Engage or observe? Eye-tracking and experimental evidence on integrating VR generative practice into short instructional videos

Abstract Instructional videos are widely used, yet their limited interactivity often leads to passive viewing. Embedding Virtual Reality (VR) as a form of generative practice, in which learners actively create content such as drawings or visual representations, offers a promising solution to foster deeper cognitive processing. This study examines the impact of integrating generative VR practice into instructional videos through an experimental design involving 100 university students. Learners engaged with vocabulary tasks under four spatial layouts that varied in the position (left vs. right) and size (small vs. large) of the interactive area, compared with a video-only control. Outcomes included retention, transfer, attention, cognitive load, and perceived enjoyment. Transfer benefits over video-only learning were observed only in the two large-area VR conditions. Among the VR conditions, right-side positioning increased attention allocation and reduced cognitive load, whereas larger interaction areas improved retention, transfer, and usability while reducing cognitive load. Eye-tracking further showed that VR-based generative practice redirected attention toward the interactive area. No significant interaction between position and size was found. These findings extend generative learning theory into VR-supported video contexts, propose the Attentional Alignment Principle and Workspace Expansion Principle, and provide design implications for interactive instructional videos.