Instructional Science

Smartphone distraction is a concern in university classrooms. However, the effectiveness of notification salience in reducing the impact of smartphone distraction on learning remains unclear. This study examined how external smartphone stimuli (i.e., notifications) and internal smartphone-related distraction (i.e., smartphone vigilance) influence students’ in-class phone use and learning performance. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate 84 Taiwanese undergraduates who were randomly assigned to groups with two different smartphone settings: notification revealed (NR) and notification hidden (NH). Using behavioral observations, self-report measures, and a performance test, we employed t-tests to analyze group differences in phone-use behaviors and learning performance. Partial least-squares structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among habitual phone use, smartphone vigilance, phone-use behaviors, mental effort, and learning performance under different smartphone settings. The results revealed that smartphone settings moderated the relationship between vigilance and phone-use patterns: When experiencing heightened smartphone vigilance during learning, students in the NR group exhibited more frequent checking behavior. Those in the NH group, meanwhile, tended toward longer duration per use, referring to extended time spent on each smartphone session. Both use patterns negatively affected learning performance by increasing mental effort, potentially explaining the absence of differences in performance between the groups. This study advances the literature by clarifying the distinct effects of external stimuli and internal distraction, highlighting that merely hiding notifications may be insufficient to prevent distractions in classrooms where smartphones remain accessible. Practical implications of student self-control strategies and classroom smartphone policies have also been discussed.

As video lectures have become an important way for online learning, the learning strategy is one of the important factors that affect the quality of learning. This study investigated the effects of three generative learning strategies (learner-generated explanations, learner-generated drawings, and imagining) on learners’ cognitive load, judgment of learning, learning engagement, learning performance and learning efficiency, compared to the control group.A total of 160 undergraduate students were randomly allocated to one of the four groups (three experimental groups and one control group) and watched the same video lectures about chemistry. Students in the three experimental groups were asked to engage in learning activities tailored to the learning strategy prompts provided in the pause segments of the videos and to complete all measurements. Students in the control group just watched the video without any prompts.Compared with control and imagining, learner-generated explanations and drawings improved engagement, performance, and learning efficiency and showed distinct patterns across intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Judgments of learning improved only for learner-generated explanations, whereas imagining showed no reliable benefits.This study provides empirical evidence to the impact of different generative learning strategies on students’ video learning.

The level of practical skills determines whether vocational school students can perform specific jobs competently. Currently, few studies have focused on how to effectively improve vocational students’ practical skill levels. This study examined the effects of blended learning approaches on learners’ practical skill performance, self-regulation ability, interest, and behavior. This study had two objectives: first, to evaluate which learning approach is more effective in enhancing practical skill proficiency among vocational school students; second, to provide an explanatory analysis of students’ learning processes. Employing a 2 (type of operation: virtual simulation vs. hands-on activity) × 2 (video review: without vs. with) between-subject design, 130 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: virtual simulation alone, virtual simulation with video review, hands-on activity alone, and hands-on activity with video review. Results indicated that blended learning approaches integrating virtual simulations or hands-on activities with video reviews more effectively enhance vocational students’ practical skills performance. Without video review, hands-on activities significantly enhanced vocational students’ practical skills performance more effectively than virtual simulations. The video review intervention enhanced learning performance in both virtual simulations and hands-on activities while eliminating the effectiveness difference between these two learning approaches. Additionally, video review acted as a scaffold that significantly promoted participants’ self-regulated learning and learning interest. Furthermore, behavioral sequence analysis revealed that video review triggered more structured reflective patterns. Vocational schools, particularly those with limited resources, may adopt blended learning approaches to cultivate students’ practical skills, especially using video review as a supplementary tool.