Learning with videos: Do task instructions and the availability of a pause button matter?

Abstract

Background: When watching educational online videos, learners need to determine whether the videos' contents are suitable for learning. Whereas this may induce metacognitive monitoring processes, it may also distract learners from the learning materials. Objectives: In the current set of experiments, we investigated whether asking participants to rate the suitability of three educational videos to impart knowledge (both experiments) and enabling participants to pause the video (Experiment 2) affects learning. Methods: Experiment 1 was conducted in the laboratory with a sample of university students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions (rating task vs. viewing task). Experiment 2 was conducted online. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions resulting from the two factors task (rating task vs. viewing task) and pause button (available vs. not available). Results and Conclusion: In Experiment 1, we observed detrimental effects of the rating task on learning outcomes, but more accurate judgements of learning. In Experiment 2, we did not find any effects of the rating task on learning outcomes and the accuracy of the participants' judgements of learning. However, the inclusion of a pause button did result in more accurate judgements of learning. Further, exploratory analyses revealed that older participants reported higher levels of intrinsic and germane cognitive load than the younger participants. This increased effort only translated into better learning outcomes in the condition in that participants could pause the video. Thus, age is introduced as a potential boundary condition that should be investigated in instructional design research.