Do increased engagement effects in lecture videos improve comprehension?

Abstract: Students are choosing more and more to enroll in online courses due to convenience or acclimation from distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, instructors must learn to utilize principles of cognitive load and student engagement when designing online courses, especially when creating asynchronous lecture videos. This study examined the effects of content difficulty (Easy vs. Hard) and percentage level of engagement effects in videos (10%, 25%, 50%, 75%) on comprehension of course material. Participants were asked to watch one easy content and one hard content video and answer questions on the video topic after each video. Perceived usability, mental effort, and engagement behavior tendencies while watching instructional videos were also measured. Results showed a significant interaction between content difficulty and subject pool, with student participants performing better than Amazon participants, specifically on hard content. Participants rated lower levels of engagement effects as more usable, and participants overall rated easy content requiring less mental effort to understand than hard content. Implications and further research topics based on these findings are discussed.

Keywords: instructional design, student engagement, asynchronous learning

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003019

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