Progressive scaffolding is a term we use to describe a method for presenting web-based instructional tutorials, which allow a student to select a given level of support, beginning with the most basic text descriptions, and ending with narrated movies. An initial usability study (2003) examining students using pages with these options found that:

• Students spent the most time performing the learning task and divided the remainder of their time between text and video with little time on graphics.
• The best performers used the scaffolds in a "progressive" fashion, using the videos only when the text would not suffice.

In a subsequent study, recently completed, graphics and videos as support tools were compared. Initial analysis of this study indicated that:

• Those who had video scaffolding performed better that those in the graphics-scaffolding group. They also found the experience to be more positive and the interface to be more usable.
• Those in the video group tended to use the scaffolds in a more progressive fashion utilizing the video scaffolds only when necessary.

References

• Hall, R.H., Digennaro, A., Ward, J., Havens, N., & Ricca, J. (2003).
  Usability Assessment of a Web-Based Learning System for Teaching Web Development: A Progressive Scaffolding Approach. Laboratory for Information Technology Evaluation Technical Report, LITE 2003-01.
• Hall, R.H., Stark, S., Hilgers, M. & Chang. P. (2004). A Comparison of Scaffolding Media in a Learning System for Teaching Web Development. World Conference on E-Learning in Corp. Govt., Health, & Higher Ed, 1906 - 1913