Cognitive aspects of video-based learning with instructor presence depend on pedagogical approaches: A perspective from motivating styles

Instructor presence is a critical feature that should be considered when designing video lectures. However, its influence on cognitive aspects of learning is mixed. Such inconsistencies imply the likelihood of moderators shaping the influence. Motivating styles (i.e., autonomy-supportive, controlling and neutral teaching), the most concerned pedagogical approaches, may be such a moderator. This study examines how the influence of instructor presence on the cognitive aspects of learning, including learning outcomes, attention (i.e., visual attention allocation and concentration), and extraneous cognitive load, varies with motivating styles. A three (motivating styles: autonomy-supportive vs. controlling vs. neutral teaching) × two (instructor presence: present vs. absent) between-subjects eye-tracking experiment was conducted among 181 university students. While instructor presence reduced visual attention to the knowledge area regardless of the instructor's motivating style, its effects on learning outcomes (albeit only in terms of retention), concentration, and extraneous load were conditional on it. Specifically, compared with the instructor-absent condition, under autonomy-supportive teaching, instructor presence decreased retention and concentration, but did not affect extraneous load; under controlling teaching, instructor presence did not impact retention, but damaged concentration and boosted extraneous load; under neutral teaching, instructor presence promoted retention without affecting concentration or extraneous load. The findings imply that the facilitating effect of instructor presence as a social cue and its detrimental effect as a seductive detail can dominate one another or cancel each other out under specific motivating styles. Hence, pedagogical approaches can shape the effects of instructor presence. • Cognitive aspects of learning with instructor presence depend on motivating styles. • Instructor presence harms retention/attention under autonomy-supportive teaching. • Instructor presence impedes attention and increases ECL under controlling teaching. • Instructor presence distracts visual attention irrespective of motivating styles. • On the whole, instructor presence is only recommended under neutral teaching.