Joshua E. Raffaelli '02 has been bedridden for a week with pneumonia, unable to attend class or leave his room.
Nevertheless, he has not missed a single lecture for Chemistry 5, "Introduction to Principles of Chemistry."
Beginning this semester, all "Chem 5" lectures have been digitized and posted on the course web site. Students can access the lectures from their rooms and view them using Real Video.
"The digitized lectures are awesome. I can't get out to go to class, [but I can view them on my computer]," Raffaelli said. "They're perfect."
The digitized lectures are designed to benefit all students, not just those who miss class. Students can use the lectures to review their notes, clear up misconceptions or study for a test.
"If you miss a piece of information in lecture, you can go back and get it really easily. They're also good to review before a test," said Tova A. Serkin '02.
Praise for the Real Video lectures is nearly universal, from both students and faculty members.
"Students don't have to go to Cabot to reserve the video and the television room. It's a tremendous boost in efficiency," said Chem 5 instructor James E. Davis, a senior lecturer on chemistry and chemical biology.
"The little stuff that I saw was really neat. It was like a glimpse of the future," said Gregory C. Tucci, head laboratory teaching fellow for Chem 5.
But Tucci stressed that the digitized lectures were not designed to replace classes.
"One of the reasons this was instituted was not as a substitute for lecture but as a substitute for going to Cabot and watching the video," he said.
Despite the course's early 9 a.m. start time, most students have resisted the urge to grab a couple more hours of sleep and watch the lecture later, according to Tucci.
"[The lectures are] already available on video, so that might minimize skipping class," said Robert S. Hill '02.
The technology to digitize lectures and post them on the Web was developed over the summer.
The Instructional Computing Group (ICG) of the Faculty of Arts While the new technology has been successful,there are no long-range plans to implement thesystem throughout the College. Read more in News
