Does student evaluation of on-demand video lectures vary with student characteristics? A questionnaire survey of medical students at Tokushima University

The popularity of online classes in university education has grown rapidly since the COVID-19 outbreak. This study aims to examine the association between the detailed characteristics / various contexts of students and the evaluation of online classes. An online questionnaire survey administered to third- and fourth-grade medical students of Tokushima University in September 2021—with 101 (42.8%) valid responses—showed the respondents’ general impressions, comprehension, convenience, and desire for online classes even after the pandemic ends were significantly higher for the on-demand lectures than for simultaneous online classes. Notably, students who did not do other things while watching video lectures (10.9%) rated on-demand lectures as facilitating significantly higher impression, comprehension, and convenience than those who did other things (89.1%). A multivariate analysis revealed that students who did not do anything else while watching, whose waking time changed slightly, who commuted to school for shorter periods, who were not good at morning lectures, and who watched at high speed rated the video lectures highly. Thus, video lectures are appreciated by students who are committed to learning, which is a positive result for the future of on-demand education.