Australian university students’ access to web-based lecture recordings and the relationship with lecture attendance and academic performance

Abstract

Web-based lecture technology (WBLT) allows students access to recorded lectures delivered live to the classroom any time and to any device with internet. This technology has become standard across universities. This study of Australian undergraduate psychology students explored many important questions related to WBLT. About 75% of students surveyed utilised recorded lectures. Qualitative responses allowed students to explain many reasons for using WBLT, including to study for exams, regular study throughout the semester, to catch up on lectures they missed attending, and to clarify specific parts of the lecture. Four types of students were identified. Those who: (1) attended lectures regularly and did not access recordings; (2) attended most or all lectures and also accessed recordings to reinforce learning and for exams; (3) attended lectures but when they missed class accessed recordings; also accessed to reinforcing learning and for exams; and (4) did not attend lectures (by choice or due to personal circumstances) and only accessed lecture recordings. No differences in final grades were found based on higher/lower lecture attendance or higher/lower access of lecture recordings. It is concluded that WBLT is flexible, allowing students to apply it in different ways and the different patterns are related to similar academic achievement.

Investigating synchronous and asynchronous class attendance as predictors of academic success in online education

“…This is in agreement with the results of the meta-analysis of Allen et al (2004) which indicated that the use of synchronous interactive technology does not necessarily mean increased final grades. This is also similar to previous research that found no difference in final grades when comparing different patterns of attending face-to-face lectures and accessing recordings of the lectures (Chapin, 2018;Kinash, Knight, & McLean, 2015). This may be due to vicarious interaction when students learn from watching other students interact (Sutton, 2001).…”

Sentiment Analysis of Student Engagement with Lecture Recording

“…The literature shows a variation in the uptake of recorded lectures; disciplines such as business, the social sciences and the engineering exhibit more positive attitude towards the use of lecture recording compared to lecturers in the science disciplines (Dona et al 2017 ; Rahman et al 2018 ). Chapin ( 2018 ) identified four types of students who engage with lecture recording: Students who attended lectures regularly and did not access the lecture recordings; Those who regularly attended lectures and used lecture recordings to reinforce what they had learned in class, and for exams; Those who attended lectures and only accessed the recordings when they had missed a lecture, wanted to reinforce what they learned and prepare for exams; Those did not attend lectures either by choice or circumstances and relied on the recordings. …”

To capture the research landscape of lecture capture in university education

“…Among the handful of articles that included such a level of details, length of the lectures captured was mostly reported as 1 h or less (e.g., Brooks et al, 2014 ; Elliott & Neal, 2016 ; Williams et al, 2016 ). In three articles, duration of the lectures varied from one to 2 h ( Chapin, 2018 ; Jones & Olczak, 2016 ; Trenholm et al, 2019 ). In yet another three articles, lectures were as long as 3 h ( Bollmeier et al, 2010 ; Chen & Lin, 2012 ; Owston et al, 2011 ).…”

“…Drouin (2014) further revealed that even though students had a positive attitude toward lecture capture, they seldom viewed the actual lecture recordings. In addition, despite the general proclivity of the scholarly community to report only significant results and under-report those that are non-significant ( Kerr, 1998 ; Yukhymenko, 2011 ), it is telling that several works have indicated a non-significant association between lecture capture viewing and academic performance ( Bollmeier et al, 2010 ; Chapin, 2018 ; Euzent et al, 2011 ; Ford et al, 2012 ; Hadgu et al, 2016 ; Leadbeater et al, 2013 ; Mallinson & Baumann, 2015 ; Sarsfield & Conway, 2018 ; Traphagan et al, 2010 ).…”

“…For scholars to conduct lecture capture research using online logs, there are implications for lecture capture technology too. It is misleading that students who merely click on a link are considered to have accessed a lecture recording ( Chapin, 2018 ). Perhaps, tools such as Panopto need to track the duration for which students are active and inactive.…”