Abstract
Since the end of the pandemic lockdowns online learning has continued within curriculums despite a trend by UK universities to revert to physical lectures.
This paper contributes to the ongoing research within the higher education (HE) community on whether online lectures add value to the student learning experience, by investigating on whether participation in lectures can be enhanced by using online delivery.
Connectivism Learning Theory was tested in relation to the question of whether digital online learning fosters an empowerment for students that allows them to be connected and share opinions, viewpoints, and ideas to their peers through a digital collaborative process enhancing the experience of the lecture.
The experiment ran first semester academic year 2023 and again in 2024. 159 first year business students were assessed on active participation levels in both types of lectures through questionnaires and active observation to compare if online lectures resulted in more participation than physical.
Results showed that most students preferred online lectures when it comes to lecture participation. The reasons were that most students stated they feel less self-conscious participating online. Results also showed that participation levels increased in online lectures when using online learning software such as Mentmeter or Cahoot, and online chat allowed for far higher levels of spontaneous participation online. Therefore, participation levels are enhanced with online digital lectures by making the lecture more engaging for the student as per Connectivism Learning Theory.
This investigation contributes to the ideas and theory behind improving student experience of online lectures by setting out conditions to increase online lecture student participation.
The contribution to module planning is to show the value of integrating online lessons within the module delivery as a part of a hybrid approach.
This paper contributes to the ongoing research within the higher education (HE) community on whether online lectures add value to the student learning experience, by investigating on whether participation in lectures can be enhanced by using online delivery.
Connectivism Learning Theory was tested in relation to the question of whether digital online learning fosters an empowerment for students that allows them to be connected and share opinions, viewpoints, and ideas to their peers through a digital collaborative process enhancing the experience of the lecture.
The experiment ran first semester academic year 2023 and again in 2024. 159 first year business students were assessed on active participation levels in both types of lectures through questionnaires and active observation to compare if online lectures resulted in more participation than physical.
Results showed that most students preferred online lectures when it comes to lecture participation. The reasons were that most students stated they feel less self-conscious participating online. Results also showed that participation levels increased in online lectures when using online learning software such as Mentmeter or Cahoot, and online chat allowed for far higher levels of spontaneous participation online. Therefore, participation levels are enhanced with online digital lectures by making the lecture more engaging for the student as per Connectivism Learning Theory.
This investigation contributes to the ideas and theory behind improving student experience of online lectures by setting out conditions to increase online lecture student participation.
The contribution to module planning is to show the value of integrating online lessons within the module delivery as a part of a hybrid approach.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Oct 2025 |
| Event | University of Dundee Scholarship Conference 2025 - Dalhousie Building, Dundee, United Kingdom Duration: 2 Sept 2025 → 3 Sept 2025 |
Conference
| Conference | University of Dundee Scholarship Conference 2025 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Dundee |
| Period | 2/09/25 → 3/09/25 |
Keywords
- Connectivism Learning Theory
- Mentimeter
- Spontaneous participation online
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Can online lectures be used to increase Lecture Participation?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
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University of Dundee Scholarship Conference 2025
Smith, J. (Organiser), Duke-Williams, E. (Organiser), Holme, R. (Member of programme committee), Srinivasan, S. (Member of programme committee), Spark, G. (Member of programme committee), Martindale, L. (Member of programme committee) & Kinnear, S. (Member of programme committee)
2 Sept 2025 → 3 Sept 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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