The Relative Effectiveness of Online Lecture Methods on Student Test Scores in a Business Course

Abstract

We compared student learning outcomes (using test scores) across three modes of delivering lectures: 1) using a traditional face-to-face lecture, 2) using online instruction where the lecture was delivered using a video recording of the classroom lecture, and 3) using online instruction where the lecture was delivered using a static document created from an edited transcript of the classroom lecture embedded with charts, graphs etc. The results showed that as hypothesized, students reading the online static document performed as well as the students attending the traditional lecture and that both groups outperformed the students watching the video of the recorded lecture. The data also showed that, as hypothesized, both quickly created online instruction methods scored lower on engagement compared to the traditional face-to-face lecture. Students who were exposed to the online lecture delivered using a static document and the students attending the face-to-face lecture both reported having higher quality of notes compared to students exposed to the video recording. Finally, as hypothesized, the effect of the different instructional material on student test scores was found to be completely mediated by student engagement and perceived note quality.