BCM212 Opinion Piece - Do online lectures satisfy students' learning?

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the way we view learning for the foreseeable future, and students are now more dependent on online learning than ever before. Universities have shifted back to face-to-face learning for most tutorials, but lectures will continue to be delivered live, pre-recorded or both. However, learning online has proven difficult for many students due to differences in how individual students best learn content. Online lectures raise the question, do online lectures satisfy students' learning?

Student satisfaction refers to a student's short-term attitude due to overall experience with their education, services, and facilities (Weerasinghe et al., 2015). The original format of lectures is about 50 minutes long, but research from the book Tools for Teaching indicates the ideal time should be approximately 10-18 minutes (Blake, n.d). In addition, students have a biological attention span of 15 minutes, suggesting lectures should be presented in 15-minute increments because after this point, attention lags (Biggs et al., 2011 & McKeachie et al., 2002).

This is without even considering the impacts of online lectures, which have further decreased students' attention span (Balan et al., 2020). Students' attention span concerning online learning has found a positive relationship between boredom and attentional problems (Balan et al., 2020). Attention is a state of mental awareness and focuses that can be achieved through high arousal, increasing students' ability to retain information during online lectures (Balan et al., 2020 & Rosegard & Wilson, 2013). If online lectures do not effectively provide student arousal and increase attention, can online lectures satisfy students' learning?

Research

To better understand this issue, I needed to engage with a larger sample size to recognise whether students shared similar curiosities and feelings towards online lectures and if they satisfied learning needs. On the #BCM212 group on Twitter, I generated a poll asking students, "What is everyone's thoughts on online lectures? Do you find yourselves actively engaging or surfing the internet possible doing a sneaky online shop?". I received 31 responses from this poll alone, with 87% admitting high disengagement levels during online lectures and only 13% being actively engaged. This response was staggering as I did not expect so many students to be disengaged. This outcome confirmed my decision to examine whether online lectures satisfied students learning, as many students appeared to have high disengagement levels.

Before conducting formal questionnaires and interviews, I needed to gain a deeper understanding of prior research into this topic so that my questions could be more insightful and I would receive better responses. My research was largely influenced by a report conducted by Bond University to examine how online lectures are affecting students learning. The report explored how online lectures are now a prevalent form of digital scholarship (Kinash, 2015). The online lectures can be delivered live and pre-recorded, with surveys suggesting that students who can access the live lectures but choose to watch the recorded lectures believe that the lectures will aid their learning substantially and are more engaged (Kinash, 2015). This was supported through my questionnaire using Google Forms, where I received a total of 14 responses and 10 out of the 14 students chose to watch the recorded lectures instead of the live lectures. Whilst it still isn't clear if this response is due to students' flexibility or that recorded lectures are perceived to be more advantageous to students for revision purposes and aid those students who prefer self-paced learning (Kinash, 2015).

When I asked students the most significant benefit of online lectures, 11 out of the 14 respondents mentioned the convenience of learning when it best suits them. Online lectures allow students to engage in lecture content when it suits them and their timetable, especially for students who can not be on campus often due to distance or other commitments. Based on my research, I believe students choose the recorded lectures due to the flexibility of watching them when is most convenient. This, therefore, enhances and satisfies the learning experience. Furthermore, 57.1% of students would attend live on-campus lectures if offered on campus and aligned with their uni schedule. Whilst, 28.6% preferred to watch the entirety of lecture content online. This supports Bond University's conclusion that students believe that information technology enhances the learning experience (Kinash, 2015), which can be seen in the students' preference for watching lecture content online instead of in person.

Despite my questionnaire allowing me to gain a deeper insight into other students' overall satisfaction with online lectures, I wanted to engage in a one-on-one interview with a student. The student admitted that she engages less with online lecture content due to the variety of distractions and tends to disassociate and, as a result, becomes a passive learner. However, even though online lectures open up more opportunities to become distracted, students have the flexibility to rewatch content and pause during lectures and work at a pace that is most beneficial for them. The student believed that the overall online lecture experience enhanced their learning, despite higher levels of disengagement.

