PRETRAINING PROJECTDanielle Summerville

May 14, 2011

Objectives/Overview This pre-training project will preview

eight multimedia principles for on-line learning. These principles are aimed towards educators who are creating on-line courses. The principles provided are based on research that concludes the best way to present on-line information in a virtual classroom environment.

Pretraining Below you will find eight multimedia

principles for on-line learning. Please click on the button for each principle below to view an overview of each principle.

Multimedia Principle

Contiguity Principle

Modality Principle

Redundancy Principle

Coherence Principle

Personalization Principle

Segmenting Principle

Pretraining Principle

Multimedia Principle E-learning courses should include words

and graphics rather than words alone. The graphics should be relevant to the information that is being presented.

Example: Multimedia Principle

This is an example of a Venn Diagram. A Venn Diagram has three circles which overlap each other. The overlap indicates similarities that those characters have, while the part of the circle that stands alone represents qualities that only a single character has.

Individual Qualities

Shared Qualities

Contiguity Principle In a presentation , printed text and

graphics should be presented near each other on the screen. Furthermore, speech and graphics should also be presented at the same time.

Example: Contiguity Principle

Atticus

Jem Scout

This flow chart shows the relationship among the main characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Atticus is the father of both Jem and Scout.

Modality Principle In an E-learning presentation, words

should be presented as speech, rather than on-screen text.

Example: Modality Principle

Redundancy Principle Avoid e-learning courses that contain

redundant onscreen text presented at the same time as onscreen graphics and narration. Learners will pay so much attention to the printed words that they will pay less attention to the accompanying graphic.

Bad Example: Redundancy Principle

This is an example of a Venn Diagram. A Venn Diagram has three circles which overlap each other. The overlap indicates similarities that those characters have, while the part of the circle that stands alone represents qualities that only a single character has.

Coherence Principle Avoid adding unnecessary material that

does not support the instructional goal. Remain as uncluttered as possible.

Bad Example: Coherence Principle

What tone did Emily Dickinson’s “Moon Poem” evoke in you?

Better What tone did Emily Dickinson’s “Moon

Poem” evoke in you?

Personalization Principle E-learning courses should include some

spoken or printed text that is conversational rather than formal. In addition, on-screen coaches should be used to promote learning.

Example: Personalization Principle

Let’s stop and think!!

Segmenting Principle Break a continuous lesson into bite-size

segments. When the material is complex, you can help the learner by breaking the lesson into manageable segments.

Pretraining Principle Pretraining should be provided in the

names of characteristics of the key concepts in a lesson. The purpose and goal of pretraining is to ease students into a lesson so that the information isn’t so overwhelming.