The effect of informational content redundancy in short instructional videos on the ESD teaching effectiveness

With the advancement of digital education, short videos have emerged as a powerful teaching and learning, demonstrating unprecedented potential for education for sustainable development (ESD). This study examines how learners’ perceived information content redundancy in ESD-related short instructional videos is associated with perceived ESD teaching effectiveness, based on their prior viewing experiences, utilizing questionnaire surveys and structural equation modeling ( N = 1682). It also reveals the mediating roles of media literacy and information processing fluency. The results indicate that information content redundancy in short videos not only directly enhances the ESD teaching effectiveness but also indirectly improves the learning experience and knowledge absorption by fostering learners’ media literacy and accelerating information processing fluency. This finding enriches the theoretical framework surrounding information redundancy and learning effects, while also providing valuable practical guidance for educational content creators and policymakers.