Abstract:

In video-based learning environments, the roles of real human teachers are important. There are different theoretical explanations for their roles, such as parasocial theory, social presence theory and social agent theory. These theories suggest that real human teachers in video-based learning environments promote learning; Other theories such as cognitive theory of multimedia learning and cognitive load theory believe that real human teachers may hinder learning. By examining past research, we found that teachers have a weak effect on the promotion of video-based learning, specifically the week effect are on knowledge retention (d = 0.23) and knowledge transfer (d = 0.1); We also found that, teachers have moderate and large influence on subjective experience of video learning, especially on perceived learning (d = 0.49), learning interest (d = 0.5), and learning satisfaction (d = 2.21); Another finding from the literature review is that with the presence of teachers in video-based learning, learners may decrease their attentions to learning material (d = -2.02). Our review of the literature suggests that future research still needs to pay close attention to the presentation of human teachers as a function of learner characteristics, learning material characteristics, and measurement methods in video learning.

Key words: teacher, video learning, parasocial interaction, social agent, multimedia learning