Enhancing Learning With Multimedia

Multimedia can be used to facilitate learning through the use of words and graphics together. The body of scientific research supports the claim that lessons that incorporate multimedia can be more effective than lessons that use spoken words alone. The presence of multimedia can cause learners to be more motivated to learn and enable teachers to reach a wide range of learning styles (Wikibooks, 2017).

In the article “Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction,” Richard Mayer (2014) shares a number of research-based principles that can help educators make informed decisions about how to most effectively use multimedia in their instruction. The principles of pre-training, personalization, and segmentation, in particular, made me stop and consider how I have received and delivered instruction in the past, and has given me reason to be more deliberate in creating multimedia in the future.

According to the pre-training principle, learners can benefit by learning the names and characteristics of key concepts prior to viewing a multimedia presentation. This principle reminded me of multimedia presentations I have watched where information was not presented clearly beforehand, and as a result, I probably got less out of the presentation than I should have because my mind was playing catch-up with the information I was being given. Using the pre-training principle as a teacher I can make an effort to define, and teach student the names of, key concepts before jumping directly into a multimedia presentation. The pre-training provides a foundation for students to learn new information from the multimedia by allowing them to focus on the more advanced information in the presentation rather than basic terms and definitions.

I was also intrigued by the personalization principle that purports that using a conversational style, rather than formal language, helped learners retain more essential information and perform better on assessment tests. The conversational style, according to Mayer, promotes a sense of social presence to the learner. This is not something I have given much thought to before, but the results make sense. Through personalization, the teacher can help the learner relate to the material more easily and readily, whereas formal language might alienate or disinterest some learners. I often use a conversational approach in my own teaching practice when lecturing, but I usually take a more formal approach when creating multimedia materials for instruction. In retrospect, this is the wrong way to go about it. Learning about the personalization principle has encouraged me to adopt more personalized language in my future multimedia presentations.

The segmenting principle says that learners may perform better on assessments when the lesson is divided into shorter segments that they can advance when they are ready to continue the lesson. By this principle, it can be better to split a 30 minute presentation up into multiple segments of three to five minutes each, allowing the learner to decide when to advance, rather than to show the entire 30 minute presentation at once, because it allows for student-centered learning to take place.  I have taken online courses where lessons are segmented in this fashion, and they often will include a short assessment after each segment to make sure that key concepts are learned before progressing. This method has the advantage of the learner being able to review a particular segment when essential information was missed, which can be highly beneficial for learners with short attention spans or trouble focusing.

These three principles: pre-training, personalization, and segmentation, can work in conjunction within one lesson. For example, if I am preparing a multimedia presentation to teach rhetorical devices, I can utilize pre-training by reviewing key terms and definitions with the entire class before introducing multimedia elements. This way students will be ready for new concepts and examples during the lesson. I can break up the presentation into several portions and allow students to use their own electronic devices to view the segments at their own pace. My narration would include personalized language such as “you” and “your” while discussing rhetorical devices in order to connect with the learners on a deeper level.

The research-based principles of multimedia I learned at the outset of this course have encouraged me to put more thought into the finer details of lessons that I create in the future. According to Mayer, “research shows that multimedia instruction has the potential to greatly improve student understanding of how things work” (2014). My own experiences with multimedia in the classroom, as both a learner and educator, reinforce to me this positive view of multimedia-enhanced learning because I have seen how multimedia can improve the quality and depth of learning of my students. It is partially what has influenced me to choose to pursue a master’s degree in educational technology.

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Research-based principles for designing multimedia instruction. In V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala (Eds.), Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. Retrieved from http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf

Wikibooks. (2017). Instructional Technology/Technology Information Literacy. Retrieved May 06, 2017, from https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Instructional_Technology/Technology_Information_Literacy#Multimedia_Instruction