I listed several factors that contribute to balance the cognitive load in video-based learning. A discussion on learning different topics and types of knowledge brought me to learning declarative or procedural knowledge (PK) via video tutorials (Hong, Pi, & Yang, 2018) and their relation to having the instructor in the video.
Exploring some of the relevant research articles on the effects of instructor’s image in the video, I found that the studies advocate the positive impacts of the instructor’s image in the video based on the social agency theory. The literature describes that learning alone facing video-based tutorials can become a social event. The learner can feel more connected and invests more energy and thought into understanding the content. The “social agency theory […] posits that personalized multimedia messages include social cues that activate the feeling of social presence” (Bechtold, 2017, p. 7). However, most of the studies used declarative knowledge (DK) as the learning material in the video lectures. DK is different from PK in many aspects. DK is the “what,” and the learning process is understanding and remembering the knowledge. PK is the “how” where the learning process is knowing the related DK and then knowing how to apply the skill. Having the instructor in the video does not always improve effectiveness. According to Hong et al. (2018), DK requires learners’ lower cognitive skills than learning PK. Hong et al. (2018) research results confirmed the beneficial effects of having the instructor in the video lectures in some cases: learners performed better and experienced no increase in cognitive load when being taught DK, but not PK. The instructor’s image significantly increases learner’s cognitive load when learning PK. With PK, adding the instructor’s image activated learners’ social responses, but increased their cognitive load, what reduced the benefits of the instructor’s non-verbal communication (Hong et al., 2018). Hong et al. (2018) concluded that as the type of knowledge varies, the effect of the instructor’s image should also be considered in the instructional design.
Seemingly learning alone via video-based materials can be a social event after all… 🙂
The illustration is created by the author.
References
Bechtold, S. W. (2017). The cognitive theory of multimedia learning: The impact of social cues. In M. J. Spector, B. Lockee, & Childress M (Eds.), Learning, Design, and Technology (pp. 1–14). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_60-1
Hong, J., Pi, Z., & Yang, J. (2018). Learning declarative and procedural knowledge via video lectures: cognitive load and learning effectiveness. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(1), 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2016.1237371
An interesting blog, Beata! I resonated with your thoughts on the type of learning that can occur and how much deeper the learning is while having the instructor on screen. I would think that many of us would agree that when we have our school collaborate calls that it is nicer for us to see our professors or each other during group work to feel more connected. I just had never thought about that fact that the type of learning may have been more effective.
What is interesting for my research, I have not really been coming across the types of videos used in a flipped classroom, such as with the instructor on screen. The evidence is strong to suggest that videos are an effective instructional support tool and can enable deeper learning (Mitra et al., 2010). It appears after all our research we may find out the perfect video to use for our classes! Or, we may just find out that Lynda.com just might be onto something. They have all the tools, the finances, the experts (on or off screen) and a growing market. I am starting to see that there might not be a reason to create my own videos.
References
Mitra, B., Jones, J. L., Barrett, H., Williamson, S. (2010). Research in Post ‐ Compulsory Education The use of video to enable deep learning, 6748. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2010.526802
Danielle, you are 100% correct, when you say: “I would think that many of us would agree that when we have our school collaborate calls that it is nicer for us to see our professors or each other during group work to feel more connected.” And you are even more correct saying “that is nicer for us.”
I found evidence in the literature, that majority of research participants reported a preference for the video with the instructor possibly due to the social cues in the instructor videos (Guo, Kim, & Rubin, 2014; Kizilcec, Bailenson, & Gomez, 2015; Kizilcec et al., 2014). Although learners reported a higher degree of engagement, it had no measurable impact on student grades (Wilson et al., 2018).
According to Han (2013) and Fiorella et al. (2018), an instructor’s use of video casting can convey nonverbal emotional and social context cues to the students. Nonverbal emotional cues, including facial expression, eye contact, eye gaze, and body language, the instructor provides throughout a lesson can contribute to one’s own feeling of being together and can potentially influence learners’ engagement and learning. Wilson et al. (2018) also describe that some evidence that is using tools such as visuals of the instructor enhance social agency or social presence in online lectures fosters learning and enhances learners’ personal sense of engagement.
On the other hand, many research found evidence that visuals of the instructor in online video lectures/tutorials may actually act as a seductive detail, resulting in a cost in comprehension and increase cognitive load (Fiorella, Stull, Kuhlmann, & Mayer, 2018; Kizilcec et al., 2015; Wilson et al., 2018). Wilson et al. (2018) refer to it as the instructor presence effect.
