Video lecture watching behaviors of learners in online courses

Abstract

This paper examines learners’ behaviors while watching online video lectures to understand learner preferences. 2927 students’ 18144 video events across 13 courses on Sakai CLE LMS which were integrated with Kaltura Video Platform and Google Analytics were analyzed. For the analysis of the quantitative data one-way ANOVA Chi-square test of independence and descriptive statistics were utilized. The main results revealed that there was a tendency toward watching interview-style video lectures completely. In addition the percentage rate of Watching Completely behavior was higher in shorter videos and a tendency toward watching long video lectures by seeking was found. According to our results watching patterns was also affected by lecturers’ characteristics. Watching Completely rate of female lecturers was significantly different than those of male lectures in favor of females as well as watching in FullScreen mode. Furthermore learners who watched online video lectures completely had higher scores on the final exam than others. Our analysis could help those who plan to optimize online video lectures in e-learning programs. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.