Learning from an asynchronous video lecture: Note-taking helps, smartphone sounds harm

Research evidence reveals that note-taking is an effective strategy to learn from video lectures, but also that smartphone noises harm learning. Both these important findings originate from on-site settings, such as in the classroom or lab, however. We therefore decided to address still-open questions about note-taking's potential beneficial effects and smartphone noises' potential detrimental effects on learning in an authentic asynchronous online scenario. The present online field experiment involved 196 undergraduate psychology students (144 female; M age = 23.44 years) who learned from a prerecorded 12-min video lecture on the topic “Learning strategies.” Following a 2 × 2-factorial design, participants did or did not receive a note-taking request before the video lecture (Factor A: note-taking request) and did or did not experience smartphone noises during the video lecture (Factor B: smartphone noises). Participants were asked whether they had actually taken notes. Note-takers ( n = 67) reported stronger learning engagement and scored higher on the posttest than the non-note-takers ( n = 129). Learning engagement mediated the note-taking effect on learning outcomes. The smartphone noises reduced the learners' compliance to fulfill the request to take notes. Furthermore, the smartphone noises were detrimental to the learning outcomes of non-note-takers. By contrast, note-takers with and without smartphone noises performed equally well in the posttest. Overall, these findings provide ecologically valid empirical support of two pieces of practical advice for students, namely: how beneficial it is to take notes and how detrimental it is to become distracted by smartphone noises when learning from an asynchronous video lecture. • Taking notes fostered asynchronous distance learning from a video lecture. • Learning engagement mediated the note-taking effect on learning outcomes. • Smartphone noises reduced learners' compliance to take notes. • Smartphone noises worsened learning outcomes for learners who did not take notes. • Note-taking may serve as a protective factor against smartphone noises.