Lecture Modality: Student Attendance Choices and Performance

Using a pool of 226 students from introductory accounting courses offered during the COVID-19 pandemic, the author shows support for the efficacy of hybrid learning delivery methods. The author categorizes students’ preferences for remote (via video conferencing), in-person (face-to-face (F2F)), or HyFlex (an on-demand combination of either in-person or remote) learning modalities and examines the association with performance. The author finds that attendance choices affect a student’s self-reported engagement, coursework participation, and exam performance. Additionally, the author finds a significant effect on all performance measures for those who either attend in-person or hybrid lecture formats compared to remote learning via video conferencing technology. These results indicate a potential loss of learning in the absence of a F2F lecture component. However, results do not indicate any significant performance difference between those who attend in-person and those who prefer a hybrid learning (HyFlex) format. These results show that there is a benefit to F2F lectures, although, the degree to which students must attend in that modality to reach their full benefit remains unresolved as the study did not address this issue.