design dilemma (clark & mayer, e-learning, chapter 3, pp. 52-53) vp thinks a short course should...
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Design dilemma(Clark & Mayer, e-Learning, chapter 3, pp. 52-53)
VP thinks a short course should just consist of text and tells course designer:
“Everything they need to know is in the text. All they have to do is read it. And we don’t have much time!”
How should the course designer react? “Do you mind if I come up with
something that builds on your text?”
The Multimedia Principle
Include both words and graphics Why? Graphics facilitate active learning,
mentally making connection between pictorial and verbal representations
Words alone may cause shallow learning
Avoid decorative graphics Decorative pictures are “eye candy” Why? Give an example Merely decorate the page without
improving understanding E.g., picture of a general in a lesson
about explosives Instructional designer’s job is to enable
learner to make sense of information
Match graphics to content
Illustrate procedures with screen captures
Show a process flow with arrows or animated graphics
Organize topics by using rollover buttons to show different graphics
Psychology of multimedia
Information delivery theory: learning consists of acquiring information Information format shouldn’t matter
Cognitive theory: learning is actively making sense of information Active learning involves constructing
and connecting visual and verbal representations of material
Graphics for different content
Facts, e.g., a screen capture Concepts, e.g., a diagram of species Process, e.g., animation of a pump Procedure, e.g., animation of steps
with arrows highlighting buttons or parts
Principle, e.g., animation of genes passing from parents to offspring
Evidence for multimedia effect Ten lessons teaching scientific or mechanical
processes, such as how pumps work Students who receive multimedia lesson
perform better on post-test than students who receive same information in words
Improvement of 55-121% more correct solutions to transfer problems
Similar results in experiments with CIMEL
Design dilemma: resolution
Based on cognitive theory, designer is confident in multimedia principle
Explains to the VP that people learn more deeply when they are able to build mental connections between verbal and pictorial presentations
Shows prototype storyboards
Contiguity principle
Dilemma: use fixed screen displays or scrolling pages (to save bandwidth)?
Principle: place text near corresponding graphics
Integrated vs. separate text
Text integrated into graphicText separate from graphic
Other applications of contiguity principle Can we apply this principle in the
following situation? Identifying parts in a diagram:
List of part names below the diagram? Pointers connecting names to parts? Hyperlinks from diagram image map
to names and descriptions of parts? Pop-up text as mouse rolls over parts?
Pscyhology of contiguity
When words and pictures are separate, people must use scarce cognitive resources just to match them up
Less resources available to organize and integrate material in memory
Contiguity reduces load on working memory and thus increases learning
Evidence for contiguity
Violations of contiguity Separating visuals and text Obscuring connection with scrolling
text Feedback on a separate screen from
practice question Second browser window covers
related information on main screen Directions for exercise on separate
screen from exercise itself