From blogs.telestream.net
TED started it all. Then Khan Academy and big name schools like Harvard and Oxford have started uploading videos of their teachers teaching online. Other schools want to get on the bandwagon. Now the problem with this is that professors at Harvard and Oxford are usually of much better caliber than TEFL instructors at rinky, dinky universities.Don't get me wrong, there are great TEFL teachers out there. But giving a lecture is totally different than teaching EFL. TEFL teachers move around a lot and the video can get jumpy and make you sick. Plus, teachers shouldn't be talking a lot in student centred classes, which makes e-lectures a misnomer.
However, schools shouldn't upload videos of their teachers teaching without their permission, without giving them some type of payment or incentive, and just because everyone else is doing it. And schools shouldn't force their teachers to participate. If it's in the contract from the beginning that's one thing, but changing the contract is a no-no.
