Recording classes and granting students liberal access to them are increasingly the norm in universities and law schools around the world. At the same time, however, mounting anecdotal evidence implies that increasing student access to class recordings corresponds with decreasing student class attendance. A recent paper, If You Record, They Will Not Come--But Does It Really Matter? Student Attendance and Lecture Recording at an Australian Law School, by Natalie Skead (Univ. Western Aus.) et al., presents and discusses results from a study that set out to test this “conventional wisdom” with a bit more rigor.
The paper is noted for its mixed methods which include a student survey, focus groups, and a manual count of observable student class attendance. Not only do the researchers' data speak to their specific research question (that is, the relation between student attendance rates and class recording access) but they also permit researchers to assess a derivative question—whether discrepancies exist between student attendance self-reports and actual observable student class attendance.
What the researchers found is that student access to class recordings is “strongly associated” with decreased student class attendance. As it relates to the reliability of self-reported survey data, the paper notes that the results “indicate a disparity between the high rates of self-reported attendance and the actual attendance count at lectures.”
Three quick closing points. First, while unlikely germane to the findings, it remains important to note that in Australia, and elsewhere (but unlike in the United States), law school includes both undergraduate as well as graduate students. Second, even assuming, arguendo, that the paper’s core findings hold, specific policy consequences relating to student access to class recordings are not obvious. Third, this research illustrates, yet again, why researchers need to approach self-reported survey data with caution given persistent reliability concerns.
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