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Strategies for supporting effective student
engagement with lecture recordings
Matt Cornock
E-Learning Adviser and Lecture Recording Coordinator
University of York
ALT-C - 8 September 2016
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What links lecture content,
lecture capture and how students
use both when studying?
This work builds upon the research outputs of a project presented at ALT-C 2015 which explored students’ use of lecture
captures by interviewing 12 regular users and analysing their usage patterns. One of the research questions that has since
emerged from the discussions with students is how the lecture content (and the lecture experience), the use of lecture
captures and private, independent study are interlinked through the preferences and attitudes of students. The end goal is
to find ways to better support student learning through provision of lecture captures.

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Au1
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XmasVac1
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EasVac1
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Su1
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2014-15
2015-16
Proportion of total annual viewings by academic week
One of the prompts for this research was to understand the patterns of use. In particular I wanted to explore what could be
learnt from students who were utilising lecture captures outside of the revision window (the revision and assessment
period are usually peaks in use) and encourage students who only use captures for revision to adopt new learning
approaches throughout the whole term or academic year.

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“students with relatively high
experience in video lectures
find them more useful”
Giannakos, Jaccheri and Krogstie (2015)
This exploration is further supported by the research by Giannakos et al (2015) who identified that students who were using
video based learning resources regularly found them more useful to their learning. Implicit in this assertion is the way
students develop study practices to utilise the flexibility and control that video resources offer to revisit content.

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Preparation for practical tasks
Self-checking understanding of concepts
Thinking across the module
Structured approach to reading
Definitive set of notes per lecture
Creating visualisations of lecture content
Keeping ideas fresh in your head
Using captures on the move
Preparation for seminars
Student study workflows
From the research project, I developed seven study workflows (http://bit.ly/1lKscFQ) to represent the different ways
students utilised lecture captures as an integral part of their private study. These workflows were reviewed by a focus group
of student representatives from across different departments (the basis of this presentation) and two additional workflows
were added: using captures on the move and preparation for seminars.

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“students will adapt their use
of captured content depending
on their learning need”
Witton (2016)
Recent work published by Witton (2016) supports the argument and evidence from my research that students are using
lecture captures in different ways depending on how they prefer to study and the intended learning from the module. Of
particularly interest is that individual students in my study also indicated that they would change their approach to using
lecture captures based on the module and sometimes the lecturer. Whilst the workflows are examples of practice they are
not the only study practices students exhibited and, as the focus group identified, not all will work for all students.

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mind map first for the structure and then I would do a
Quizlet; if I find I still don’t understand something I
would make a document of explanations.
Self-checking
understanding of concepts
Replay
Lecture Capture Study Tips
attend
the lecture
structure
notes
revision
quiz
note the key
points and
consider what you
don’t understand
highlight fundamental
concepts and structure
notes into chunks for
creating self-check quiz
use an online quiz-maker
(e.g. Quizlet) or flash-
cards to check
understanding; use in-
lecture questions as
prompts
re-watch
lecture capture
use recording to check
answers, clarifying
concepts you can’t
answer confidently,
writing explanations in
your own words
This is one of the workflows, as an example, that students from the focus group found interesting. Some students really
liked the idea of using digital flashcards, quizzing themselves on the lecture content. However, other students said that was
not their preferred learning approach, citing learning styles preferences (preferring to listen to captures). This suggests that
it may be difficult to impart the value of trying different workflows where students have strong connections to established
ways of learning from before university.

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I’ll go over lectures on different skills
before I go to practical and try and make
sure that I understand the principles.
Preparation for
practical tasks
Replay
Lecture Capture Study Tips
attend
the lecture
play back
recording
undertake
practical
note theoretical
basis for
practical task
focus on specific
sections relevant
to practical task
apply from lecture
principles
utilise during
write-up
appraise method
and concept; re-
watch capture to
aid understanding
This second example workflow is geared more towards science disciplines. Within the focus group, students said they
undertook this type of workflow, but not in this order. Instead of utilising the recording before practical tasks, they were
using it during and after writing up their results. One explanation offered by the students was that the timetable limited
their ability to refresh on key concepts before a practical, particularly in science subjects that have high contact hours, the
scheduling of lectures and labs didn’t always allow for time to reflect on the theoretical concepts first.

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when you first make notes in a lecture it is fresh in your
memory; you don’t necessarily know straight after a lecture
how well you know the content for an exam three months later.
Keeping ideas
fresh in your head
Replay
Lecture Capture Study Tips
attend
the lectures
other
activities
regular
revision
create notes
during lecture
continue with
your studies,
lectures, other
activities on your
course
during or at the
end of term, return
to the lecture,
revise key concepts
using your notes
play back
captures
if your notes are
incomplete, or you
cannot explain a key
concept, revisit the
lecture
This final example is a workflow that I originally took a little creative license with and amended after feedback from the
focus group. The workflow encouraged repeat visiting of knowledge from the lecture in order to assist in long term memory
recall. However, my suggestion of ‘weekly revision’ was judged as impractical by the focus group who instead said this sort
of behaviour is most likely to occur at the end of term, due to the lack of time and challenge of keeping up with fast-paced
courses. They did mention revisiting captures is useful where modules have prerequisites from previous academic years.

