Multimedia means using and integrating various modalities, such as text, images, audio and motion (video and animation) to enhance learning (Multimedia in the Classroom, n.d.). The readings this week focused on how to design multimedia to strengthen instruction using 12 basic principles (Mayer, 2014).
The supporting readings, for me, described how teaching K-12 and corporate training differ. Multimedia is expected in training. I no longer must justify doing it. Learners, at least in a hospital, do not like to be in a classroom. They want content to come to them. Even if the multimedia is in the form of a presentation, they prefer personal demos as opposed to meetings. The content itself differs as well. It’s very task oriented. I’m showing someone how to do their job and the emphasis is on brevity; the challenge is to reduce complex content into the essentials.
In my experience as an eLearning specialist, Mayer’s 12 principles sum up what you need to know to be successful to convey knowledge and engage users effectively. The basic concepts are that words alone are not as effective as adding graphics, and that people have limitations on how much information they can process. Dual channels allow the learner to use different mechanisms to increase the opportunity for meaningful learning (Mayer, 2014).
The 12 principles fall into three groupings: reducing extraneous processing, managing essential processing and fostering generative processing. The first two groupings talk about dealing with information overload – removing excess material for the first and choosing relevant material for the second. Generative processing speaks to taking the information and integrating it into your thought structure.
Some of the principles are intuitive enough that they need little comment. Locating words and images close together on your timeline as you tell your story are common sense (spatial and temporal contiguity). My experience teaching coworkers how to create multimedia tells me that people interested in design usually know to do this. The same goes for using a human voice (voice principle). There are some limitations with audio. Nurses who view content on the unit cannot have sound or use headphones that would block them from hearing alarms. Creating audio is also a more advanced skill that should not be a barrier to new designers. Other than a few limitations though, audio is preferred by learners.
Obstacles to the concept of coherence seems to fall along four reasons in software training in healthcare. Trainers either don’t know the content well enough to filter out non-essentials, know the content very well and turn the learning situation into a data dump, are non-clinical and think something is important because it is complex, or for whatever reason want to show someone how to do a task three different ways. The Goldilocks space where you train enough information to do the job without overloading can be difficult.
Signaling is an important concept for designers to master. It goes deeper than highlighting the point you want to emphasize. It’s the graphic itself. I find most people want to add context to their teaching point. They grab too large a screen shot so the user can orient themselves to the screen, then shrink it down to fit the media and add an arrow, box or highlight. The result is a blurry graphic that does not add to learning. They don’t really see this as a distraction, but it is. The real skill is to distill the content into easy to digest bites. Signaling is the removing part, segmenting is the targeting part. Learners need the option to discover what they don’t know. This may include skipping parts and your multimedia will be more successful if you share control of the learning with the learner.
Pre-training is an interesting principle. It works both within your multimedia content or the multimedia itself could be the pre-training. When you are using a blended learning approach that will include classroom experience, designing the multimedia to present key concepts then moving to more complex ideas in person is a productive use of time.
The generative processing principles encourage engagement with the learner so they will integrate the content into their workflow. It’s adding the human touch to your multimedia. Using audio helps with personalization. It’s harder for a designer to use passive or overly complicated verbiage if you are talking. But again, there is a balance of connecting with your user versus adding too many human elements that they become a distraction.
If you are new to multimedia design, these 12 principles are a thorough summation of what you need to know to get started. If you are experienced, they are a good reminder of how to make your multimedia effective and engaging.
References
Multimedia in the Classroom. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://fcit.usf.edu/multimedia/overview/overviewa.html
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