Do videos used in class follow multimedia principles?

Abstract

Previous research in multimedia learning studied how to support learners processing of animations, and more recently videos, following principles derived from the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2005, 2014, 2021). Yet, these principles and empirical results are rarely followed in the design of available instructional video (Oh et al., 2019). One explanation may lie in the fact that research is often based on material designed specifically for the studies, with data mostly collected in laboratory settings. Thus, teachers may be under the impression that research findings cannot be transferred to authentic learning material, or are unaware of it. To determine how multimedia principles are followed in practice, we asked secondary school teachers of Sciences (n = 4) and History (n = 4) to provide video they used in class in the past year (n = 78). Videos were then coded based on whether Multimedia principles (Mayer, 2005, 2014, 2021), and other guidelines (Bétrancourt & Benetos, 2018; Mayer, 2020) were implemented. Other elements such as video source (found online, official resource, self-produced), length, reported use, etc. were also accounted for.