The last decade has witnessed growth in the use of lecture capture within higher education (Walker et al. 2014; Henderson 2014). Typically referring to the digital recording of lectures via video and/or audio and their subsequent availability to students online as an additional learning resource, lecture capture’s usage is associated with an increasing call for blended-learning approaches that move away from a sole reliance on face-to-face lectures towards the greater utilisation of different technological enhanced learning tools (e.g. Johnson et al. 2015). The introduction of lecture capture is understood to be widely welcomed by student bodies who appreciate the flexibility that it brings, allowing students to view lecture material multiple times and from varied locations (e.g. Motion-217 submitted to the 2016 UK National Union of Students conference).

Despite its increasing use in higher education or popularity among students, research findings on the impact that lecture capture has on student engagement and attainment are very mixed, as are opinions relating to its utility (with students subscribing to lecture capture benefits to a greater degree than teaching staff, Danielson et al. 2014). This study examines the impact of lecture capture during its introduction on a BSc degree by comparing attendance and performance in the year before versus after lecture capture introduction. The 2 years were very similar in teaching delivery, where the content, teaching staff, rooms and assessment setup remain the same. The study is unique in that it examines two different aspects of the introduction of lecture capture on student engagement and attainment: the effects of lecture capture availability to students and the effects of students’ usage of lecture capture. The study is unique in combining these elements and helps us better understand the potential impact of lecture capture.

Lecture capture availability versus usage

The debate about the effects of lecture capture often masks an important distinction between whether we are talking about the effects of lecture capture due to its introduction as a learning resource versus the effects of the extent to which students interact with lecture capture. With the former, which we refer to as lecture capture availability, we reflect on any change in student outcomes comparing before lecture capture is introduced with after its introduction. To fairly examine the effects of lecture capture availability outside of a controlled laboratory setting, it is important that, beyond the change in the availability of lecture capture, conditions of the module over the 2 years remain as similar as possible; we achieve such matched conditions in the current study.

The second way of looking at the effects of lecture capture relates to students’ lecture capture usage. This is an individual-level variable and represents the degree to which an individual interacts with the resource once it is available. This individual data is often available via the lecture capture software. Also, students may use lecture capture for different purposes, perhaps as a substitute for attending a live lecture or as a supplement to live lecture attendance, and may indeed find it beneficial in a variety of ways. Indeed, research has found that lecture capture is often used as supplemental rather than replacement of live lectures and many students who use it also attend the live lectures (Leadbeater et al. 2013; Witthaus and Robinson 2015). In a recent three-cohort study, Brooks et al. (2014) identified five different classifications of user activity; these were ‘high activity’, ‘just-in-time’, ‘minimal’, ‘deferred’ and ‘non-users’; this indicates that the usage and therefore the benefits gained from usage will vary across the student population.

Some research has considered the extent to which availability and usage of lecture capture correlates with student engagement and attainment. Importantly, no study to our knowledge has examined the effects of the availability and usage of lecture capture at the same time. This is crucial as it allows us to examine whether students’ usage of lecture capture enables them to overcome any shortcomings that the availability of lecture capture presents. Also, many of the existing studies have relied on self-report data from students regarding either their attendance or their use of lecture capture; such studies are prone to social desirability bias (Karnad 2013). The present research examines both lecture capture availability and lecture capture usage within the same study and draws on objective data for its analysis.

Impact of lecture capture on lecture attendance

There are several reasons why one may expect that the availability of lecture capture will reduce lecture attendance. For example, students may make a rational decision to not attend the lecture on the expectation that they can view it later. Students may believe that their learning experience will be equivalent across the live and recorded lecture formats and that nothing is lost from not attending a physical lecture. Indeed, the convenience of being able to choose when/where to view and/or listen to the lecture could in theory have some benefits to the individual. From a slightly different perspective, lecture capture availability potentially removes a perceived penalty for missing a live lecture as there is a ‘second chance’ to experience it. Should students find themselves torn between attending a lecture and engaging in an alternative activity (be it social, personal or work related), lecture capture availability makes it easier to choose the alternative activity, with the (perhaps optimistic) belief that they will ‘catch up’ later. So, one would expect the net effect of lecture capture availability would be negative on attendance in lectures and this would be supported by several studies to date (e.g. Holbrook and Dupont 2009; Traphagan et al. 2010). Thus:

Hypothesis 1: The availability of lecture capture has a negative relationship with student lecture attendance.

The likely effect of greater lecture capture usage on attendance is less clear. One school of thought would be that a greater use of lecture capture would be indicative of students substituting the live lecture from the recorded lecture, and so a negative relationship with attendance could exist. However, as discussed above, research indicates that supplemental use of lecture capture materials is perhaps more prevalent (e.g. Witthaus and Robinson 2015). Indeed, some research supports this further, for example Aldamen et al. (2015) find a positive relationship between viewership and attendance. A possible explanation for this may be linked to different process and cognitive learning approaches utilised by students, with the more engaged students, potentially adopting a deep approach to learning, characterised by internalisation of content, making learning meaningful and personal growth (see Marton and Säljö 1976; Wiese and Newton 2013), being more likely to utilise all possible educational resource available to them. Alternatively, disengaged students, who potentially adopt a more surface approach to learning, characterised by rote memorisation and reproducing facts (see Kember et al. 1995; Marton and Säljö 1976; Wiese and Newton 2013), are less likely to do so. By implication, taking learning approach or pre-existing academic ability into account is likely to help explain the relationship between lecture capture usage and attendance. Given these arguments, we would generally expect the following:

Hypothesis 2: Lecture capture usage has a positive relationship with lecture attendance.

