Study finds students are modestly less likely to come to class when lectures are recorded, but the videos bolster their learning.
One of the biggest studies of its kind to date has concluded that although the introduction of lecture capture does lead to reduced class attendance, academics must accept that students see it as a valuable part of the learning experience.
Video recording of teaching is now common on most Western campuses, but it remains a contentious issue for some academics, who have raised concerns about issues ranging from intellectual property rights to the use of footage to undermine industrial action, as well as the impact on students’ attendance.
Efforts to get a clear answer on the last point have often been thwarted by the use of self-reported attendance data and by small sample sizes. But new research conducted at the University of Leeds draws on data across a whole institution following the installation of lecture-capture technology and finds that the availability of video footage does cause a drop in attendance.