Teachers’ continuous vs. intermittent presence in procedural knowledge instructional videos

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become increasingly common in recent years. As the main component of MOOCs, instructional videos play a significant role in students’ learning. This study builds on the extant research on multimedia learning by testing the impact of teachers’ continuous vs. intermittent presence in procedural knowledge instructional videos. Students’ outcomes were assessed in terms of achievement, learning satisfaction, social presence, and cognitive load. Using a quasi-experimental design, 120 Chinese undergraduate students from four undergraduate classes, were randomly assigned to one of two video conditions based on whether the instructor had a continuous or intermittent presence in an instructional video teaching procedural knowledge. A series of independent sample t tests revealed that a teacher’s intermittent presentational approach improved learning achievement and satisfaction, and created less cognitive load relative to a continuous presentational approach. Results of this study can contribute to the design of procedural knowledge instructional videos.

Keywords:

• Procedural knowledge
• instructional video
• teacher’s continuous presence
• teacher’s intermittent presence
• cognitive load
• social presence
• learning satisfaction
• learning achievement

Acknowledgments

The authors express their appreciation to the instructor Mr. Wenhao Li, Mr. Chaowang Shang and the students who participated in the study.