YouTube vs the status quo: why distribution platform matters for student engagement with lecture videos

CONTEXT: Pre-recorded video lectures are becoming more ubiquitous in higher education – a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this comes an impetus for educators to design and deliver video content in a way that is engaging and effective for a new generation of ‘digitally-favoured’ learners. Over the last decade, there has been significant research activity focussed on the design of effective lecture video content and video production factors that influence student engagement. There has been far less research effort directed toward the contribution of distribution platforms. Institutions currently favour closed platforms for video distribution (such as Panopto, Kaltura, Echo360) for reasons of privacy, intellectual property control, copyright protection, and integration with learning management systems. However, these inherently impose accessibility restrictions and often lack features that open and platforms (such as YouTube) offer. PURPOSE: This study seeks to identify the factors impacting student perceptions of open versus closed video distribution platforms for learning in engineering. APPROACH: We surveyed students enrolled in two undergraduate mechanical engineering courses that extensively utilised pre-recorded lecture content. We asked an open-ended question relating to how the distribution of this content through an open platform (YouTube) in these courses compared to that through the closed platform (Panopto) used in other courses. Thematic analysis was conducted on the 143 resulting survey responses. OUTCOMES: Students overwhelmingly preferred video lectures delivered via the open platform. Four strong themes emerged from the data to support this preference: ease of content access, service quality, platform features, and ease of use. Students indicated that when lecture material was hosted on YouTube, they were more likely to engage with it and consume it in greater quantity. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that students have a strong preference toward YouTube as a video distribution platform, which contributes to increased engagement with lecture video content and improved student experience. Use of such platforms is at odds with institutional practices and policies that arise from privacy, intellectual property leakage, and copyright concerns. Administrators and educators must now decide on the cost-benefit analysis – do the associated risks outweigh the demonstrated benefits?