In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is strong student support for the option of attending lectures online, although one lecturer is warning of the drawbacks.
According to 88% of 2695 voters in an Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) referendum earlier this year, recording lectures should be a blanket university policy.
While the university has declined to take this step, there has been no move to follow the lead of Victoria University of Wellington’s law faculty in requiring some lecture attendance to be in person.
The number of courses using Echo360 recording software at the Dunedin campus has jumped from 552 in 2019 to 1275 in 2022, in addition to other online options such as Zoom.
Masters student Georgia Mayor (21) said online options increased attendance, because those who were sick or unable to attend in person could still take part via Zoom.
"Our lectures were more like interactive classroom discussions. I love the degree I chose and I love the fact it was online as well," she said.
However undergraduate lectures were less interactive and she doubted she would have found them worth leaving the house for, given the choice, she said.
Student Emma Ahlezon (33) said while recordings were convenient, they left people unable to build a connection with lecturers and others in their course.
"It’s definitely better to go in person than online," she said.
However many others did not have the same approach, and in one course with about 130 students enrolled, about 20 would come to a lecture in person, she said.
Student Casey (18), who did not want to give her last name, said "a lot" of people only watched lectures online, an approach she realised was less effective when she started attending in person.
A first-year law student, she was against Victoria’s approach.
Rewatching lectures again later was a useful revision strategy and did not mean the person watching had not also gone in person, she said.
A management paper she was enrolled in had proposed delaying the release of lectures online by a fortnight to encourage in-person attendance, but the idea was scrapped due to student feedback.
Students Ella (19) and Henrietta (18) both preferred to watch lectures online because it was easier, and lectures could be paused or sped up.
They did not feel they were missing out on anything as their lectures were not interactive, but both said they attended tutorials in person.
OUSA president Melissa Lama said the association believed a recording policy was "in the best interests of student learning".
University academic deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Helen Nicholson, said the university already had a well-established video recording service, but the pandemic resulted in a "huge increase" of its use.
Most teaching spaces were already video-equipped but after the first lockdown, coverage extended to 34 more rooms.
No blanket recording policy had been introduced as not all lecture formats suited it, with some more interactive than others, she said.
"The academics [and] departments are arguably the best people to know what should be recorded and this is currently our policy."
The pressure of providing online classes as well as in-person learning is cited by the Tertiary Education Union in its push to secure a pay rise amid ongoing bargaining with the university.
The university acknowledged the pandemic had changed staff workloads, Prof Nicholson said.
Teaching staff considered the needs of students who were sick or isolating, she said
"We expect to provide most of our teaching face-to-face however, as a result of the pandemic it is likely online accessibility will remain in some cases."
Recent surveys suggest the majority of students preferred face-to-face learning, although not all students were the same and they may learn in different ways, she said.
"Students who do not come to class miss out on the social interaction with their teachers and peers which can facilitate learning."
Medicine senior lecturer Dr Phil Blyth said academics who did not want their classes recorded could have good pedagogical reason.
"[In medicine] our policy is that generally everything does get recorded, apart from things that are sensitive, like clinical cases."
The move to record lectures began before the pandemic, bringing about a drop in class attendance.
"I think there’s a major paradigm shift going on, and it’s not all good."
"All of a sudden, you’re learning in a vacuum, you’re not learning in a community of people."
Some students made good use of the recordings, but there was a temptation to skip lectures with the expectation it would be more efficient to watch from home at a time or speed that suited them.
This could snowball out of control if students were not diligent in keeping up-to-date, he said.
