Is self-explanation better than explaining to a fictitious student when learning from video lectures?

Abstract

Generating written explanations is a popular learning strategy in an online learning environment. Students can explain to themselves (ie, self-explanations) or a peer-student (ie, instructional explanations). However, for improving learning from video lectures, it is unclear whether writing self-explanations is more beneficial than writing instructional explanations, and whether writing both types of explanation is more beneficial than writing only one type. We compared the learning-related outcomes of students who wrote explanations under one of four conditions: self-explanation (n = 30), instructional explanation (n = 30), self-explanation then instructional explanation (n = 30) and instructional explanation then self-explanation (n = 30). We assessed the participants' external and internal attention, explanation quality, and immediate and delayed learning performance. Students in the conditions that included self-explanations showed higher internal attention, as well as better immediate and delayed performance than those in the instructional explanations condition. In addition, students in the two combined conditions showed a higher level of organization and elaboration than those in the instructional explanations condition. These results suggest that students should write explanations to themselves while learning from video lectures. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Generating explanations is a beneficial learning strategy. It is unclear whether explaining to oneself (self-explanations) is more beneficial than explaining to a peer (instructional explanations). The benefits of writing instructional explanations on learning performance were not consistently found across diverse areas. What this paper adds Self-explanations, both in oral and written form, were more effective for learning performance than instructional explanations. Students in the conditions that included both self-explanations and instructional explanations demonstrated a higher level of organization and elaboration than those in the instructional explanation condition. When compared to the self-explanations condition, additional instructional explanations had no effect on learning performance or internal attention. Implications for practice and/or policy Self-explanations was an excellent approach for learning from video lectures. Students should write explanations to themselves while learning from video lectures.