What is the recipe for success in your distance learning course? The purpose of this presentation is to help faculty, staff, and administrators identify factors in online, video streaming, and lecture capture courses that are key predictors of student course success using an easy to follow methodological approach.
The purpose of this presentation is to help faculty, staff, and administrators identify factors in online, video streaming, and lecture capture courses that are key predictors of student course success using an easy to follow methodological approach.
One mode of distance education course that is becoming popular in recent years at most public institutions is lecture capture. Lecture capture courses are distance learning courses where all aspects of a live lecture (audio and video) are recorded and made available to students in a digital format that can either be streamed-live online during the live-lecture or viewed online at a later date (Educause, 2008). DeGary Weis, CEO of Sonic Foundry, one of the largest lecture capture service providers in the country, mentioned that “today’s students are demanding lecture capture, and faculty must embrace video technology in their classrooms to stay relevant and competitive” (Wise, 2015, para. 9). However, while the amount of interest and number of course offerings for distance learning courses may be on the rise, one issue that is a cause for concern for these distance learning courses is student attrition rates.
Xu and Jaggars (2011) in their study of over 50,000 community college students found that undergraduate students who took their courses in a distance learning format were much more likely to withdraw or fail than students who took the same courses in a traditional mode of instruction. Lynch (2001) echoes this point and noted how in her study, student withdrawal rates ranged from 35% to 50% for students taking an online course versus a 14% withdrawal rate for students taking that same course face to face. Lastly, Carr (2000) also found that while course completion rates tend to vary from institution to institution, most administrators across multiple institutions agreed that “course-completion rates are often 10 to 20 percentage points higher in traditional courses than in distance offerings” (p. A39).
Therefore, given the literature on the high rates of attrition in these distance courses, a study was conducted by the researcher on a sample of over 400 students in a lecture capture course at a public institution to develop a methodological approach using secondary data that researchers, faculty, and staff can utilize to assess student course performance and to identify the input and course environment factors that best predict student course success in an undergraduate lecture capture course. Using Astin and Antonio (2012)’s Input Environment and Outcome (IEO) Model as a framework, the study examined both input variables that students bring to a course as well as the course environment factors that students experience in the course. Three secondary data sources were utilized and analyzed using descriptive and multi-variate statistics.
The findings revealed that students with higher levels of student course engagement and academic self-concept were more likely to achieve student course success in this lecture capture quantitative methods course. In addition, prior University GPA along with live-class attendance, discussion board posts, and course quiz and exam scores were the strongest predictors of student course success.
The largest implication from this study was the methodological approach developed to identify factors that predicted student course success. This approach can be used to help faculty, staff, and administrators identify course-embedded measures for assessment as well as develop Keys for Success to help future students succeed in difficult distance learning courses.
Therefore, the outcome of this presentation is that attendees will be able to use the methodological approach presented from the results of this study to identify factors in their online, video streaming, and lecture capture courses that are key predictors of student course success and create Key for Success that they can pass on to their incoming students each semester in order to help them be successfull in your course.