Improving students' processing of history‐related 360° videos through collaboration and emotion regulation

Abstract Background With the increasing availability of immersive technologies such as 360° videos for educational purposes, research needs to shift from media comparison studies to value‐added studies in order to identify conditions for effective learning with such technologies. For the educational use of history‐related virtual reality media, which are characterized by immersion and emotionalization, instructional approaches that promote cognitive and critical rather than emotional processing of the content are required. Objectives Drawing on research on self‐regulated learning, emotion regulation, and collaborative learning, the present value‐added study examines whether (1) strategy training in cognitive and emotion regulation strategies and (2) collaboration can enhance students' cognitive processing of history‐related 360° videos. Methods In a quasi‐experimental study with school students ( N = 157), we compared the effects of training addressing cognitive and emotion regulation strategies with training focusing on cognitive strategies alone. Before and during each of the two types of training, students were asked to either collaboratively or individually analyse a history‐related 360° video. Results and Conclusions Training in cognitive strategies alone promotes cognitive processing of 360° videos, while combined training leads to more emotional processing. Collaboration helps students to analyse a history‐related 360° video in a cognitive and reflective way before training and to acquire the cognitive strategies during the training. After training, however, students who had previously collaborated processed the video more emotionally than students who had previously worked alone. This study highlights the importance of tailored instructional approaches to maximize the educational potential of immersive technologies in history education.