The use of lecture capture in university mathematics education: a systematic review of the research literature

Abstract

Lecture capture (LC), the process of recording face-to-face lectures for future viewing, has become a common technology in Western universities in the twenty-first century, yet research on its effectiveness has lagged behind its implementation. Despite the rapid, widespread implementation, research regarding the impact LC has on pedagogy and student attainment is limited and not conclusive in its findings. It is still unclear if there is a causal or a correlated relationship between attainment and usage of LC. This systematic review sought to collate and compare the current literature on the efficacy of LC in tertiary mathematics education and provide practical advice for institutions that use or plan to use LC. The literature is consistent in the opinion that students and administrators positively view LC for its utility and flexibility despite the moderately strong evidence that most institutions face attendance drops. However, most students do tend to see attending lectures/watching recordings as an “either-or.” The literature predominantly reports a negative association between attainment and the use of LC as a substitute to live lectures. The proportion of students who choose to skip live lectures has steadily increased over the last decade as the student campus culture adjusts to LC. Within this group, LC is used imperfectly, providing false benefits and promoting surface learning strategies. There is evidence that regular use of LC by this large group of students may diminish the quality of their learning. We offer research-informed, evidence-based recommendations to mitigate the unplanned and counterproductive impact of LC implementation.

Media effects accompanying the use of recorded lecture videos in undergraduate mathematics instruction

“…Mathematics students want RLVs because they perceive them to be an effective means of advancing their learning (Fital-Akelbek & Akelbek, 2018;Yoon et al, 2014), with the ability to control the pace of instruction, perhaps the most consistently valued feature (O'Callaghan et al, 2017;Yoon et al, 2014). Yet, providing some pause to current implementation efforts, findings regarding academic outcomes have been mixed, with both known reviews of associated studies finding a negative correlation between students' use of RLVs and their academic performance (Lindsay & Evans, 2021;Trenholm et al, 2012). This suggests either weaker mathematics students tend to use RLVs and/or the use of RLVs is somehow depressing student learning.…”

Inquiry-based mathematics education: a call for reform in tertiary education seems unjustified

“…In addition, given the meta-analytic evidence of learning benefits in active learning classrooms [5], serious consideration should be given to flipping the classroom [102]. Given the evidence of emerging trends in student behavior, with more and more students choosing to view recorded lectures instead of attending live lectures [103], it seems reasonable to use the class time for something else. The lecture content can be viewed by students before class so that face-to-face time could be spent on whole-class interactive discussions of the viewed content with a lecturer, followed by problem-solving in small groups.…”

A Collaboratively-Derived Research Agenda for E-assessment in Undergraduate Mathematics

“…Rather than being focused on details of the design choices facing task designers, these questions are concerned with the implications of those choices for how students engage with e-assessment and their studies more generally. Thus, the questions have a similar motivation to work on understanding how students respond to other aspects of teaching, such as the use of lecture recordings (Wood et al, 2021;Lindsay & Evans, 2021) or guided notes (Iannone & Miller, 2019).…”