Enhancing Student Achievement, Engagement, and Satisfaction Using Animated Instructional Videos

Background

Engaging students in online courses is an area of much study (Czerkawski & Lyman, 2016; Gillett-Swan, 2017; Khan, Egbue, Palkie, & Madden, 2017). Although educators realize that engagement and motivation are key factors for online students to remain on track and interact with materials independently, some students still have a difficult time completing this. Students, especially those who are not traditional learners, have other obligations and learning styles that sometime compete with online instruction. Isolation and distance are factors that influence how a student performs online (Gillett-Swan, 2017). Therefore, educators need to discover and use various methods of assisting online students to keep track of learning, become more interested in the content, and understand the material covered in various forms.

Students do not always engage with the online course material. This has been demonstrated by students enrolled in the authors’ online courses. Examining the minimal amount of time students log into the learning management system and devote to interactivity, using alternative forms of presenting materials can help improve students’ interest. Supplementing typewritten notes and electronic presentations (e.g., PowerPoint) with interactive videos could be one method to change the online environment. Osman, Jamaludin, and Fathil (2016) discovered in their research that using interactive video lectures in a flipped learning environment increased student attention and retention of material for Malaysian college students. Another study from Underdown and Martin (2016) used video to introduce course content (e.g., syllabus) and provide feedback to student discussions in a college course. They discovered that the students enjoyed this form of communication based upon comments received as being unique, interesting, and something that they can ‘hear.’ Thus, using videos to present course content is an alternative form to help stimulate interest and engagement.