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. 2023 Jul 25;33(5):1073-1079.
doi: 10.1007/s40670-023-01837-5. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Small-Group Teaching: Should It Be Recorded?

Peter Crook  1   2 , Shagayegh Javadzadeh  1   2 , Rebecca Shone  1   2 , Vikram Joseph  1   2 , Debasish Banerjee  1   3 , Nicholas M P Annear  1   2
Affiliations

Small-Group Teaching: Should It Be Recorded?

Peter Crook et al. Med Sci Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Recording large-group lectures is commonplace in higher education, allowing students to access content asynchronously and remotely. With the move towards online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, recording of small-group teaching sessions has also become increasingly common; however, the educational value of this practice is unknown.

Methods: All medical students rotating through the Acute Medicine Department of a large teaching hospital were invited to enrol in the study. Consenting students were recorded for the second half of an online case-based learning (CBL) session. The recording was available for 6 months; viewing patterns were analysed. Students were sent a questionnaire after the session, asking them to reflect on the recorded and unrecorded halves of the session.

Findings: Thirty-three students underwent recording in 12 separate groups; 31 students (94%) completed the questionnaire. All 31 respondents (100%) described the session as "useful" or "very useful". Twenty-four respondents (77%) recommended continuing to record small-group sessions and 17 (55%) reported being "likely" or "very likely" to watch the recording. Six respondents (19%) reported a negative impact of being recorded. During 6 months of follow-up, no students returned to view the recording for more than 1 minute.

Conclusion: Despite positive feedback for the session and high student demand for ongoing recording, no students viewed the recording for any significant duration. One-fifth of students reported a negative impact of being recorded. The findings from this study do not support routine recording of small-group CBL sessions, even where demand for this may exist.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-023-01837-5.

Keywords: Case-based learning; Medical education; Recording; Small-group learning.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestsNMPA declares current research grant from Kathleen Valles Charitable Trust and consultancy with Aeovian pharmaceuticals; previous research grants from Imperial College London Biomedical Research Centre, The Wellcome Trust, NIHR, King’s College London Biomedical Research Centre; and consultancy fees from Novartis & Vifor Pharma. The other authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Likert responses to the question: “How likely will you be to go back to watch the recorded half of the session?”. b Recording data from the Video Content Management System showing proportion of students who watched the recording during 6 months of follow-up
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Graph showing reported comfort during the unrecorded (first) and recorded (second) halves of the session
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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