EFFECTS OF WEBINAR USE ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: WHAT ABOUT GRADES?

Most online and blended courses have integrated synchronous and asynchronous information technologies to support affective and cognitive student outcomes. Many studies stated that affective outcomes like satisfaction, anxiety, autonomy, and motivation were improved when students used information technologies for their learning. However, cognitive outcomes were mainly measured by learning effectiveness as expressed by students and rarely by student performance. When measured using the final grades at the end of the course, student performance offers a more "objective" way to evaluate the effect of the use of technologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the direct effect of the use of a lecture capture, known as Elluminate, a webinar system, on student performance, measured through grades. The moderating effects of gender, age, concentration, autonomy, and anxiety on the relationship between Elluminate use and student performance were also tested. Results have shown that the use of Elluminate had a negative effect on student performance while anxiety was the only moderating variable that had a significant influence on the relationship between Elluminate use and student performance. The findings will not only contribute to enrich literature on the use of technologies in a blended learning context but could also help instructors and administrators in universities make more informed decisions about the strategies to adopt for integrating technologies in distance education.