Instructor Presence in Video Lectures: The Role of Dynamic Drawings, Eye Contact, and Instructor Visibility

This study tested 3 instructor presence features in learning from video lectures: dynamic drawings, eye contact with the camera, and instructor visibility. In 2 experiments, college students watched a video lecture about the human kidney, which consisted of a series of drawings and a spoken explanation from the instructor, and then took a written posttest assessing retention and transfer. In Experiment 1, students viewed a lesson consisting of a spoken explanation coordinated with static, already-produced drawings (static drawings group) or with drawings dynamically created by the instructor (dynamic drawings group), both without the instructor visible. In support of the dynamic drawings hypothesis, a t test indicated the dynamic drawings group significantly outperformed the static drawings group on the posttest (d = .54). In Experiment 2, students viewed 2 new versions of the kidney lesson, in which the instructor was visible on the screen and either did not provide eye contact with the camera (conventional whiteboard group) or did provide eye contact (transparent whiteboard group). In support of the social agency hypothesis, a t test indicated the transparent whiteboard group significantly outperformed the conventional whiteboard group on the posttest (d = .54). Finally, consistent with the instructor visibility hypothesis, analyses comparing the dynamic drawings group and the transparent whiteboard group indicated no significant differences in posttest performance. Overall, these findings suggest that learning from video lectures is enhanced by specific instructor presence features, such as instructor dynamic drawing and instructor eye contact, rather than by merely having the instructor visible on the screen.