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ACTIVE LEARNING
EFFICIENT USE OF TIME

?
I would argue that the workflows are demonstrations of students active learning, utilising the lecture content, applying it to
specific problems and situations, learning through the process of doing a task. That task may simply be reinterpretation of
their lecture notes or more complex synthesis into report writing. However, whilst the students are spending time on their
lectures, the question remains whether this is actually the most efficient use of their limited study time.

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LECTUREMy original research question placed the lecture at the heart of students’ learning, the structure for a module from which
everything else hung. Some students also have the view that the lecture content is, for the most part, only what they will be
assessed on. This is clearly not where higher marks in assessment are placed, so there’s a risk of students over-valuing the
lecture content. Like many institutions, we have a system we are encouraging colleagues to utilise and investing in lecture
capture as a resource to support students. Does this promotion therefore champion the lecture too much?

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“instructors should use
strategies to encourage
students to use the full lecture
(instead of parts of it)”
Giannakos, Jaccheri and Krogstie (2015)
Whilst Giannakos et al (2015) provided recordings as both replacement and supplement, they have a view that students
should be watching the full lecture, rather than as some students do in my study (and many others) watch selectively to
address knowledge gaps. Again, I question whether this is the right focus for student learning, where instead we should be
encouraging use of the lecture content in other learning activities, interpretation and application.

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“Everyone expects you to be taking notes.”
Focus Group Comment
The importance of the lecture is also shown through staff concerns about attendance at lectures, but also the perceived
expectation students hold of their actions in a lecture to write notes. When I asked lecturing staff what they would like
students to do in a lecture some said the lecture was there to show how academics in the discipline think, how they go
about being in the discipline, and sometimes the best thing is just to sit back and get a holistic view of the topic and make
detailed notes later. The discussion of the value of lecture capture needs to raise these inconsistencies of expectations on
the role of the lecture between both staff and students.

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LECTURE
SEMINAR
LABPRACTICAL
TUTORIAL
WORKSHOP
PROBLEM CLASS
SUPERVISION
EXAMESSAY
FUNREADINGPLACEMENTWORKSPORTSSOCIETIES
FAMILY
During the interviews with students, they detailed a wide range of other learning activities such as lab work, report writing,
assessments, seminars, that all compete on their time and sometimes directly conflict with attendance at lectures. When
we also factor in the non-academic time, such as societies, sports, family commitments, it emphasises how students really
do need to consider how to prioritise their study time. Therefore the tension between promoting attendance, time on
lecture content and revisiting lecture content really needs contextualising for students by their teaching staff .

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To assist students in working out the role of the lecture and how they can use the lecture captures appropriately and
efficiently, I created four videos to complement the workflows. The videos again draw upon quotes from the student
interviews but also provide clear frameworks for students to consider the role of their independent study. The first
considers learning before, during and after the lecture contact time. The aim to prompt the student to think about how to
link the lecture content to other academic activities.

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“lectures were helpful for revision, but examination was
based upon seminar discussion”
“even in sciences, you would not be asked to recite
theory but to apply it”
Focus Group Comments
The risk of overemphasising the role of the lecture emerged from the focus group also, with students cautioning about
encouraging students to spend too much time on lecture content and not enough time on activities such as the seminar. In
particular, failing to prepare for a seminar doesn’t allow students to develop their thoughts and understanding which will
carry greater marks during assessment, nor does it benefit group learning in the seminar itself.

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Students awareness of the value of non-lecture activities is an obvious contrast to concerns over lecture attendance. The
second video is designed to highlight the opportunities of staff-student contact and peer discussion through lecture
attendance, the experience of being part of a live performance, getting a first take of the content. The video then looks at
what lecturers consider to be the role of the lecture: conveying content, presenting arguments, crucially as a starting point
for further study.

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The third video reiterates different ways to make the most of the captures by using the technology. For example jumping
straight to parts of the lecture the student didn’t understand, playing back high speed to reorder notes or to watch the
capture in its entirety to get the narrative flow.

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The final video the focus group identified as being particularly useful. In this video the focus isn’t on lecture capture, but on
note-making: taking notes, adding interpretation and using notes for further study. These crucial study skills enable
students to make the most of the lecture, the capture and effective use of their private study time. As well as linear notes,
mind maps and annotated resources, the video introduces the Cornell Method which is recommended for note-making for
readings by our Learning Enhancement Team, but would equally work for the lecture environment with captures.

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Framework for supporting students in their use of lecture capture
CENTRALRESOURCES
Technical guides
Institutional policy
Study guides
Induction discussions
Study workflows
Learning with captures
The central resources are underpinned by students’ knowledge of institutional policy, why the lecture capture service exists
and how departments utilise captures. They are also dependent upon adequate technical training. The study workflows and
videos are the elements to the framework that add the most value to students understanding of how to use captures.

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CENTRALRESOURCES
DEPARTMENT
Discipline
Module
Lecture
Study
LECTURER
STUDENT
The need for discipline context
However, central resources do need introducing to students within the discipline context. As indicated throughout, students
need an understanding of how the lecture and their private study is related to the module and the discipline. This advice
can only come from the department and lecturer, trying to make clear to students how the lecture as a teaching
intervention should be engaged with.

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Students will use captures in their own ways
as part of their private study practice.
Central resources can offer suggestions, but
must also encourage an understanding of the
subject discipline context.
Summary

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Student study resources
www.york.ac.uk/replay/student-advice
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