Lecture-Free Instruction: Does Gender Matter?

Lecture-free teaching and learning is an instructional method that omits the traditional lecture and replaces it with self-paced learning activities in or outside the classroom. While previous research showed evidence for the effectiveness of this method, the impact of gender on students' performance and perceptions remained unexplored. This study attempts to close this gap by analyzing learning and self-report data from two lecture-free courses in a computer engineering program. Our findings, drawn from learning analytics, reveal that the performance of female students in the learning activities is comparable to that of their male counterparts, even though males complete the activities more quickly, on average. Regarding perceptions, female students report slightly lower or higher levels of interest and challenge, respectively. Moreover, the gender effect can be moderated by the complexity of the learning activity. These results suggest that engineering programs employing lecture-free instruction should consider allocating more time for female learners. Additionally, the learning activities should be designed in a way that enhances females' interest and motivation and lowers their perceived level of challenge. Further research is needed to understand the sources of interest and challenges in lecture-free learning activities and to examine the correlations between interest, challenge, and performance.