How does online social interaction promote students’ continuous learning intentions?

Abstract

Learning from online videos using synchronized Danmu comments provides a co-learning experience. To explore the factors influencing learning with or without Danmu videos, an initial set of reasons and impediments was compiled based on a pilot study of 24 Chinese university students with learning experience using Danmu videos. Three hundred such students were surveyed to determine the factors that influence their motivations and hindrances with regard to using Danmu videos. The potential predictors of users’ continuance intentions were also examined. The results showed that the frequency of using Danmu videos is related to the continuous learning intention. Seeking information, social presence, and perceived entertainment motivate learners and positively impact their intention to continue learning using Danmu videos. Hindrances such as information pollution, attention failure, and visual obstacle were found to be negatively associated with learners’ continuance intention in the long run. Our findings provided constructive suggestions for addressing the issue of dropout rates, and novel ideas for future studies were proposed.