Live lectures or online videos: students’ resource choices in a first-year university mathematics module

Effects on learning of time spent by university students attending lectures and/or watching online videos

“…We also describe how students use resources by looking for groups of students that exhibit similar patterns of resource usage using cluster analysis (Howard et al, ; Inglis et al, ). We cluster using the following: the number of LOGs where the student accessed videos as a proportion of total resource use; the number of LOGs where the student used lecture attendance as a proportion of total resource use; and the number of LOGs where the student used either resource as a proportion of the number of LOGs.…”

“…To consider whether students view online lectures or not, without considering whether those same students attend live lectures or not, is to focus on one side of the story, given the interdependence of both resources. In the literature, there are some studies that do examine students' preferences to watch online lectures (or videos) and/or attend live lectures, some of the reasons behind their preferences, and the impact of resource usage on performance (Howard et al, ; Bassili, ; Bassili, , ; Inglis et al, ; McKenna & Kopittke, ). In a series of studies with first‐year psychology students in a course where students were free to attend lectures and/or watch online lectures, Bassili (, , ) found no relationship between resource choice and performance.…”

“…Inglis et al () and Howard et al () both used the statistical technique of clustering to examine patterns of student resource usage in university mathematics courses. In their study of how second‐year students enrolled to a mathematics course made use of live lectures, online lectures, and the university's mathematics learning support centre, Inglis et al () found that students made above average use of only one of the three resources (or none at all), leading them to suggest that what they observed was “blended teaching” (p. 500) as opposed to blended learning.…”

“…The study by Howard et al () examines students' choices to attend lectures and/or watch short online videos, and the impact of these choices on performance, for a first‐year mathematics course offered at a university in Ireland. This is the same course (same LOs, worksheets, and video resources) albeit a later offering (2015–2016), as the one discussed in this paper.…”

“…This paper adds to the literature in that it provides a pedagogical rationale for the design of a large university course following a lecture–recitation format that uses short online videos to support learning. It complements that of Howard, Meehan, and Parnell () by presenting the rationale for the design of the course and online videos discussed within. It also adds to the literature that examines students' choices to attend lectures and/or watch online lectures within a lecture–recitation setting at university (Bassili, ; Bassili, , ; Inglis, Papliana, Trenholm, & Ward, ; McKenna & Kopittke, ) and presents an alternative way of examining the impact of resource usage on learning by considering the time spent attending lectures and/or watching online videos.…”