The use of instructional multimedia, particularly video, within education is steadily increasing although the evidence-base regarding its usage typically only indicates that it is equivalent to or as effective as live demonstration or traditional teaching methods. The current study undertook a longitudinal quasi-experimental crossover study, over three consecutive academic years to evaluate the efficacy of instructional video to teach cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills to level 5 undergraduate sports therapy students. Through the use of a crossover design students undertook both the video and control conditions, they were assessed formatively on a weekly basis to provide a consistent measure of performance throughout the eighteen weeks of data collection within each year. The instructional videos used within the study were based upon (as far as possible) the multimedia principles proposed by Mayer to reduce extraneous cognitive load and maximise essential intrinsic and germane cognitive load. The results from the study were analysed with the use of effect size statistics and interpreted though the use of magnitude based inferences, an emerging alternative to the traditional use of null hypothesis testing. The findings of the study indicate that the use of the instructional videos was beneficial to the vast majority of the students, which builds upon the current evidence-base as it demonstrates that they can be used to enhance academic practice rather than be used as an equivalent resource
