Judging a Video by its Cover: Do Video Style, Length, and Format Affect Students' Willingness to Watch an Instructional Video?

Abstract

Increasingly, university students are watching publicly available videos to complement or replace compulsory course materials. However, the factors that lead students to select one instructional video over another are still unknown. This study investigated the importance of three design factors that could affect students' willingness to watch an instructional video: video style, length, and format. Video style refers to the presentation format, such as the presence/absence of an instructor and layout of the video. Video length consists of the duration, while format indicates whether the video is presented as a whole or divided into smaller chunks. One hundred one students participated in the study, choosing 20 out of 80 video thumbnails varying in the above variables, and answering questions to explain their reasoning. The analysis showed a significant medium effect for video style, favoring Khan style. The main cited reasons were that the presence of an instructor is distracting, it is suitable for certain topics, and visuals enhance comprehension. As for video length, no statistically significant effects were found regarding a video being 6 or 10 minutes long. A small significant effect was found for video format, favoring not-segmented videos. These were preferred because of their suitability for certain topics, a lack of need to divide initially short videos, and the practicality of having the information in one place. Based on the findings, it is advisable to create Khan-style videos and not divide them if they are already short.