Recorded lectures as a source of cognitive off-loading

Abstract

Objective. To assess and elucidate the impact of student pharmacists’ knowledge of future access to recorded lectures on their ability to remember information presented during lecture. Methods. Pharmacy students viewed 50 minutes of videotaped lecture in a simulated class period. For the early lecture material, participants were instructed as to whether or not they would have future access to the recorded lectures for restudy prior to their test one week later. For the late lecture material, participants were instructed they would not have future access to lecture material. Participants were tested immediately following the lectures and again one week later. The primary outcome was the participants’ performance on the examination administered immediately following presentation of the late lecture material. If participants had preserved cognitive resources (eg, memory, attention) because of knowledge they would have future access to recorded lectures, performance was expected to be higher on the late lecture material. Results. Overall performance on the examinations did not differ between participants who knew they would have access to the lecture material for later restudy and those who did not. There was, however, loss of knowledge over time. Participants with knowledge of future access to recorded lectures wrote more notes, which correlated with better performance on the examination. Conclusion. These findings suggest knowledge of future access to recorded lectures did not enhance the ability of participants to remember other information and therefore, may not free-up cognitive resources that could be used for other tasks within the classroom.