Altering the playback speed of recorded lectures as a learning technique: Examining student practices, motivations, and beliefs

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Recorded lectures have become a fixture in education. When viewing recorded lectures individuals can often alter the playback speed. Recent research suggests that this is a common technique and has begun to systematically examine its impact on learning and learning related variables. However, we lack a deep understanding of how and why individuals use this learning technique. Here we utilized surveys to examine, across two large samples (total n = 439), student’s use of both increasing and decreasing the playback speed of lectures. We focus on providing insight into individual’s motivations for using this technique, how it influences other learning related behaviors, and individual’s metacognitive and meta-affective beliefs about how the technique impacts them. Results suggest that altering playback speed is a common technique that is believed by learners to have both practical (e.g. time savings), cognitive (e.g. enhancing learning and attention), and affective (e.g. increasing enjoyment) benefits for learners.