Characterization of Catch-Up Behavior: Accession of Lecture Capture Videos Following Student Absenteeism

Magen Brady,Genevieve Newton,Rachel Wong

doi:10.3390/educsci3030344

Abstract

The use of lecture capture in higher education is becoming increasingly widespread, with many instructors now providing digital videos of lecture content that can be used by students as learning resources in a variety of ways, including to catch up on material after a class absence. Despite accumulating research regarding the relationship between lecture capture and attendance, the nature of catch-up behavior following an absence has not been well characterized. This study measured attendance in relation to lecture video accesses to determine whether students catch up after missing a class, and if so, within what timeframe. Overall, it was found that 48% of absences were not associated with a corresponding lecture video access, and that when absences were caught up, the length of time taken to access the video was highly variable, with the time to the next exam being the likely determinant of when the video was viewed. Time taken to access a video was directly associated with deep learning approach score (as measured by the R-SPQ-2F). Males took significantly longer to view a corresponding lecture video after an absence than females, and missed significantly more classes than females. This study confirms that students use lecture capture variably, and that characteristics such as gender and learning approach influence lecture capture behavior including catch-up following an absence, a finding that is not unexpected given the diversity of students in higher education.

Highlights

The term “lecture capture” describes the multimedia capturing of live lectures before an audience of students in higher education
It was shown in a study that measured physical attendance that approximately 42% of students do not catch up by viewing a video after missing a class [16], most studies looking at lecture capture and attendance rely on student self-reports of attendance, or head counts taken at each lecture [17], making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions regarding the use of lecture videos following student absences
Lecture capture is becoming increasingly popular in higher education, and the interest in this technology is projected to intensify in the near future

Summary

Introduction

The term “lecture capture” describes the multimedia capturing of live lectures before an audience of students in higher education. While there may be technological and pedagogical challenges associated with the use of lecture capture (for a review, see [5]), the associated benefits are significant, and include improved performance [6,7,8,9], increased student satisfaction [7,10,11], enhanced understanding of content and clarification of difficult topics [10,12,13], and better access for students with disabilities [7,14] and students for whom English is a second language [15] These benefits have been the subject of intense research interest over the last several years, as has the association between lecture capture and class attendance, described in detail below. It remains to be determined whether absences are caught up immediately or after a lapse of time, nor is it known whether catch-up behavior is associated with student characteristics such as gender and student approach to learning

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