Abstract:

Adult students often have special needs related to time use. These needs typically manifest as reduced opportunities to participate in the education provided. One way to increase the flexibility of participation in education is to realize that education in accordance with the blended learning model employing lecture videos. Lecture videos can in these cases function as an alternative to face-to-face teaching in study participation.

Maintaining face-to-face teaching alongside videos enables choosing of one's study participation mode: it is possible to physically attend face-to-face teaching, study from distance with a real-time video simultaneously with face-to-face teaching, or study from distance with the help of on-demand videos. When lecture videos and other study-related actions, such as interaction and distribution of study material, are realized so that they are suitable also for mobile devices, the student can access, independent of time and place, all the material needed for study.

This variety in the ways of participation allows the student to time the study in accordance with his/her own personal schedule. The student can, in temporal sense, participate in study in real time, simultaneously with face-to-face teaching, or in non-real-time, deviating from the pace determined by face-to-face teaching. Real-time participation includes, in addition to participating in face-to-face study, also study with the help of real-time video. On the other hand, study at the pace of face-to-face teaching is, in the case of videos, a flexible concept. If a lecture video is to be viewed before the next face-to-face teaching situation, one can still refer to this as study at the pace of face-to-face teaching. So it may be thought that a student who studies with the help of on-demand videos studies still at the pace determined by face-to-face teaching.

Therefore, participation in education can be classified timewise as follows:
1. Study at the pace of face-to-face teaching with the help of face-to-face teaching, real-time video or on-demand video. This means study that takes place at the pace determined by lecture sessions so that the previous lecture is always seen before the next face-to-face teaching session.
2. Study completely adapted to one's own pace. In this case, the student watches the lecture videos before an exam, not worrying about the pace of face-to-face teaching.

In first category studying takes place in accordance with the proposed pedagogical model at a pace which teaching is designed to study. In the second category studying is done against the proposed pedagogical model.

In this research we examine how students participate in study timewise and whether temporally determined participation modes affect the extent of participation or learning outcomes. The learning outcomes are examined from the viewpoint of both course grades and course completion. The research data was collected in connection with the Master Studies in Mathematical Information Technology at the Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius during 2008–2012. The data consists of information on 77 students. All students had the opportunity to participate in education with the help of face-to-face teaching and with the help of videos. Students had required equipment and internet connection for watching videos. Students participated in 38 courses. The number of course participations was 500.

Keywords:

Video lecture, distance learning, blended learning, adult education, lecture attendance, learning outcomes.