The university mathematics lecture: to record, or not to record, that is the question

While recordings of lectures proved invaluable for students’ learning during the pandemic, as our university transitioned back to in-person teaching there was a call from many lecturers to remove the requirement to provide lecture recordings due to the perceived negative impact on attendance. To examine in detail the relationship between recordings and the corresponding face-to-face lectures, we conducted a study on the formats of lectures across our undergraduate mathematics programmes pre- and post-lockdown in March 2020, and students’ perceptions of how beneficial they felt each was for their learning. In May 2020, 156 mathematics students completed a survey containing both quantitative and qualitative questions. Findings indicate that pre-pandemic almost 70% of the lecture formats classified by students were traditional in nature, with 20% classified as containing some interactions, and the remainder as including group work. While students did not perceive great differences in terms of the benefits to learning between the face-to-face and online lecture formats in the majority of modules, those who experienced interactions or group work in lectures before lockdown, reported a greater drop than those who experienced a traditional lecture. Irrespective of preferences for face-to-face or online learning, students were clear about the value of lecture recordings and interactions with peers and lecturers to their learning. Based on our findings, and those of others, we discuss implications for mathematics lecturers’ practice. Specifically, we argue for the provision of lecture recordings or short pre-recordings, especially when the lecture is traditional in nature.