{"id":129953,"date":"2021-09-02T13:49:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T11:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=129953"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:49","slug":"smooth-baptism-of-fire-for-next-gen-hybrid-lecture-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/09\/02\/smooth-baptism-of-fire-for-next-gen-hybrid-lecture-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Smooth start for next-gen hybrid lecture hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Em\u00f6 Oldenkamp (Erasmus School of Economics) was met by happy faces in her lecture hall in the Theil Building on Tuesday. First-year Econometrics students were attending the first Introduction to Analysis lecture – 75 students in the hall and the other 225 from their laptops on Zoom.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWouter Sterrenburg<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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Em\u00f6 Oldenkamp<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Last year there were often technological issues, says Oldenkamp, but everything has changed since then. Two lecture halls on the ground floor of the Theil Building have now been designated as next-gen\u00a0<\/em>hybrid lecture halls. Here, there should be fewer delay and sync issues, two common problems in previous hybrid lectures. On her screen, the lecturer sees all the students at home via Zoom, and these students can also ask questions, just like students in the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of the systems. Just read everything carefully beforehand,\u201d Oldenkamp advises colleagues who are slightly more digital phobic. In fact, she enjoys new technology, so immediately agreed to work with the new system in the pilot organised by the Center for Learning and Innovation.<\/p>\n

Bit nervous<\/h2>

On Tuesday morning, a couple of hours before her first lecture, she was \u2018a bit nervous\u2019, says Oldenkamp. After a quick briefing by the Media Support Centre, however, she felt confident. And justifiably: the lecture went almost without a hitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no delay, so I can just as easily answer questions from Zoom students as from the hall.\u201d The only remaining issue is that students on Zoom can\u2019t hear questions from students in the hall. \u201cThat means that I need to repeat the question, but I sometimes forgot to do that. So, I expressly told the students on Zoom to remind me. Hopefully, we\u2019ll get a microphone in the hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much less delay<\/h2>

In the past, Oldenkamp sometimes used a catchbox,\u00a0<\/em>a throwable microphone. However, due to the risk of infection, she doesn\u2019t think that\u2019s such a good idea. And students putting their hands up on Zoom doesn\u2019t work either. She tells them to just interrupt her. \u201cI don\u2019t see those hands. I\u2019ve noticed that some students don\u2019t like suddenly being heard in the hall via Zoom. I therefore schedule an extra hour after each lecture for questions. To be honest, I hadn\u2019t expected there to be so many after the first introductory lecture, but we needed the entire hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hybrid lectures were given last academic year too, but they used a different, less advanced system. \u201cIt operated via an American provider,\u201d Oldenkamp explains. \u201cThe visual quality was excellent, but we had a lot of delay on the line. Sometimes I\u2019d be asked questions about subjects I\u2019d addressed two minutes previously. That meant going back, which was quite disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Before<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t