Lecture attendance and web based lecture technologies: A comparison of student perceptions and usage patterns

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of web based lecture recordings on learning and attendance at lectures. Student opinions regarding the perceived value of the recordings were evaluated in the context of usage patterns and final marks, and compared with attendance data and student perceptions regarding the usefulness of lectures. The availability of recordings was not seen to impact lecture attendance, although students showed some tendency to listen to the recording for a missed lecture. Students who achieved a high mark tended to supplement lecture attendance with recording usage more than students who achieved a low mark, but they did so with greater variation. If students perceived that a learning experience was of value to their learning, they were more likely to use it. Individual case studies describing perceptions, usage patterns, and attendance records of selected students highlight the fact that there is great variation in successful learning patterns, and suggest that engagement is an important factor impacting learning. Although the use of recordings to supplement lectures was seen to enhance the learning of some students, its uptake and effectiveness was not uniform across the cohort. This observation highlights the need for a range of learning modes in engineering education, appealing to a diverse set of individual learning styles. Future work is described in the context of these findings.