To See or Not To See: Layout Constraints, the Split Attention Problem and their Implications for the Design of Web Lecture Interfaces

The split attention problem and its implications for the design of e-Learning material have been subject to a large number of empirical studies. How results of these studies can be applied to the design of web lecture interfaces is, however, still an issue of debate. Findings are at first glance contradictory and it seems that it is impossible to establish a general guideline. This paper analyses a number of studies and shows that different presentation forms such as slide lectures and chalkboard lectures exhibit significant differences which might be the reason for the above mentioned confusion. The paper discusses how these differences affect the reception of web lectures based on these presentation media. It also presents two examples of web lectures interfaces where the layout of the presentation interface has been designed in such a way that several layoutrelated problems, including split attention, are avoided.