The Video Lecture as an Instructional Method of MOOCS: Impact on the Students' Re-Watching Behaviors

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between instructional delivery that affects students' engagement with video lectures and the need to re-watch video lectures in the context of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), where video lectures are the predominant mode of instruction. Multiple linear regression was used to investigate the relationships between some key characteristics of video lectures— the arrangement of text and graphs that creates eye scanning behavior, audiovisual support, text-image comprehensibility, professor's speech clarity—with the need to re-watch video lectures. The findings from the study reveal that the arrangement of text and graphs, the professor’s speech clarity, and text-image comprehensibility emerge as major factors influencing the need to re-watch video lectures in MOOCs. However, audiovisual support does not significantly influence the need to re-watch video lectures. Consequently, the study sheds light on the positive relationship between the arrangement of text and graphs and the need to re-watch video lectures, highlighting the potential cognitive overload experienced by students when oscillating between textual and graphical information. Similarly, the study also shows how the comprehensibility of text and images impacts students' video lecture rewatching behavior, emphasizing the necessity for clear and comprehensible visuals in instructional materials. Additionally, our findings indicate the significance of speech clarity in video lectures, with clear speech patterns contributing to a reduced need for re-watching video lectures. However, the study notes the limited impact of audiovisual support on students' re-watching behavior, suggesting the need for instructors and content creators to minimize audiovisual distractions in order to create sustained engagement. While previous studies have explored various aspects of student engagement in MOOCs, this research fills a critical gap by specifically investigating instructional delivery affecting engagement behaviors of students and the propensity for such instructional delivery to cause students to re-watch video lectures in Moocs. Thus, these findings highlight key areas for optimizing video lecture design in MOOCs, offering actionable insights for educators and content creators to enhance instructional effectiveness and student engagement in fully online learning environments.