Impact of lecture capture on academic attainment

One would expect that students who engage less in their learning activity will generally not perform as well as more engaged students. If we consider lecture attendance a reasonable measure of student engagement, we would expect to find a positive aggregate relationship between attendance and grades. A raft of research supports such a relationship (Brocato 1989; Newman-Ford et al. 2008; Golding 2011).

One particularly large-scale investigation into the relationship between attendance and attainment by Newman-Ford et al. (2008) found a strong positive correlation between attendance and academic attainment; importantly, the more students were found to attend classes, the less likely they were to fail and the more likely they were to get high grades. To explain this, Newman-Ford et al. draw on existing literature which suggests that, compared with attenders, non-attenders may be less motivated, have more non-study-related demands and be more likely to have to make trade-offs with their time that could negatively impact their results. However, in order to examine the incremental effects of individual lecture attendance on attainment, it seems important to try to remove general, trait-like explanations for the association (e.g. trait conscientiousness, cognitive ability) that may influence both higher attendance and attainment. So, in examining the association between attendance and attainment, controlling for previous academic attainment is important (in this case previous year’s average grade). Thus:

Hypothesis 3: (a) Lecture attendance has a positive relationship with student attainment (when controlling for general academic ability).

From the above discussion, we might expect the introduction of lecture capture to have an aggregate negative impact on student attainment because, as discussed, its availability may decrease attendance. However, recent studies find differing results when content is delivered either face-to-face sessions or via online sessions; Bosshardt and Chiang (2016) find similar attainment levels across each delivery mode whilst Roberts (2015) found lower attainment levels for the online cohort. What is even less clear are the effects of online recorded material when it is available in addition to face-to-face lectures. Based on arguments made above, we suggest that a direct negative effect of lecture capture availability on student academic attainment will exist and that this effect will be mediated by the reduction in attendance at lectures. To date, research has not formally tested this indirect relationship. Thus:

Hypothesis 3: (b) The availability of lecture capture has a negative relationship with student attainment (c) that is mediated by lower student lecture attendance (when controlling for general academic ability).

There is some evidence that lecture capture usage may benefit attainment, with studies finding a weak positive relationship between viewership and grades (e.g. Aldamen et al. 2015; Brooks et al. 2014; Traphagan et al. 2010). However, given that those students who use lecture capture may be some of the most engaged students, it may be that this effect can be better explained by a trait-like variable, like academic ability. Vajoczki et al. (2011) and Wiese and Newton (2013) suggest that the impact of lecture capture on attainment will potentially be moderated by the learning approach of students, with those who adopt a ‘deep learning approach’ benefiting from lecture capture usage; thus, a positive impact would not be present with students who adopt a ‘surface learning approach’. Interestingly, Wiese and Newton obtained performance data on two cohorts before lecture capture was introduced and one after; although the cohorts were very different (in terms of cohort size and demographics) and different instructors taught across the cohorts (which limits one’s ability to compare across the cohorts), they found that the post-lecture capture cohort had slightly higher grades. Unfortunately, these authors did not assess the impact of lecture capture viewing on grades, whilst controlling for previous grades of the different cohorts or attendance. Indeed, Mallinson and Baumann (2015), drawing on self-reported data, found that a positive association between lecture capture usage and attainment drops away when attendance is controlled for. We similarly propose that whilst a positive link may exist between objective records of lecture capture usage and attainment, this will be reduced when we account for attendance and general academic ability. Thus:

Hypothesis 4: (a) Lecture capture usage has a positive correlation with student attainment, (b) which becomes non-significant when controlling for attendance and general academic ability.

The substitutive effects of lecture capture usage and live lecture attendance

So far, we have mainly considered the effects of lecture capture usage and attendance in isolation. However, as identified earlier, we know that some students use lecture capture as a substitute for attendance at live lectures and others may use them to supplement attendance at live lectures. This brings forth two questions regarding whether, in terms of attainment, using recorded lectures is a genuine replacement for what is gained from live lectures and then whether supplementary recorded material offers detectable added value for students who already attend the lectures.

From one perspective, we might believe that use of lecture capture is very unlikely to replace live lectures and that heavy use of lecture capture may not allow poor attenders to ‘close the gap’ (Witthaus and Robinson 2015). The analysis presented by Williams et al. (2012) clearly indicates that whilst there is some evidence for the utility of lecture capture viewing on attainment under certain attendance conditions, ‘if a student attempted to almost completely substitute face-to-face lectures with online recordings, then no matter how often they viewed the recordings, they never made up the lost marks from not attending’ (p. 210). These perspectives place prime value on lecture attendance as dominant in driving attainment. Yet this perspective clearly opposes others upon which the benefits of lecture capture are largely based, namely that if students use it, lecture capture allows students who have not attended lectures to catch up (to some degree) with those who have. This seems to be an important issue that requires attention when considering the potential merits of lecture capture. To test these different perspectives, we examine the following hypothesis: