One of the objectives of this research is to develop and validate the Instructional Material Motivation Scale for Single-Use (IMMS-SU) instrument in the Turkish context. The IMMS-SU was developed and validated in a two-phased process on a sample of 1654 students. The Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed that IMMS-SU included 14 items (χ2 = 332.59; sd = 74; p < 0.001), the fitness indices were found to be RMSEA = .077; SRMR = .040; AGFI = .88; NFI = .95; CFI = .96; and GFI = .92. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficients regarding the whole scale was calculated as α = 0.95. Thereafter, in the second study, the animated and interactive video materials used in distance education were scrutinized in the context of openness to different materials, time spent viewing, motivation, and cognitive load. A total of 933 students participated who had a distance education experience. In order to collect data, the extraneous cognitive load instrument (Kalyuga et al.,