A common method of lecturing in both traditional and online classes is the virtual lecture hall or VLH for short. It delivers content on timed slides with prerecorded audio covering the content on each slide. This method of learning can be used as a complement to traditional lectures and potentially as standalone, but should you work to put it in your courses?

A survey was conducted with hundreds of students of the University of Windsor in Canada about how well the VLH was received in their online and offline classes. Only about ten percent of online students had a negative perception of the VLH. However, negative perception of the VLH from offline students was almost entirely absent. The survey also looked at expected grades. When looking at expected grades, the amount of expected A’s and B’s were similar. Lower grades of online VLH students were more likely to expect a D grade.

Overall it seems that the VLH is more beneficial when put into a traditional course. It is slightly better perceived possibly because it isn’t the only source of lecture the students have, and can be used as optional review. When it’s limited as being the only lecture students receive, it doesn’t help nearly as many students.

If you’re an online student, you may appreciate the situation you’re in. You can do your work on your own time and your own setting without worrying about being at a specific place in the middle of your busy day. You can also utilize many resources while learning that you wouldn’t be able to do when learning in a lecture hall. Nothing is holding you back. Having these perks can make it seem that your performance in class is pretty good.

Don’t be fooled!                                                                      

A study done with students attending Harvard’s summer school shows that online students are generally overconfident with their grade. The control group’s average difference in expected grade and actual grade was a vast 30%. That’s 3 letter grades! Not all hope is lost, however, as the study was looking at a method to address the problem, bringing the students’ expected grade closer to their actual one, and increasing their actual performance in the class. The method of improving the grades of the students is known as interpolated testing. Basically, at certain intervals in the online lectures, the students took small tests about the content that was just recently covered. When the students were given many tests spread inside their lectures, their average grade deficit dropped to 2%, while their average grade rose by 27%.

Don’t let your performance be hindered by overconfidence. Let your online instructors know about the benefits of interpolated testing. Since sometimes implementing these tests can be too much of a hassle for busy instructors, test yourself frequently when watching video lectures if your instructor decides against adding them. Be sure to test frequently, or else the results won’t be as noticeable.