Eye tracking technology is increasingly used to understand individuals’ non-conscious, moment-to-moment processes during video-based learning. This review evaluated 44 eye tracking studies on video-based learning conducted between 2010 and 2021. Specifically, the review sought to uncover how the utilisation of eye tracking technology has advanced understandings of the mechanisms underlying effective video-based learning and what type of caution should be exercised when interpreting the findings of these studies. Four important findings emerged from the analysis: (1) not all the studies explained the mechanisms underlying effective video-based learning through employing eye tracking technology, and few studies disentangled the complex relationship between eye tracking metrics and cognitive activities these metrics represent; (2) emotional factors potentially serve to explain the processes that facilitate video-based learning, but few studies captured learners’ emotional processes or evaluated their affective gains; (3) ecological validity should be improved for eye tracking research on video-based learning through methods such as using eye tracking systems that have high tolerance for head movements, allowing learners to take control of the pacing of the video, and communicating the learning objectives of the video to participants; and (4) boundary conditions, including personal (e.g. age, prior knowledge) and environmental factors (e.g. the topic of videos, type of knowledge), must be considered when interpreting research findings. The findings of this review inspire a number of propositions for designing and interpreting eye tracking research on video-based learning.

In the workplace, some workers tend to have a higher probability of incurring an accident. Such individuals might behave unsafely because they assign low priority to safety. Some evidence in the literature suggests that people’s personalities could influence their safety behavior at work. However, it seems that the correlation between construction workers’ personality traits and safety behavior has been insufficiently addressed in the existing literature. This paper attempts to provide evidence on this issue. Two hundred and eighty workers were surveyed to gather data concerning personality traits and safety behavior. The results indicated that across the set of Big Five personality traits, conscientiousness revealed the strongest correlation with workers’ safety behavior, followed by extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. In addition, agreeableness and conscientiousness were found to be positively correlated with workers’ safety behavior whereas extraversion and neuroticism were negatively correlated with workers’ safety behavior. These findings seem to imply practical implications. For example, some tasks, such as operating construction machinery, require focused attention and stable emotions, which may not be suitable for people who score high in neuroticism. Site managers may take into consideration the personality traits of an individual when selecting personnel and allocating tasks.

This study investigates the impact of embedded questions in pre-class instructional videos on learner perceptions (cognitive load, emotional engagement, satisfaction, judgement of learning), video engagement (total views, total viewing time), and learning performance (retention, transfer). The research occurred in a real flipped classroom environment. We designed a quasi-experiment in which 86 university students from two natural classes watched pre-class instructional videos featuring procedural knowledge with or without interpolated true or false questions. Students were asked to practice the operation steps introduced in the videos. While they practiced operations, they could either pause the videos or let the videos continue playing. Face-to-face contact time was utilised to consolidate and extend previewed content with student-centred, instructor-facilitated problem-solving activities. Results revealed no discernible effects from embedded questions in pre-class videos on cognitive load, emotional engagement, satisfaction, judgement of learning, total views, knowledge retention or knowledge transfer. We speculate that the various in-class practice activities and frequent access to procedural knowledge videos offset the cognitive benefits derived from question-embedded videos. Learners who viewed question-embedded videos presented significantly reduced total viewing time, likely because the embedded questions scaffolded them in sustaining attention and efficiently pinpointing the exact information needed. Future research should identify boundary conditions for embedding questions in instructional videos (e.g. learning mode, type of knowledge) rather than indiscriminately applying this design strategy.