Making educational videos more engaging and enjoyable for all ages: an exploratory study on the influence of embedded questions

There is Individual variation in how people interact with videos presented in online distance education. Educational videos can be embedded with interactive content to increase engagement and make cognition more efficient. Accordingly, we predicted that embedding questions during videos (rather than after) would enhance the performance of question-answering and be preferred by students. We also hypothesised that the benefits of presenting questions during videos might increase with age. Using a counter-balanced within-subject design, each participant watched short videos with questions embedded either during the video or presented after the video, and we then surveyed their experiences. Although there were no differences in correct responses, participants answered questions posed during videos more efficiently than questions presented after. Females enjoyed questions during videos more than males. Younger individuals (e.g. 25-34) seemed to benefit more from questions during videos than slightly older students (35-44). Interestingly, with increasing age (from 25 to 74), there was a shift in preference towards answering questions after, rather than during, videos. Overall, embedding questions was an effective and well-liked method for enhancing the interactivity of module-related videos. The age of students should be considered when embedding questions.

Automated summary

There is individual variation in how people interact with videos presented in online distance education. Embedding questions during videos enhances question-answering performance and is preferred by students. The benefits of presenting questions during videos may increase with age, but there is a preference shift towards answering questions after videos as individuals get older.