Does an interactive table of contents promote learning from videos? A study of consultation strategies and learning outcomes.

Learning from videos is becoming an important part of educational activities, but video content may be difficult to process, mainly because its organization is not very salient in this medium. The learner's organization process should be enhanced by (1) displaying the structure (ie, table of contents) in the video‐based environment, and (2) proposing interactivity tools (interactive table of contents and cued timeline) to use this structure in a more efficient way. A total of 57 participants (higher education students) were divided into three groups (no table of contents, table of contents, and interactive table of contents) to assess the effects of displaying a structure on learning outcomes and behaviours. Results showed that tables of contents boosted topic recall, and interactivity allowed learners to perform more relevant reviewing behaviours. However, reviewing behaviours appear to be broadly timeline‐driven, and learners did not actively use the interactive table of contents. No significant effect was found on other learning outcomes (ie, content memorization and comprehension). One suggestion is that a table of contents, especially when it is interactive, can be an organizational aid during the construction of a mental model, but learners may underestimate its usefulness. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Educational videos are increasingly being used for learningAccording to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, organizing incoming information is essential for learningIn written documents, a table of contents may serve as an organizational aidIn information‐seeking tasks, an interactive table of contents improves localization.What this paper adds Adding a table of contents to a video may promote topic recall, but not content learning.An interactive table of contents may enhance consultation strategies (eg, reviewing information).Learners tend to use timelines, rather than tables of contents, to navigate videos.Implications for practice When designing an educational video, adding an interactive table of contents may enhance the quality of learning.Different strategies seem to be employed by learners, with some of them displaying no reviewing behaviours at all.Learners may underestimate the usefulness of the table of contents, so it may be necessary to encourage then to use it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]