LAUSR

Abstract The literature acknowledges that deeper comprehension of content can be realised when students actively create their own learning materials. However, studies measuring the impact of students co-creating content on their academic performance are limited. Furthermore, there is a significant lacuna in our knowledge about the impact of learning styles on the efficacy of content co-creation. Situated within a constructivist learning paradigm, this study examines the impact on academic performance of students creating course content in two distinctly different ways. The first involves students using an e-learning platform to develop multiple choice questions based on course content. The second involves students using a range of audio-visual tools to create streaming videos that explain module content to their peers. The study uses an experimental design to measure quantitatively the effectiveness of both co-creation assignments, making a significant contribution to our knowledge of the efficacy of content co-creation. We find that both co-creation assignments had a statistically significant impact on academic performance. We also examine whether students’ learning styles have an impact on the effectiveness of content co-creation finding that reflective (versus active) learners and sequential (versus global) learners gain more from co-creation.