Leveling the Playing Field: Temporal Video Segmentation for Individuals with ADHD in Computing Education
2026-07-27 • Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction
AI summaryⓘ
The authors studied how people with ADHD learn from instructional videos, which can be hard to follow because they expect viewers to pay attention continuously. They tested a method that breaks videos into small parts with pauses in between to make learning easier. Their study showed that this method helped everyone, but it especially helped people with ADHD perform better, making their results similar to those without ADHD. This approach supports learning designs that work well for different brain types.
ADHDcognitive loadinstructional videosasynchronous learningworking memoryUniversal Design for Learningpost-hoc video processingneurocognitive profilesperformance disparities
Authors
Veronica Pimenova, Chris Lee, Baramee Bhakdibhumi, Simon Chu, Andrew Begel
Abstract
Individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often face significant barriers in computing education. In asynchronous learning environments, instructional videos can impose high extraneous cognitive load, often relying on assumptions about sustained attention and working memory that do not align with ADHD neurocognitive profiles. In this work, we evaluate a post-hoc video processing intervention that segments instructional content into single-instruction chunks followed by fixed-length pauses to reduce cognitive load. In a within-participants controlled study with 17 individuals with ADHD and 10 without, we find that the intervention has an equalizing effect. Although it improved performance for all participants, gains were larger for those with ADHD, reducing their errors and hesitations to levels comparable to those of participants without ADHD under the same intervention. These results align with the goals of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), by showing that cognitively-aligned, post-hoc instructional video modifications can reduce performance disparities across diverse neurocognitive profiles.