Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Using video 113 
I can use?” He went on to deliver a stunning speech without any 
visual aids because the one piece of technology I had not thought 
of getting for the conference was a blackboard. 
Tis story indicates how lecturers love to use the somewhat 
old-fashioned ways of delivery. Indeed, only recently I was in-
volved in moving ofces at my university. We had established a 
new faculty by combining some schools of study, which meant 
some people had to move to a diferent building on campus. It 
was during this move that I discovered one of my colleagues had 
an overhead projector. I thought they were ancient history, but 
clearly, someone doesn’t agree with me. If you don’t know what an 
overhead projector is, it is a device where you place a transparent 
sheet on top of a glass panel and write on it. Te panel has a bright 
bulb that shines what you have written up towards a mirror to 
project it onto a white screen. 
Te fact that one professor I met loves blackboards and anoth-
er colleague clearly uses an overhead projector is an indication 
that old technology has not entirely gone away. Many lecturers 
have decades of experience and background in teaching with 
these old technologies, and change is uncomfortable for them. 
Tat’s why you will see examples of video lectures that are not 
as good as you would expect. It is because lecturers are being 
torn away from their beloved ways of doing things into a new, 
modern world. 
Of course, despite some poor videos, there are also many excellent 
online videos for you to watch, with many lecturers becoming ad-
ept at using this new way of teaching. Even so, you need to be pre-
pared for the fact that not all online video is of an Oscar-winning 
standard. Tere is a great deal of varied output you will encounter 
as an online student. It is good to be prepared for this.