Lesson 7 - Choosing Media

Lecture Capture vs LMS: Cost Factors

In recent years, university faculty have generally gravitated more to lecture capture and video streaming for online course delivery, particularly in institutions where online or distance learning is relatively new because it is ‘simpler’ to do than redesign and create mainly text-based materials in learning management systems. Lecture capture also more closely resembles the traditional classroom method, so less change is required of the instructor.

Pedagogically though (depending on the subject area) lecture capture may be less effective than an online course using collaborative learning and online discussion forums. Also, from an institutional perspective lecture capture has a much higher technology cost than a learning management system. And, of course, lecture capture is often used in conjunction with an LMS. What different technologies tend to do though is change the spread of an instructor's time between development and delivery. Media such as an LMS can have higher initial development costs but much lower annual delivery and maintenance costs than face-to-face teaching, for instance.

Also, students themselves can now use their own devices to create multimedia materials for project work or for assessment purposes in the form of e-portfolios. Media allow instructors, if they wish, to move a lot of the hard work in teaching and learning from themselves to the students. Media allow students to spend more time on task, and low cost, consumer media such as mobile phones or tablets enable students themselves to create media artifacts, enabling them to demonstrate their learning in concrete ways. This does not mean that instructor ‘presence’ is no longer needed when students are studying online, but it does enable a shift in where and how a teacher or instructor can spend their time in supporting learning.

Cost is a critical factor influencing media choice. For instructors, the main cost will be their time. However it is important to look at time over the length of a course over several years, not just in the initial production or preparation of materials. Carefully produced media may take more time in production, but can save a great deal of time in delivery, especially if student activities and automated feedback can be built into the design. This is why some institutions have a special fund for innovative teaching or technology-based teaching and learning, to free up instructor time for design and development.

Media also differ considerably in the balance of costs between development, delivery, maintenance and overheads. Face-to-face teaching has minimal development costs, but heavy delivery costs in terms of instructor time; an LMS-based online course is has more of an equal balance between development and delivery costs. Serious games usually have high development costs but very low delivery costs.

Whatever the balance, cost is still a critical factor in media choice.