What I do now is not ask cameras on or off, I demand engagement. You have to engage with the instructor, your classmates, the content, the exercises. If you don’t engage, I ask them to find another course or instructor. So, that is a working agreement that is addressed early on.
Content-wise, it is very clear: Usabilty needs do not change within a couple of decades. Spoken or written word contains only a minor portion of overall communication. Therefore, seeing faces during a conversation will give you more content.
Style-wise, it is very unattractive trying to decide a question for the now and here using personal experience from "a different past". This appears like creating a hierarchy: As people either have experienced it or not, and only the experienced have the whole picture, it is obviously the privilege of the old to decide on the question. Sounds very un-agile.
That does not mean past experience cannot serve. Whenever patterns repeat under different circumstances or it seems an old pattern becomes fashionable again, it is great to bring this in a discussion.
More light-hearted:
- When I was young, I hated it when people started giving advice starting with the words "when I was young".
- I have decades of experience to clearly know that I do not accept arguments based on "decades of experience".
What I do now is not ask cameras on or off, I demand engagement. You have to engage with the instructor, your classmates, the content, the exercises. If you don’t engage, I ask them to find another course or instructor. So, that is a working agreement that is addressed early on.
I like the clarity and generality of this approach, Leon.
I would distinguish between content and style.
Content-wise, it is very clear: Usabilty needs do not change within a couple of decades. Spoken or written word contains only a minor portion of overall communication. Therefore, seeing faces during a conversation will give you more content.
Style-wise, it is very unattractive trying to decide a question for the now and here using personal experience from "a different past". This appears like creating a hierarchy: As people either have experienced it or not, and only the experienced have the whole picture, it is obviously the privilege of the old to decide on the question. Sounds very un-agile.
That does not mean past experience cannot serve. Whenever patterns repeat under different circumstances or it seems an old pattern becomes fashionable again, it is great to bring this in a discussion.
More light-hearted:
- When I was young, I hated it when people started giving advice starting with the words "when I was young".
- I have decades of experience to clearly know that I do not accept arguments based on "decades of experience".