Abstract
Within the processes involved in observational learning that are supported by the theories of Sheffield (1961), Bandura (1977, 1986) and Scully and Newell (1985) there are suggestions that imply that the use of video recording eyewear such as Pivothead, iVUE and Google Glass that was not around in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s to capture demonstrations from the first-person perspective has the potential to improve the acquisition of a novel skill. Since Gagné and Fleishman’s (1954) acknowledgement of the importance of the viewing angle in video demonstrations there has been little effort made in this area. With continued advancements in video recording technology, however, educators are presented with opportunities to explore the full potential of visual perspective as it relates to learning and instruction. The present study investigated whether video captured with video recording eyewear to show demonstrations from a first-person perspective better promotes the initial stages of learning a motor skill compared to demonstrations shown in the third-person perspective. Group means from observational data were collected as participants viewed edited videos of three unrelated skill demonstrations from the first-person and third-person perspectives and then performed the skills. Also, participant satisfaction scores collected from a post-activity survey was analyzed to identify any significant preference towards video modeling depicting the demonstration from either the first-person or third-person perspective. The results indicate that participants who received instruction recorded from the first-person perspective outperformed participants who received instruction recorded from the third-person perspective. Results also indicate that participants were more satisfied with receiving instruction from first-person perspective video compared to third-person.