Continuous versus discontinuous camera viewpoint editing in learning from video in nurse training

The design of educational videos according to cinematographic principles may affect their potential effectiveness for learning. The goal of the present experiment was to study the effect of film continuity in learning a medical hand procedure in nurse training. We tested the effect of violating the 180° rule which states that the camera should stay on the same side of an imaginary 180° axis when an ongoing event is filmed. In a pre-post experiment, 56 nurse students were assigned to two groups that learnt a Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation procedure from a video with continuous (respecting the 180° rule) versus discontinuous (violating the 180° rule) camera viewpoint changes. Participants were eye tracked during learning time. Results showed that learners with lower prior knowledge were harmed by discontinuity, compared to continuity, whereas learners with higher levels of prior knowledge were not harmed by discontinuity. Further, discontinuity particularly harmed the precision of hand gestures.