Video Lectures in Online Graduate Education: Relationship between Use of Lectures and Outcome Measures

Abstract

The present study is a post-hoc analysis of data automatically recorded by an online teaching platform in a graduate course in research methods. The course is part of a sequence that is delivered completely online in a program preparing students to become Board Certified Behavior Analysts. Data analyzed included frequency of access to video lectures and PowerPoint slides (PPTs) across each week of the course, and how access related to final grades in the course. The general conclusion was that higher grades were associated with greater frequency of access to video lectures and PPTs, although students who earned As and Bs tended to access these materials with gradually less frequency over time. Conversely, students who earned Cs or lower tended to access materials more frequently over time. Overall, students who earned As were more likely to employ a consistent pattern of access than students who earned lower grades. Limitations of the current project include a small sample size, skewed grade distribution, and a post hoc analysis of data instead of an experimental manipulation. Suggestions for future research are discussed.