The Cost of High Production Quality: A Preliminary Discussion of the Value of Production in Asynchronous Online Modalities

What would happen if online course content was produced at television-or even cinematic-level quality? Would students become more engaged? Would they learn more and more deeply? If so, would the gains be worth the expenditure of time and funds that higher video production quality requires? To put it another way: Do investments in video production quality result in measurable increases in students’ achievement of learning outcomes and objectives? Questions such as these are at the heart of this preliminary discussion of production value for online content creation, which investigates a grand challenge facing higher education and society generally, as we navigate the spectrum of modalities in a post-pandemic world. This questions that this paper proposes stands at the intersection of educational scholarship, course content creation, student retention and persistence, and the achievement of learning outcomes and objectives. It, therefore, seeks to push forward a model for change and improvement in university education and teaching and learning on our campuses.