Recorded Lecture Watching, Not Attendance, Correlates Positively With Grade Performance

Objectives: Objective: Traditional lecture is the dominant teaching technique in first-year dental biomedical courses at our institution. Faculty noted decreased classroom attendance after the introduction of lecture recording technology. The objective of this study was to determine if poor lecture attendance correlates with decreased grade performance in first-year biomedical science courses.
Methods: Method: Two cohorts of first-year dental students participated in a voluntary and anonymous survey. The respondents ranked lecture attendance frequency, recorded lecture watching frequency, and grade performance in each biomedical course on a 5-point Likert scale. A significant Pearson correlation (P<0.05) determined significant relationships between the 5-point rankings.
Results: Results: Class attendance and grade performance did not correlate for students in biochemistry, general histology, gross anatomy, microbiology, physiology, or neuroscience. Class attendance did significantly correlate with performance in evidence-based dentistry (P=0.03) and oral histology (P=0.003). Recorded lecture watching did not significantly correlate with grade performance in gross anatomy, evidence-based dentistry, or physiology. Recorded lecture watching did correlate with grade performance in biochemistry (P=0.006), general histology (P=0.002), microbiology (P=0.01), neuroscience (P=0.01), and oral histology (P=0.003). Attendance frequency negatively correlated (P<0.05) with the agreement with the statement that the student had trouble focusing during class for all courses except gross anatomy.
Conclusions: Conclusions: Attendance of traditional lecture frequently does not correlate with positive grade performance at our school. The correlation of better performance with watching the recorded lectures suggests that time spent focused and on task watching lecture videos is better than unfocused time in class. Efforts to introduce active-learning into first-year dental courses may improve attendance and focus. Research Supported by the Baylor Oral Health Foundation, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, and the Dean of Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry.