Multimedia in eLearning: Four Tips to Boost Retention and Avoid Overload
by: Henry Kronk
We use one word—eLearning—to describe a wide swath of education technology currently in use. Examples might include a massive online open course (MOOC), a learning management system (LMS), a platform that connects learners with instructors via video streaming, or anything in between.
In every instance, one of eLearning’s greatest strengths is that it can easily combine multimedia instructional material. In one setting, an instructor may compile text-based articles, videos, games, virtual reality components, and/or their own recorded lectures.
But, as with any technological innovation, just because something can be used effectively in a certain matter, that doesn’t mean it will come to pass. Many MOOCs or online courses consist primarily of a professor’s recorded lectures. Many LMSs, furthermore, heavily employ text in their learning modules while ignoring video and voice.
According to education researchers Richard Mayer and Roxana Moreno, we learn best, generally, when we mix sight, sound, image, and text in a learning environment.
People generally undergo employ both visual and linguistic cognitive processes while learning. In other words, we learn by seeing, and we also learn by people instructing us.
Both visual and linguistic content can come in various forms.
The authors call this multimedia learning and identify several principles to consider when designing any kind of eLearning initiative:
1. Mix image with language
2. Mix image with language at the same time
3. Speak before you write
4. Keep things as short as possible
Keep reading ....Author:
Henry Kronk
Henry Kronk began his writing career as an intern at The Burlington Free Press in Burlington, Vermont, his hometown. After studying English at McGill University in Montreal, he went to work full time as a freelancer while living abroad in countries such as Greece, New Zealand, and Vietnam. His journalism has been published by Montreal Rampage, Western Journalism, Potent, and HNGN. He has also produced a series of audio interviews concerning Canadian poetry for Vallum: Contemporary Poetry. Read more articles from Henry at eLearningInside.com
Reprinted with permission, © 2017 eLearningInside.com