Project in detail - Bec Plumbe

Student usage patterns of recorded lectures ...return to abstract

Rationale

Lecturers report that students vociferously request online lecture recordings. However, many lecturers are reluctant to provide such materials as they feel that lecture attendance will drop.

Additionally, research suggests that while many students request such materials, closer inspection of usage patterns reveal that relatively few students access relatively few recordings. Student usage patterns of selected recorded lectures will be analysed to see whether this pattern currently occurs in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.

Usage patterns will be compared to the assessment tasks in each unit of study and data from the lecture recording system logs will be correlatedwith information gathered in interviews of the lecturers.

In this study student usage patterns of recorded lectures will be discussed with reference to the types of assessment as well as teaching methods.

It is hoped that this study may reveal some student behaviour patterns that can help provide teachers with evidence-based strategies for best use of recorded lectures as part of their broader pedagogy in a given unit of study.

Purpose

This study aims to:

• identify student behaviour patterns in the use of lecture recordings and
• formulate guidelines and evidence-based strategies for teachers on the effective integration of lecture recording into their curriculum.

Method

• analysis of student usage patterns of recorded lectures
• comparison of usage patterns with schedules and types assessment in each unit of study (UOS) to see whether students appear to be making use of the recorded lectures for revision.
• interviews with lecturers using lecture recordings to explore:
  - their motivations for using the system
  - any perceived change in lecture attendance levels
  - any perceived change in student preparedness or understanding of subject matter and concepts at the time of the final assessment
  - students’ feedback to teaching staff about their use of the recorded lectures, and
  - whether lecturers have altered their teaching method in response to any observed changes in student behaviour.
• Student usage patterns of recorded lectures will be discussed with reference to assessment and teaching methods.

References

Bell, T., Cockburn, A., McKenzie, B., & Vargo, J. (2001). IMEJ Article - Digital Lectures: If You Make Them, Will Students Use Them? Constraints on Effective Delivery of Flexible Learning Systems. Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning, 3(2). Retrieved September 15, 2009, from http://imej.wfu.edu/articles/2001/2/06/index.asp.

Chang, S. (2007). Academic perceptions of the use of Lectopia: A University of Melbourne example. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. Presented at the ASCILITE 2007, Singapore. Retrieved from www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/chang.pdf.