my slides on ACE because then people won't attend class" is a weak excuse. All students want to learn the material. Some are actually genuinely interested. But all students hate wasting their time. The greatest determining factor in students attending a lecture is the quality of that lecture. Nothing else.
To the credit of the prof who reads the slides, she does still put the slides on ACE, and doesn't complain about poor attendance. The textbook she chose is good, and her reading list is clear and complete. She doesn't care what students do as long as they end up learning the material. But there are other profs who do complain about their apparent unpopularity, yet still have terrible lectures. Forcing people to attend bad lectures does not make one a better professor.