If I sum up, although visuals of the instructor in video lectures may impair comprehension, learners prefer it. Online and independent learners have much control and freedom over how and when they learn, and these subjective evaluations are likely to guide the decisions that learners make in determining the learning resources they use. Therefore, it is essential to consider them when instructional designers decide how to present the information in video-based materials (such as LinkedIn Learning videos).
References
Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning @ scale conference – L@S ’14 (pp. 41–50). New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556325.2566239
Han, H. (2013). Do nonverbal emotional cues matter? Effects of video casting in synchronous virtual classrooms. American Journal of Distance Education, 27(4), 253–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923647.2013.837718
Kizilcec, R. F., Bailenson, J. N., & Gomez, C. J. (2015). The instructor’s face in video instruction: Evidence from two large-scale field studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 724–739. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000013
Kizilcec, R. F., Papadopoulos, K., Sritanyaratana, L., Kizilcec, R. F., Papadopoulos, K., & Sritanyaratana, L. (2014). Showing face in video instruction. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems – CHI ’14 (pp. 2095–2102). New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557207
Wilson, K. E., Martinez, M., Mills, C., D’Mello, S., Smilek, D., & Risko, E. F. (2018). Instructor presence effect: Liking does not always lead to learning. Computers & Education, 122, 205–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.03.011
Hi Beata –
I was very interested to read the research you uncovered by Hong, Pi, and Yang (2018) which revealed their findings that instructor presence can increase learner’s cognitive load in videos on procedural knowledge. I am beginning to see increasing reasons why using curated video libraries such as Lynda.com are more likely to become common place other than as one method of cost-cutting measures related to my critical inquiry.
Circling back to Hong et al’s (2018) suggested findings that the type of knowledge being taught, and the presence of the instructor can influence or impact learning effectiveness in video-based lectures is a key argument in designing videos. It is starting to appear that with so much to consider already in designing online courses, it is even more appealing to use a resource such as Lynda. To Danielle’s point, a curated video library, such as Lynda, has the resources, money, people and ability to design videos that take all the factors you have mentioned regarding cognitive load and social agency into creating perhaps more effective videos (quantity and quality) than what it would take for a small in-house ID unit with limited resources and time…very insightful and at the same time unsettling.
RE: “a curated video library, such as Lynda, has the resources, money, people and ability to design videos that take all the factors you have mentioned regarding cognitive load and social agency into creating perhaps more effective videos (quantity and quality) than what it would take for a small in-house ID unit with limited resources and time”.
A large production company such as LinkedIn Learning needs to cater to everybody, target most of the viewers. Considering all the parameters that can contribute to balance cognitive load reveals that it is not possible 🙂 to serve everybody at the same time. Some classification and description can help (such as the video is for advanced or beginner viewers…) and true, that LinkedIn Learning applies those. I am also aware that the learning path suggestions can help in gluing the different courses together and provides guidelines for individual learners. However, when we consider either a company training (for example for Dorothy or you Mel), or school learners (for Danielle or me), someone (instructor or instructional designer) needs to provide bridge and guidance what to do, which one to watch and potentially offer guiding questions to frame the learning.
Hi Beata, a great blog post. I was intrigued about your description of “ studies advocat[ing] the positive impacts of the instructor’s image in the video based on the social agency theory.” This reminded me of social presence and the Community of Inquiry model by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000). This model has three components for effective online instruction: cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. They describe social presence as the creation of a safe environment in which students can work together and create a real online presence. Social presence is further described by Kreijns, Van Acker, Vermeulen and Van Buuren (2014) as the experience of the other as being real. The description of social presence within a community of inquiry seems to describe the positive impacts on learning you discovered looking into social agency theory and supports your quote by Bechtold (2017) “that personalized multimedia messages include social cues that activate the feeling of social presence.” (para. 1).
Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education. Retrieved from http://cde.athabascau.ca/coi_site/documents/Garrison_Anderson_Archer_Critical_Inquiry_model.pdf
Kreijns, K., Van Acker, F., Vermeulen, M., & Van Buuren, H. (2014). Community of Inquiry: Social Presence. Retrieved from DOI: 10.2304/elea.2014.11.1.5
This is an interesting exploration into the intricacies of video, instructor presence and different types of knowledge. It certainly is a complex question. I wonder how much of this is connected to the type of content being covered. For instance, procedural knowledge (how-to) is typically best conveyed using the strengths of video: close-ups, different angles, good lighting, and other tricks of the trade to show how things are actually done. This is good craft as well as instructional design. Declarative knowledge is all-too-often presented by talking heads, i.e. video lectures. Perhaps part of the issue is video is better for procedural knowledge than declarative knowledge. Or even more: maybe too much declarative knowledge is bad instructional design and harder to learn from. Lots of interesting questions arising from this series of posts and comments. Thanks Beata, Danielle, Mel and Anita for giving it life!