Supporting students' online credibility evaluation: A new study explores the impact of storification of instructional videos

CHB 2024

A new research article titled “Storifying Instructional Videos on Online Credibility Evaluation: Examining Engagement and Learning”  has been published in Computers in Human Behavior. The study is part of EduLit researcher’s Riikka Anttonen’s dissertation.

The study investigates whether storifying instructional videos enhances students’ situational interest, positive activating epistemic emotions, and learning of online credibility evaluation skills compared to non-storified instructional videos. In the storified videos, evaluating credibility of online texts was framed as detective practices.

Students participated in non-storified (n = 135) or storified (n = 115) video-based intervention (4 x 45 minutes). In both conditions, online credibility evaluation strategies were taught with short instructional videos at the beginning of each lesson. In the storified videos, strategies were taught by two detectives representing the Funky Facts detective office. The setting of the videos was the detective office, and detectives demonstrated strategies with playful elements and language. In the non-storified videos, an instructor used neutral language, and there was no specific setting in the videos. The learning content was the same in both videos. After watching the videos, students practiced evaluation strategies with workbook tasks. The example videos can be accessed through the article’s supplementary files.

Notably, the non-storified and storified videos were able to maintain students’ situational interest, no decline was observed. However, a slight decline in positive activating epistemic emotions was observed in both conditions. Intervention improved students’ online credibility evaluation skills similarly in both intervention conditions.

The study suggest that professionally produced videos, following multimedia design principles, can effectively trigger and sustain situational interest and improve online credibility evaluation skills without the need to incorporate additional storified elements.

For more details, you can access the full article here.

The article will be part of the special issue of CORE: Evaluating Online Resources: Cognitive Foundations and Educational Interventions.