Recorded teaching materials and their impact on students attendance, engagement and performance during Covid-19.

Abstract

Introduction: Face-to-face (F2F) delivery of teaching across universities in the UK had to move to an online platform during the onset of Covid 19 in March 2020. The shift was so quick during the mid-semester delivery cycle that neither students nor academic staff was prepared for such change. Students did not have much idea on how technology could effectively deliver unit contents using a virtual platform and how it could impact their learning and knowledge in a subject area. Anxiety was much more visible on the final year students whose degree classification was at stake as they were about to complete their studies on a degree programme. To alleviate their stress and anxiety university brought no detrimental policy that guarantees a student that their final mark on a unit can’t be lower than that of their average marks were before the pandemic. The academic year 2020-21 continued from the same policies as established in the 2019-20 academic year. However, the difference between graduating students of 2019-20 and 2020-21 is that the 2020-21 students who would be graduating in 2020-21 are much better prepared than last year’s graduating students. These new cohorts of students have a very clear understanding of the role and implications of the online recorded lectures and seminars on their learning and knowledge. On F2F delivery, there is a significant correlation between attendance, engagement, and performance on the assessments (both assignment and exam) (Stanca 2006; Horn and Jansen 2009).