A Meta-analysis of the Segmenting Effect

Abstract

The segmenting effect states that people learn better when multimedia instructions are presented in (meaningful and coherent) learner-paced segments, rather than as continuous units. This meta-analysis contains 56 investigations including 88 pairwise comparisons and reveals a significant segmenting effect with small to medium effects for retention and transfer performance. Segmentation also reduces the overall cognitive load and increases learning time. These four effects are confirmed for a system-paced segmentation. The meta-analysis tests different explanations for the segmenting effect that concern facilitating chunking and structuring due to segmenting the multimedia instruction by the instructional designer, providing more time for processing the instruction and allowing the learners to adapt the presentation pace to their individual needs. Moderation analyses indicate that learners with high prior knowledge benefitted more from segmenting instructional material than learners with no or low prior knowledge in terms of retention performance.