Does instructor's image size in video lectures affect learning outcomes?
Zhongling Pi and Jianzhong Hong are the first co‐authors.
Abstract
One of the most commonly used forms of video lectures is a combination of an instructor's image and accompanying lecture slides as a picture‐in‐picture. As the image size of the instructor varies significantly across video lectures, and so do the learning outcomes associated with this technology, the influence of the instructor's image size should be evaluated. This study tested the effect of image size of the instructor on learners' experience of social presence, cognitive load, learning performance and satisfaction. In the study, 87 Chinese undergraduates were randomly assigned to view a video lecture with a small image of the instructor, with a medium image size of the instructor or with a large image of the instructor. The results of analyses of variances and analysis of covariance suggested that learners perceived the same level of social presence and cognitive load across video lectures with different image sizes of the instructor; learners who watched the video lecture with the small image of the instructor learned better than those who watched the video lectures with the medium and the large images of the instructors. Furthermore, learners who watched the video lecture with the small image and medium image of the instructor experienced more learning satisfaction. The findings highlight the importance of image size of the instructor in video lecture learning.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic:
- One of the most commonly used forms of video lectures is a combination of an instructor's image and accompanying lecture slides as a picture‐in‐picture.
- The image size of the instructor varies significantly between video lectures.
- Presenting the instructor's image in video lectures influences learners' learning outcomes.
What this paper adds:
- Learners who watched the video lecture with the small image of the instructor learned better than those who watched the video lectures with the medium and the large images of the instructors.
- Learners who watched the video lecture with the small image and medium image of the instructor experienced more learning satisfaction.
Implications for practice and/or policy:
- A small image of an instructor should be presented in video lectures. And a small image takes about 8.4% of the space of the video lectures.
Number of times cited: 4
- Philip Siaw Kissi, Muesser Nat and Robert Benjamin Armah, The effects of learning–family conflict, perceived control over time and task-fit technology factors on urban–rural high school students’ acceptance of video-based instruction in flipped learning approach, Educational Technology Research and Development, 10.1007/s11423-018-9623-9, 66, 6, (1547-1569), (2018).
- Charles Crook and Louise Schofield, The video lecture, The Internet and Higher Education, 34, (56), (2017).
- Hongyan Wang, Zhongling Pi and Weiping Hu, The instructor's gaze guidance in video lectures improves learning, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, , (2018).
- Khe Foon Hew and Chung Kwan Lo, Comparing video styles and study strategies during video-recorded lectures: effects on secondary school mathematics students’ preference and learning, Interactive Learning Environments, 10.1080/10494820.2018.1545671, (1-18), (2018).
