Blended learning
How does choosing to attend lectures online or in person affect grades?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Choosing to watch lecture recordings instead of attending in person has almost no impact on students' final exam grades, provided they stick to a consistent study routine.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Large multi-course survey linking lecture attendance mode to exam grades
- N
- N=17641 · 17,641 survey responses across 381 courses (43,979 forms distributed)
- Population
- Technical university students during Spring 2022 exam period
- Outcome
- Exam grades related to in-person, live online, or recorded lecture attendance styles
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Key findings
The researchers discovered that the way students chose to watch or attend lectures had virtually no direct influence on their final exam grades, except for students who lacked a consistent strategy. Students who split their time evenly between on-site and online attendance scored slightly worse, whereas those who chose to watch recorded videos for more than half of their classes were highly satisfied, with 70.8% recommending this approach to others. However, in interactive courses that used in-class response systems, struggling students who attended live sessions in person scored moderately higher than those who only watched recorded lectures.
Methodology
Researchers analyzed the learning behaviors of university students by distributing 43,979 survey forms to students enrolled in various classes at a large technical university during the Spring 2022 exam period. They gathered 17,641 surveys across 381 courses to analyze how different lecture attendance styles (in-person, live online, or recorded) related to final grades and student motivations. Of these responses, 13,585 were completely filled out with answers to all questions and linked directly to final administrative course grades.
Limitations
Because students were allowed to select their own attendance methods rather than being randomly assigned, the study cannot establish a direct causal link between attendance choices and exam scores. Additionally, because the data comes from a single highly competitive technical university with a unique system where exams occur weeks or months after courses end, these trends might not apply to other university settings or humanities courses. The research also cannot measure the long-term impacts of online learning on soft skills, group socialization, and overall campus culture, which are not captured by exam grades.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
A technical university distributed 43,979 survey forms and analysed 17,641 responses across 381 courses (13,585 complete and linked to administrative grades). Self-chosen lecture mode — in person, live online, or recorded — had virtually no direct association with exam grades except among students without a consistent strategy. Split on-site/online attendance scored slightly worse; 70.8% of students who watched recordings for at least half of lectures would recommend that approach. Students selected their own mode, so the survey cannot causalise attendance.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
What a survey can claim depends on whether ratings are linked to anything outside the form. The lecture-mode study ties 13,585 complete surveys to exam grades and finds almost no mode–grade link. The emergency-remote, self-efficacy and Jesuit blended papers report challenges, satisfaction and success-factor ratings without those outcome links. Instructor CRE assessment models are faculty accounts of practice, not student performance. Treating all six as one 'engagement survey finding' mixes different questions.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Positive questionnaire ratings and moderate engagement reports do not line up with the grade-linked near-null. Jesuit Worldwide Learning respondents rated intention and satisfaction highest among blended-success factors, with motivation and teaching method also above average. Emergency-remote students described moderate engagement after an unsatisfactory start. Those are approval and experience ratings. They do not contradict, and do not replicate, the finding that self-chosen lecture mode barely predicted exams.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Open questions
Tensions this paper is part of
From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.
What a survey can claim depends on whether ratings are linked to anything outside the form. The lecture-mode study ties 13,585 complete surveys to exam grades and finds almost no mode–grade link. The emergency-remote, self-efficacy and Jesuit blended papers report challenges, satisfaction and success-factor ratings without those outcome links. Instructor CRE assessment models are faculty accounts of practice, not student performance. Treating all six as one 'engagement survey finding' mixes different questions.
Positive questionnaire ratings and moderate engagement reports do not line up with the grade-linked near-null. Jesuit Worldwide Learning respondents rated intention and satisfaction highest among blended-success factors, with motivation and teaching method also above average. Emergency-remote students described moderate engagement after an unsatisfactory start. Those are approval and experience ratings. They do not contradict, and do not replicate, the finding that self-chosen lecture mode barely predicted exams.
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Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.