Is Lecture Capture benefiting (all) HE students? An Empirical Investigation

The arguments for and against lecture capture have been going for some time and the debate is far from being settled definitely either way. Most of the existing research about the impact of lecture capture on student attainment seems to show negligible or little effects while examples of a negative relationship between lecture capture and learning outcomes abound. The main purpose of this study is to add to the existing literature by conducting a large scale investigation (involving more than 2400 students in 26 modules offered by the economics department of a major British university) on whether lecture capture improves student performance. A secondary objective is to determine whether some groups of students use lecture capture more than others and whether lecture capture can lead to differing benefits for students in different types of subjects. The data shows, in line with previous studies, that certain groups of students use lecture recordings significantly more than their peers (e.g. female students, international students, students from a low socio-economic background and ethnic minorities). Other results were unexpected. Notably, disabled students (including the sub-group of dyslexic students) and mature students were found not to not use lecture recordings more than others. Also, students taking quantitative modules and students doing economics majors were found to use lecture recordings significantly less. The regression analysis showed that lecture recordings yielded (at most) a small positive effect on student performance.