Shaping the Engagement of Online Learners Through Instructor-Made Videos with Quizzes

Abstract

This study presents findings from a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent groups research design to examine graduate students’ engagement with Instructor-Made-Videos (IMVs) before and after applying best-practices production procedures with the addition of graded quizzes for accountability. Results showed that learners’ video-watching patterns improved when instructors spoke quickly using an enthusiastic style, maintained video length to approximately six minutes, and required students to complete a short, graded assessment when the video ended. Whereas 37% of potential video-watching sessions were viewed in their entirety by the comparison group (n = 90 students, three course sections), the treatment group (n = 78 students, three course sections) viewed 88% of the watching sessions entirely and earned average quiz grades of 95.7% across all six assessments. These findings suggest that the intervention successfully mitigated online learners’ tendencies to minimally view or not view Instructor-Made-Videos at all and that the students learned the content presented in the videos. The implications are that reasonably simple changes in instructional design and delivery can assist learners as they make choices that influence the quality of their interactions with course content in the online environment.

Keywords: instructor-made videos, online student engagement, ruthlessly efficient online learners, satisficing student behavior

https://doi.org/10.9743/JEO.2022.19.1.4