Digital Videotaping (DVT): Evaluating an Innovative Mode of Lecture Delivery in Psychology

Abstract

The emergence of regional campuses aligned to main university campus sites has created new challenges for the development of innovative teaching modes to promote student learning. One such mode is digital videotaping (DVT) of lectures. This study evaluated the effectiveness of DVT against live face-to-face lectures and live video-conferenced modes using the newly developed Mode of Lecture Delivery Survey (MLDS) amongst a sample of 225 introductory psychology students. Across semesters 1 and 2, the results revealed that despite the DVT being rated as satisfactory ‘overall’, the face-to-face lecture and live video-conferenced modes were significantly better received. Interestingly, whilst the DVT group's perceived learning outcomes (i.e. ‘learning psychology material’ and ‘easiness to follow lecture material’) were similar to the other two groups, they reported feeling less ‘connected’ to the lecture(r) at the main campus and were less likely to want this mode of lecture delivery for ‘future lectures’. This dissociation between students' perceived effectiveness of the course (‘learning material’ and ‘easiness to follow material’) and ‘overall satisfaction’ rating is a challenging contradiction that cross-campus educators will need to address in future refinements to DVT lecture delivery.