Literature Review

 
Access to Lecture notes: Review and Best Practice
 
Introduction
Today many students are - officially or unofficially - studying part-time. It is inevitable that many of them will miss a lecture due to employment and other obligations, and will need to catch up with the material that was covered. Students also desire more flexibility in the delivery of their courses, and one of their expectations is that lecture notes will be provided to them in some form (Rolfe 2002). Students assert that this will help them to prepare for classes and will allow them to spend lecture time listening to and thinking about the material being presented, rather than scribbling down notes that may be illegible at a later date.

There have been claims however, anecdotal but widespread, that providing students with lecture notes leads directly to a reduction in attendance at lectures, and that this, in turn, leads to a significant reduction in effective learning. Lecture notes in isolation are likely to be a poor substitute for attending and engaging with a real lecture. Printed material, in particular, can only be interactive at a very superficial level. There are also anecdotal reports that there is a correlation between lecture attendance and exam performance.

If we do decide to provide students with lecture notes, then there are a number of issues to be considered. The depth of the notes provided can range from a brief outline of the points covered at the lecture right through to a full transcript of the lecture. There is also a decision to be made regarding the delivery of notes. Should notes be delivered in hardcopy form, or should we make notes available electronically?