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MIT researches online lectures: just “chunking” is not enough

Posted at 11:44 a.m. Aug. 12, 2014, by in IDT Blog: Teaching & Tech Tips

These qualities improved online lectures for students:

  • brevity (viewers tune out after six minutes)
  • informality (professors seated at a desk, not standing behind a podium)
  • lively visuals (rather than static PowerPoint slides)
  • fast talkers (the most engaging professors spoke 254 words a minute)
  • BUT more pauses (so viewers can soak in complex diagrams)
  • web-optimized lessons (existing videos retroactively broken into shorter chunks are less effective than ones created with online audiences in mind)

Peter High of Forbes reports.

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