Why a roundtable

Four people who rarely share a stage.

The people who commission online courses, the people who edit the video, the people who design the learning and the people who host it each see one part of the problem. A roundtable puts them on equal footing; it is not a town hall where one side answers to the other.

Seat 1

A university

A head of online or digital learning who has to scale courses without scaling staff.

Seat 2

An editor

A freelance editor or small agency that produces lecture video for institutions.

Seat 3

An instructional designer

Someone who turns a subject expert's knowledge into a course students complete.

Seat 4

An LMS or video-platform vendor

Someone who sees how thousands of courses are delivered, on the condition of no product pitch.

Panelists are announced here by Friday 13 November. The session is chaired by a moderator who is not a panelist.

The four rounds

What we will ask, and the evidence behind each question.

Round 1

Growth with the same people

88% of institutions plan to expand online programmes within three years, but only 28% say their faculty are "fully prepared" to design them. Who actually produces the video, and who is missing?

Source: CHLOE 10, 2025

Round 2

What makes lecture video work

In 6.9 million edX viewing sessions, informal office recordings held students longer than studio production, and lectures planned for online drew more problem attempts than reused classroom recordings (55% against 41%). The data are from the MOOC era. Is polish the problem, or planning?

Source: Guo, Kim and Rubin, 2014

Round 3

Captions and the accessibility deadline

In the US, the ADA Title II web rule now applies from 26 April 2027 to large public institutions and from 26 April 2028 to smaller ones. UK public bodies already have to caption accurately. What does it cost to make a lecture library compliant, and who checks the captions?

Source: US Federal Register, April 2026

Round 4

AI, carefully

84% of online leaders call AI investment important, but only 23% have an institution-wide strategy. A 2024 study found students less engaged by an AI avatar than by the real instructor. What should be automated, and what must stay the lecturer's?

Source: IRRODL, 2024

India runs through rounds 1 and 3: online programmes are about 2.6% of university enrolment, yet 113 universities were approved to offer them in 2025-26 (UGC approvals, AISHE data).

Run of show

Sixty minutes, no product pitch.

Lecture Studio hosts the session. It is not the subject of it.

0–5 min
Welcome
Why this panel, who is on it and how to put a question to them.
5–10 min
The numbers
Three findings from our global study of public lecture video, released the day before.
10–45 min
Four rounds
Each opens with a piece of evidence, then the panel takes it apart.
45–57 min
Your questions
Sent in advance on the form below, or typed into the live chat.
57–60 min
One sentence each
What each panelist would change first, and where to find the recording.

Save your place.

It's free. Registering gets you the joining link, a reminder and the recording, even if you can't make it live.

Register below

Add a question for the panel if you have one. The best ones open the audience round.

Add it to your calendar

Download the calendar file. The joining link follows by email.

Watch live, or later

Streamed on YouTube and LinkedIn. The recording, with edited captions and a transcript, goes on this page afterwards.

Questions

Before you register.

Is this a sales webinar?

No. Panelists are not asked to use or endorse Lecture Studio, and the session has no product segment. We host it because the people who make courseware need a place to compare notes.

Who should come?

Anyone responsible for lecture video: faculty who record, heads of online learning, instructional designers, media teams, freelance editors, agencies and LMS teams.

Will there be a recording?

Yes. Every registrant gets it by email, and it is published here with edited captions and a transcript.

How often does the Roundtable run?

Every quarter. Episode 2 is planned for March 2027, and its topic will come from the audience questions we could not reach.

Can I be on a future panel?

Tick the box on the form, or nominate someone. We look for people who do the work, not just those who talk about it.

Wednesday 9 December. Sixty minutes.

8:00 am ET · 1:00 pm GMT · 6:30 pm IST, online and free.

The Courseware Gap.