As some of you might have noticed, lecture capture, and my efforts to get it implemented at UEA, has been a running theme in my blogs over the last couple of months. 

For those that don’t know, lecture capture is essentially another word for recording lectures, and I think students would benefit in so many ways by having access to this, from revision purposes, to aiding those with mental and physical illness, enabling those who don’t use English as a first language to go back to lectures at a slower place...the list goes on and on. To read more about this, click here to see my blog post dedicated to what I think about lecture capture.  

However, I wanted to know what students at UEA thought about it, whether you like the idea, whether you thought it would improve your academic experience, and whether you think it should be implemented at UEA. We recently surveyed students across schools and year groups to find out their thoughts, and it was an overwhelmingly positive result.  

 

Here’s a brief summary of what we found out with a few comments from the students we surveyed:  

The majority of students felt positively towards the recording of lectures 

'Recording lectures is very useful and ideally I would like all lectures recorded’ (Undergraduate, PHA student) 

Comments were focused on the utility of the resource, particularly in terms of aiding understanding and assisting revision 

‘It’s really helpful as the lecturer talks over things that aren’t on the lecture slides’ (UG ENV student) 

Students focused on the ability to catch up on missed content and focus on the lecture as opposed to solely taking notes. 

‘They are a very helpful resource as you can keep coming back to them and go at your own pace’ (UG LDC student) 

The majority of students said that lecture capture would not affect their attendance 

‘Not at all (I would still attend), they would just be a good place of reference to go when revising etc.’ (2nd Year DEV student) 

 ‘No (I would still attend), they would just support the material’ (3rd Year ENV student) 

It would help a variety of students in different ways 

‘As a non-native speaker it would help’ 

‘For me lecture capture is important because it allows me, as an international student, to improve my understanding of material’ (1st Year PPL student) 

Students recognised that other universities have successfully implemented lecture capture 

‘So many other unis do it – why not UEA?’ (PGR PPL student)  

‘Most other unis record lectures… it would make the consolidation of learning easier’ (3rd Year DEV student)  

Support from lecturers is something students felt was important  

‘If lecturers are okay with it, it can happen’ (4th Year PPL student) 

Some students would like to see visual and audio 

‘I’d prefer both video & audio as opposed to just audio as some things need a visual aid’ (UG, 3rd year, MTH student) 

Interestingly, students who did not perceive any benefit for themselves commented that it could be a beneficial resource for others.  

‘I don’t think it would help me but I recognise it would help others’ (2nd Year CMP student)  

The survey also showed that some students had some concerns. Some of you mentioned that the noise levels in lectures, for example with people chatting, could affect recordings, that current lecture recordings aren’t always clear, and that some students wouldn’t want themselves to be recorded during the lecture. This feedback is really interesting, and these comments will be extremely useful in working with the university over the next few months to get closer to seeing lecture capture implemented across UEA. 

 I’d love to know what you think about all of this, and if you have any more feedback for me regarding lecture capture. If so, then please email me at [email protected] or just pop into Union House for a chat.