Quantitative study showing how and why students access lecture recordings, and of the association between accessing and academic outcomes, in a biochemistry course.

Abstract

Many factors predict academic performance at university but accessing lecture recordings has not been established as one. Our aims were to quantify how and why biochemistry students accessed lecture recordings and to determine any association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. Lecture recording access data was collected and related to academic outcomes. On average, students accessed 46% of lecture recordings and each recording was accessed 2.3 times, but not to completion. After lecture delivery, students were slow to access lecture recordings, and the number of accesses was still increasing prior to the examinations. For the entire cohort, there were weak positive associations between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes for the semester, and between the access to lecture recordings in weeks 1-5 and 6-11 with the mid-semester and final examination, respectively. For programs, the weak association for the semester was only apparent for the pharmacy and biomedical science students, and not for the medical laboratory or nutrition students. The most common reason for accessing lecture recording was to "Revise lecture concepts for assessment purposes." For students, who did not attend lectures, lecture recordings were accessed predominantly as "I prefer the flexibility of online recordings." Flexibility was also the theme of the positive additional feedback on accessing lecture recordings. In conclusion, consideration needs to be given on how to persuade students to access lecture recordings in a timelier way. As accessing lecture recordings is weakly associated with positive academic outcomes for some program cohorts, this supports their continued availability.