This study employs a random control trial experimental design to compare student learning outcomes in situations with live lectures and situations with ‘captured’ – virtually recorded asynchronous – lectures. Students across five sections of introductory microeconomics were randomly assigned to attend a lecture in person or virtually. They were then quizzed on the material covered. Later in the semester, the same students were switched to the opposite modality and quizzed again on new material. An important feature of the experimental design was that the topics differed significantly in complexity. We find that with the more difficult topic, students watching recorded lectures performed better than those attending live lectures. For an easier topic, however, the opposite was true. Male students benefitted most from lecture capture, particularly on the more difficult topic. Women students were largely indifferent to changes in lecture modality.

本研究采用随机对照试验实验设计来比较学生在现场讲座情况和“捕获”（虚拟录制异步）讲座情况下的学习成果。五个入门微观经济学部分的学生被随机分配亲自或虚拟参加讲座。然后他们就所涵盖的材料进行了测验。在学期后期，同样的学生被切换到相反的模式，并再次对新材料进行测验。实验设计的一个重要特征是主题在复杂性上存在显着差异。我们发现，对于更难的主题，观看录制讲座的学生比参加现场讲座的学生表现更好。然而，对于一个更简单的话题，情况恰恰相反。男学生从讲座捕获中受益最多，特别是在更困难的话题上。女学生在很大程度上对授课方式的变化漠不关心。