The Effects of Whiteboard Animations on Learning and Subjective Experiences When Learning With Popular Social Science Lessons

• In Event: 53.062 - Online and Mobile Learning Interactions

Abstract

This study measured the impact of whiteboard animations against other common instructional formats on learning outcomes, experience, and motivation. We recruited participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N=568; 326 females). Participants were randomly assigned to view online lessons about popular topics in social science in one of five common instructional formats: whiteboard animation, electronic slideshow (i.e., sequential images with narration), stage lecture, audio (i.e., narration), and text. For learning experiences, we also introduce a novel behavioral measure of engagement alongside participant self-reports by eliciting continuation values with diminishing compensation. Results showed a benefit of whiteboard animations for learning and subjective experiences of enjoyment and engagement, as well as attention. A significant positive relationship between enjoyment and learning was also found.

Authors

• Selen Turkay, Harvard University

• Samuel Taylor Moulton, Harvard University