Education and Information Technologies 8:4, 327–343, 2003.  2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands. Comparing Lectures: Effects of the Technological Context of the Studio YVONNE FRITZE and YNGVE TROYE NORDKVELLE * Department of Social Science, Lillehammer University College, 2626 Lillehammer, Norway E-mails: {Yvonne.Fritze;Yngve.Nordkvelle}@hil.no Abstract This presentation compares how lectures are being performed in different technological contexts: that of the studio, for taping of videotapes, or in front of a camera for the purpose of videoconferencing, or, for a live presen- tation. The different contexts will be described according to the communication theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, and contrasted with findings from contemporary research on lecturing and teacher–student in- teraction. The comparison between the videotaped lecture and the live lecture reveals important differences as to style of communication. The taped lectures are more stringent and content-oriented, while the live-lectures are time-consuming and more focused on establishing dialogues with students. Videoconference-lecturing contains features that place it between the live- and videotaped lecture. This paper concludes that videoconferencing is problematic with serious problems to handle for students and teachers alike. Keywords: distance education, educational media, comparative analysis, systems theory, information and com- munication technology 1. Introduction The aim of this study is to develop an analytic framework for the understanding of teach- ing in higher education, particularly the didactic lecture. We will describe the lecture as a system for interaction – both in the traditional lecture on-campus as well as in distance education. To accomplish this, we will seek a fundament in the Systems Theory, as es- tablished by the German philosopher and sociologist Luhmann (1995, 1999, 2000) and compare the three varieties of the lecture. We have chosen the lecture as our focus because it is a persistent element in teaching in higher education, in spite of being criticised from students and higher education experts. This paper will present elements of Luhmann’s theory that are applicable to the case of lecturing. We then present a platform for an empirical research project on the lecture from the theoretical perspective of Luhmann, combined with other schools of thought, and formulate core concerns that these traditions and Systems Theory have in common. Then we will describe the process of collection and analysis of data. Last we will discuss our findings and make some conclusions as to the usefulness of the perspectives. Our view is that the lecture serves three functions: it is a part of the educational system which performs * Corresponding author.