Innovative pedagogies series: Videos for learning and teaching

The expression ‘chalk and talk’ has been used synonymously for boring and old-fashioned teaching style, but

this approach can have advantages over more ‘modern’ teaching styles, notably the use of slides and

asynchronous online delivery of lectures (for review see Seth 2010). However, a major disadvantage of this

teaching style is the transient nature of the notes scribbled on the board: once the notes and explanations

have been wiped off, they are gone, persisting only in the more or less complete notes of the students. As a

result students focus their attention predominantly on trying to keep up with copying the notes from the

board while at the same time listening to the lecturer, which can easily lead to cognitive load (Mayer 2003). It

is not a surprise that many students find it challenging to engage with the topic while anxiously trying to get a

complete set of notes and at the same time listening to the lecturer. In my view, students should focus on the

development of the topic rather than copying the board contents. It was important to me to improve the

learning experience and to provide accessible, flexible and diverse learning opportunities that improve

student engagement with their studies.