Watching or Waiting?: Effects of In‐Person Active Learning Sessions on Student Engagement with Lecture Recordings and Course Resources

Abstract

It is no surprise that the Covid‐19 pandemic severely affected higher education during the 2020‐2021 academic year. However, these effects continue to be felt throughout many classrooms as students and instructors struggle to return to any semblance of normalcy. Our research sought to investigate the following question: How do students’ interactions with lecture recordings and perceptions of their study strategies differ between the Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 semesters? We examined this question in a large undergraduate anatomy class in the Midwest. During the Fall of 2020, all of our lectures were pre‐recorded and posted online. During the Fall of 2021, these same recordings were used again, but in‐person active learning sessions were also provided to enhance student engagement with the material. We hypothesized that students having in‐person active learning sessions would help students to stay caught up with the lecture recordings compared to when there were no in‐person sessions. We also hypothesized that student study strategies would change with the presence of in‐person active learning. The present study utilized learning analytics from the course management system to assess student engagement with the video recordings and student survey responses to examine student perceptions and study strategies for each semester. These data were then compared with both lab and lecture exam grades and course outcomes to determine how effectively students are interacting with these materials within the context of each semester. The results found that students continue to struggle with staying caught up on lecture recordings and are even less likely to engage with the lecture recordings when in‐person active learning sessions are offered as well. However, this lack of engagement with these resources also corresponded with a significant drop in the average exam grades for the course despite the availability of additional resources. These results have significant implications for course management and student expectations as we (hopefully) move forward from the Covid‐19 pandemic.