Today may mark a turning point for Oxford mathematics. Because of COVID-19, our teaching will be virtual in the coming term. I had been looking forward to live performances, but no, it has been confirmed today that all our lectures must be prerecorded. In fact, we are encouraged to have them in the can before term begins.
This little development stores up a big question for the future. A year from now, will we be allowed to reuse the lectures we have recorded? It’s hard to see how a “yes” would be tolerable to administrators, who would see their faculty as being paid to do nothing at all. But it’s equally hard to see how a “no” would be tolerable to faculty, who would see themselves as chained to a meaningless make-work scheme.
Perhaps an ingenious resolution will emerge. I look forward to seeing it.
[ 31 July 2020]
trefethendotnet 
Doesn’t it leave out more room for Teacher-Student interaction? Particularly in undergraduate courses with a skewed Teacher-Student ratio, prerecorded lectures would free up faculty’s time for more engaging discussions and exercises.