Learning by explaining through digital devices: The role of the modality of oral explaining and extraversion

Recent meta-analytical evidence shows that learning by explaining through digital devices (e.g., computers or tablets) is effective, but also reveals substantial heterogeneity in effect sizes. The present study was designed to shed light on two theoretically plausible moderators of such learning by digital explaining: the modality of (oral) explaining (audio + visual vs. audio only) and learners' level of the personality trait of extraversion. We conducted two experiments with university students (N_Exp1 = 114; N_Exp2 = 247). All students first watched a lecture video about the topic “social norms” and were then randomly assigned either to (a) explain the content of the lecture to fictitious peer students in a video message (i.e., audio + video), (b) to explain the content of the lecture to fictitious peer students in a voice message (i.e., audio), or (c) to restudy the slides of the lecture video. No substantial differences were found between learning by digital explaining in a video or voice message, but learners’ level of extraversion significantly moderated the benefits of learning by digital explaining regarding deep-level knowledge. Learners with low levels of extraversion benefitted more from learning by digital explaining, whereas learners with higher levels of extraversion benefitted more from restudy. Surprisingly, we furthermore found that restudy fostered surface-level knowledge compared to learning by digital explaining, whereas learning by digital explaining was superior (Experiment 1) or at least equivalent (Experiment 2) concerning deep-level knowledge. We conclude that the modality of oral explaining does not matter for the effects of digital explaining and that the personality trait of extraversion, at least under certain circumstances, can be a source for heterogeneous effects in learning by digital explaining.