There has been a noticeable rise in the use of, and research into, educational videos in tertiary education in the past decade. This is due in no small part to the reduction of expensive barriers to their production and storage, and an increase in access to streaming services that make videos playable anywhere, anytime. Research into educational videos broadly falls into three categories: improving video design, investigating platforms and technologies that increase student engagement, and developing pedagogical approaches that take full advantage of the affordances of videos. A review of key findings in this journal -considered in light of the broader literature -reveals productive lines of inquiry for future research. Notably, experimental research using the lens of Cognitive Load Theory has established that videos should be short, uncluttered, and restricted to one clearly identified learning goal. There is also robust evidence to suggest videos should be accompanied by learning activities, rather than watched passively. In addition to the experimental research findings there is a wealth of research through case studies, such as exploring video based pedagogies liked flipped and blended learning. However, there are key opportunities for further research, such as the need for replications of experimental design principles in real learning contexts, and the development of pedagogical approaches that utilise the particular affordances of educational videos.

Instructional videos are increasingly part of the teaching practices of educators across all sectors. The most common theoretical lens used to design and evaluate instructional videos has been to apply principles emerging from the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. However, these principles have been largely developed from research using instructional media other than videos. In addition, there is no comprehensive list of principles that have been shown to improve learning from instructional videos. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify principles of video design that are empirically supported in the literature. A systematic literature review was conducted, with a final analysis of 113 papers describing 28 principles. While some of the existing cognitive theory of multimedia learning principles, notably coherence, segmenting and learner control, have been found to improve learning from instructional videos in a variety of contexts, others, such as redundancy and modality, are not supported. These findings serve as clear guidance to instructional designers creating educational video content. In addition to describing the breadth of research in the field, this paper also found that the development of the research field suffers from a lack of coherence and is in urgent need of clear nomenclature and improved reporting of media and research design. Implications for practice or policy: Instructional videos that are shorter, segmented, coherent and paired with learning activities are more likely to lead to improved learning gains in students. Researchers reporting on the use of videos should provide comprehensive descriptions of media, including links to the media where possible. Designers of instructional videos should critically evaluate design principles established for non-video media.

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