YT-Pilot: Turning YouTube into Structured Learning Pathways with Context-Aware AI Support

TL;DR

YT-Pilot is a system that enhances YouTube learning by providing a persistent, pathway-aware interface that supports planning, navigation, and progress tracking, improving learner coherence and goal clarity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pathway-aware interface grounded in SRLT, integrating planning and learning activities into a unified, persistent interaction structure.

Findings

Significantly improves perceived goal clarity.

Enhances pathway coherence and progress tracking.

Shifts interaction toward pathway-level reasoning.

Abstract

YouTube is widely used for informal learning, where learners explore lectures and tutorials without a predefined curriculum. However, learning across videos remains fragmented: learners must decide what to watch, how videos relate, and how knowledge builds. Existing tools provide partial support but treat planning and learning as separate activities, lacking a persistent interaction structure that connects them. Grounded in self-regulated learning theory (SRLT), we introduce YT-Pilot, a pathway-aware learning system that operationalizes the learning pathway as a persistent, user-facing interaction structure spanning planning and learning. The pathway coordinates goal setting, planning, navigation, progress tracking, and cross-video assistance. Through a within-subjects study ($N=20$), we show that YT-Pilot significantly improves perceived goal clarity, pathway coherence, and progress tracking, while shifting interaction toward pathway-level reasoning across multiple resources.