With nearly four in ten college students using two or more technology devices[1] during the average school day, it’s no surprise that blended learning using lecture capture gets the majority vote as their preferred method of learning. For the tech-savvy student, having mobile access to their education is as natural as their 24/7 social media lifelines. With the emergence of innovative solutions like Echo360, they’ve become accustomed to having their recorded lectures and other course material at their fingertips.

In fact, in a 2012 survey of more than 2,835 students from 11 institutions in the United States and Australia, 84% agreed that blended learning using lecture capture was more effective in their understanding of course material than the traditional lecture model alone.

Even though students exhibit a strong preference for lecture capture and other online learning tools like student engagement, higher education leaders and instructors need not fret that these technologies will eventually replace the brick and mortar classroom. When asked about their preference for blended versus solely online learning, 69% of students chose a blended learning method incorporating lecture capture over a class offered in an all-online format.

Modern solutions, like the Echo360 Active Learning Platform, offer even more features to enhance the student learning experience. In addition to being able to review course lectures and content at their own pace, students can also interact with the content, the instructor and their peers as well as access all of the study materials in a personalized “digital classroom” platform. It’s this type of flexible and social learning that prompted more than 68% of students surveyed to say they’d recommend this type of active learning to their peers.

One student that expresses her preference for active learning and the flipped classroom versus the “sage on the stage” lecture model is Natalie Young, a graduate Pharmacy student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

When interviewed about her thoughts on Echo360 and its use in the flipped classroom, she said: “If I think back to undergrad, when we didn’t have Echo360 versus now in grad school, my grades are still good, but my grades are actually better now. Because it’s difficult to go back and review your notes, and say, well, what were they saying here? It’s easier if you can just go to the video and rewind, and grasp the material, versus trying to re-read your notes. Which I’ve found that I often just take notes so I’m doing something active, but I don’t even review my notes. I review the video instead.”

Want to see what other students are saying about lecture capture and its role in blended learning? Read the white paper: Blended Learning Technology: Connecting with the Online-All-the-Time Student.

 

[1] Pearson Learning.  2014 Student Mobile Device Survey: College Students. May 2014