Impact of class lecture webcasting on attendance and learning

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of class lecture webcasts on students' attendance and learning. The research design employed four data collection methods in two class sections-one with webcast access and another without-of the same course taught by the same instructors. Results indicated the following four major findings. (1) The availability of webcasts negatively impacted student attendance but the availability of other online resources such as PowerPoint slides had a greater negative impact on attendance.(2) Webcast access appeared to nullify the negative effects absenteeism had on student performance.(3) For most performance measures based on lecture content, more webcast viewing was associated with higher performance. (4) Most students in the webcast section reported positive learning experiences and benefits from using webcasts, even though a majority also reported using webcasts for missing a class. In summary, these results collectively suggest that webcasts could have positive effects on students' learning experiences and performance, even if class attendance does decline.

Producing Lecture Videos from Face-to-Face Teaching

“…The results were in general agreement with the results of research carried out elsewhere, e.g. [1], [2], [11], [12].…”

Different patterns of university students’ integration of lecture podcasts, learning materials, and lecture attendance in a psychology course

“…O'Bannon et al (2011) found no differences in achievement when comparing students who had experienced lecture podcasts to students who had attended parallel lectures. In a study by Traphagan et al (2010), students who had access to lecture podcasts as well as to face-to-face lectures did not differ in achievement from students who only had access to the face-to-face lectures.…”

“…In a study by Homer et al (2008) students felt motivated and invigorated by the lecturer shown in the podcasts. In other studies, students reported being less anxious when they could take notes from lectures they viewed later on their own without having to worry about missing important information (Owston et al 2011), or that viewing lecture podcasts helped them to reduce their anxiety before a test situation (Pilarski et al 2008;Traphagan et al 2010). …”

“…It, however, has to be remembered that the study investigated lectures with a large audience (on an average with more than 300 students who attended the examination). Important advantages of face-to-face courses over broadcasted content such as interactivity with a lecturer and co-students or the opportunity to build up a motivating social relationship with a lecturer (Paechter et al 2013;Schweizer et al 2001;Traphagan et al 2010) do not come into effect in lectures with such a large audience.…”

Analysing Students’ Use of Recorded Lectures through Methodological Triangulation

“…Researchers tried to improve the quality of the recordings by addding more advanced interaction options [3,4], automated capturing [6,1,27] and camera control [13], search options [11] and mobile solutions [16]. More recently there also has been more focus on the use of the recorded lectures by students [23,9,21], their use in university settings [28,17], its use for students with a handicap [18] and possible impact of recorded lectures on the attendance of students [26,22]. Little is known, still, about the way P r e p r i n t in which students navigate within the recordings or how they find (the parts of) the recordings they want to watch.…”