Learning with videos vs. learning with print: The role of interactive features

Abstract

Two complementary studies, one in the laboratory and one in the field, compared the usage patterns and the effectiveness of interactive videos and illustrated textbooks when German secondary school students learned complex content. For this purpose, two videos affording different degrees of interactivity and a content-equivalent illustrated textbook were used. Both studies showed that in contrast to previous studies working with non-interactive videos, the effectiveness of interactive videos was at least comparable to that of print, probably due to the possibilities provided for self-regulated information processing. It was shown that the interactive features of the videos were used spontaneously. However, features enabling micro-level activities, such as stopping the video or browsing, seemed to be more beneficial for learning than features enabling macro-level activities, such as referring to a table of contents or an index. This finding is explained by students’ misconceptions about the use of features enabling macro-level activities.

Introduction

Besides being a major component of students’ media experience in their leisure time (Feierabend and Rathgeb, 2008, Feierabend and Rathgeb, 2009), videos are one of the most frequently used media in classroom settings (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1997, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 2004, Feierabend and Klingler, 2003). With the growing affordability and resulting availability of video production tools, this trend is unlikely to change in the years to come. For instance, in history education videos may serve two purposes. First, contemporary videos are considered as historical sources suitable for providing vivid and broad insights into more recent and most recent history (Paschen, 1994). Second, contemporary feature movies can be used to analyze societal and political views that were predominant at the times the movies were shot (Stoddard & Marcus, 2010). Given these fruitful modes of utilization, it is not surprising that local standards for history education mention videos as one crucial source students should use when deliberating about historical events (Hessisches Kultusministerium, 2010, Ministerium für Kultus, 2004, Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Kultus, 2009, Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands, 2006).

Based on these considerations, it is evident that videos are an integral component of the educational environments students face these days. However, from the perspective of educational psychology, the status of video as an effective learning medium has not gone undisputed, particularly in comparison to print. Yet studies in which knowledge acquisition was lower for video than for text, typically presented video in a broadcast mode in which it was not possible for the viewers to control the video’s flow of information (e.g., Furnham and Gunter, 1985, Gunter and Furnham, 1986, Walma van der Molen and van der Voort, 2000). In contrast, recent digital forms of video give the viewers the opportunity to (inter-) actively control its presentation. Accordingly, in the present article, two empirical studies are described that examined the effectiveness of interactive features in videos in comparison to an illustrated textbook.