The University of Flordia released an article outlining student performance and perception when comparing face-to-face lectures and online lectures (Euzent et al., 2011). The findings concluded that students preferred the flexibility and convenience of online lectures but had higher withdrawal rates than face-to-face and required more self-discipline (Euzent et al., 2011). This directly correlated with the insights gained from the interview and questionnaire, with students viewing online lectures as more convenient but experiencing higher disengagement rates. In addition, the student interviewed admitted that due to distance, attending live lectures if they were offered at the University wouldn't be an option but believes that they would engage more in lecture materials. This response forces students to question how they learn best and whether the convenience of online lectures overrides the higher level of engagement students have during in-person learning.

Due to privacy reasons and my own experience of only online lectures, I could not compare student satisfaction in the aspect of academic performance. However, studies have demonstrated no significant difference in performance when comparing face-to-face and online lectures, only higher withdrawal rates (Williams et al., 2012 & Euzent et al., 2011).

Call to Action

This research aimed to provide students with the validation that their experiences with learning online lectures are shared by many others attending University and are not alone in their struggles. In addition, this report will allow students to reflect on their relationship with online lectures and possibly increase their attention levels by making the most of online lecture features.

Students' responses have confirmed the difficulties associated with learning online, such as low motivation and limited attention span, so teachers may need to modify pedagogy. As previously mentioned, the length of the lectures has a considerable influence on students' engagement levels (Blake, n.d & Deneen and Cowling, 2021) so universities could consider shortening lectures to be more concise. University lecturers should also continue developing the teaching methods by integrating peer instruction and high tech collaborating platforms. By modifying online lectures, students' motivation may increase and reduce the rising dropout rates due to online lectures instead of face-to-face (Lee & Martin, 2017).

Conclusion

Based on my research, there are high levels of disengagement during online lectures. However, students still prefer the course delivery modality as a viable alternative to face-to-face delivery as it is highly convenient. The format allows students to pause and watch content at their leisure (Euzent et al., 2011). Ultimately, lecturers need to continue to adjust their lectures to engage online audiences more. Online lectures may decrease attention and motivation but demonstrate higher levels of accessibility and make better study material, satisfying students' learning.

References

Balan, A.K., Jacintos, A.R. and Montemayor, T., 2020. The Influence of Online Learning towards the Attention Span and Motivation of College Students. [Accessed 30 May 2022].

Biggs, J. and Tang, C., 2011. Teaching for quality learning at University. McGraw-hill Education (UK). [Accessed 29 May 2022].

Blake, C., n.d. Structuring Your Class to Maximize Student Attention. [online] Resilient Educator. Available at: <https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/short-attention-span-class-structure/> [Accessed 30 May 2022].

Deneen, C. and Cowling, M., 2021. Good riddance to boring lectures? Technology isn't the answer – understanding good teaching is. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/good-riddance-to-boring-lectures-technology-isnt-the-answer-understanding-good-teaching-is-158217> [Accessed 29 May 2022].

Euzent, P., Martin, T., Moskal, P. and Moskal, P.D., 2011. Assessing student performance and perceptions in lecture capture vs. face-to-face course delivery. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 10(1), pp.295-307.

Kinash, S., 2021. COVID killed the on-campus lecture, but will unis raise it from the dead?. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/covid-killed-the-on-campus-lecture-but-will-unis-raise-it-from-the-dead-152971> [Accessed 30 May 2022].

Kinash, S., Knight, D. and McLean, M., 2015. Does digital scholarship through online lectures affect student learning?. Educational Technology and Society, 18(2), pp.129-139. [Accessed 30 May 2022].

Lee, J., & Martin, L. (2017). Investigating students' perceptions of motivating factors of online class discussions. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 18(5), 148–172. [Accessed 29 May 2022].

McKeachie, W.J. and Brewer, C.L., 2002. The teaching of psychology: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer. Taylor & Francis. [Accessed 29 May 2022].

Rosegarden, E., & Wilson, J., 2013. Capturing students' attention: An empirical study. Journal Of The Scholarship Of Teaching & Learning, 13(5), 1–20. [Accessed 29 May 2022].

Weerasinghe, I.S. and Fernando, R.L., 2017. Students' satisfaction in higher education. American journal of educational research, 5(5), pp.533-539. [Accessed 29 May 2022].

Williams, A., Birch, E. and Hancock, P., 2012. The impact of online lecture recordings on student performance. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 28(2). [Accessed 29 May 2022].