Unequal lecture capture use across departments

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed a massive disparity between the use of the lecture capture technology at Warwick by different departments.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects tend to have a wider use of lecture capture in comparison to humanities and social science subjects, results for the 2016-17 academic year have shown.

Warwick Business School (WBS) used lecture capture most frequently with 110 undergraduate modules having had at least one lecture captured and 64 modules for which the majority of lectures captured. The centre for Professional Education sits on the other end of the spectrum with only 2 undergraduate modules with at least one lecture and 0 modules with majority of lectures captured.

School of Life Sciences, Physics, Economics, School of Engineering, and Chemistry also take the top spots for most modules with the majority of lectures captured from 44 to 33. Meanwhile subjects amongst those that never use lecture capture include Comparative American Studies, Classics and Ancient History, Film and Television Studies, German Studies, History of Art, Liberal Arts, Italian Studies, and the School of Theatre & Performance Studies.

First-year Modern Languages student, Cecily Grace Morgan, said: “Unfortunately, lecture capture isn’t used for language classes which is a shame because I think that it’s great aid when it comes to catching up with work and revising.”

She added: “However, it’s used for some of the cultural modules lectures which is really useful. I wish that the languages department used it more.”

First-year Philosophy and Literature student, Maya Kokerov, said: “I think they should use it for every single lecture. Philosophy didn’t do it at all whereas English did.”

Other UK universities give lecturers a right to not record a lecture which is included in their policy on lecture capture, such as the university of Liverpool. Due to such discrepancies, the number of lectures recorded will tend to vary across departments within a single university.

Warwick Media Relations manager, Nicola Jones, said: “The University recognises the value of lecture capture and encourages academics to use this facility.”

“We are glad to see a rise in recording and viewing and will continue to invest in making the service easier to use and simpler to access, through Moodle.”

She added: “Due to the different methods of teaching used it is to be expected there will be differences in use between departments. However, the University will continue to encourage the use of lecture capture as it helps students absorb and process lectures and is a valuable revision resource.”