Lecture capture adds value to attending psychological research methods lectures

Lecture capture is increasingly prevalent and provides an effective supplement to attending lectures in psychology. Yet, evidence for enhancement of learning is limited to recall of facts in introductory subjects taken within the first year of a psychology degree. The aim of the current study was to explore the generalisabilty of these effects by assessing whether lecture capture adds value to attending lectures in psychological research methods – a subject some students find particularly challenging. During a core second year undergraduate psychological research methods module, ten traditional one-hour lectures were recorded and made available for online viewing using the ‘Panopto’ lecture capture system. Of 121 students originally registered on the module, 114 took the examination. These students' grades were cross-referenced with digital records of their attendance, and the extent to which they viewed lecture recordings while logged into the virtual learning environment. Students that viewed recorded lectures were found to achieve higher grades in the examination than those that did not, even when attendance at the lectures was included as a covariate. This effect was not an artefact of differences in motivation, engagement, or ability in research methods. These results indicate that lecture capture adds value to attending lectures in psychological research methods. This finding implies that the enhancement of learning from supplementary lecture capture generalises to novel contexts and is thus not overly constrained by educational level or type of knowledge assessed. Recording lectures may have particular value as a way to support students encountering difficulties studying research methods