Cognitive Theory of
Multimedia Learning
MOHAMED ZAMRI BIN MOHD ZAIN
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND DELIVERY
MASTER OF INSTRUCTIONAL MULTIMEDIA
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THEORY
APPLICATION
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Richard E Mayer
• Professor of Psychology at the University
of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) since
1975.
• Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of
Michigan in 1973
• Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
at Indiana University from 1973 to 1975.
• Recipient of the E. L. Thorndike Award for
career achievement in educational
psychology in 2000
• Winner of Distinguished Contribution of
Applications of Psychology to Education
and Training Award from the American
Psychological Association 2008.
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Research Interest
Dr. Mayer's research
concerns the intersection of
cognition, instruction, and
technology, including:
"How can we
help people
learn in ways
that allow them
to use what
they have
learned to solve
new problems
that they have
never seen
before?"
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• multimedia learning
• mathematical problem
solving
• human-computer
interaction
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Publications
Author of more than 390
publications including 23
books, such as Multimedia
Learning: Second Edition
(2009), Learning and
Instruction: Second Edition
(2008), E-Learning and the
Science of Instruction:
Second Edition (with R.
Clark, 2008), and the
Cambridge Handbook of
Multimedia Learning (editor,
2005).
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Cognitive Theory of
Multimedia Learning
Based on three main assumptions:
• there are two separate channels
(auditory and visual) for
processing information;
• there is limited channel
capacity; and
• that learning is an active
process of filtering, selecting,
organizing, and integrating
information.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Basic Principles
Brain does not
interpret a multimedia
presentation of words,
pictures, and auditory
information in a
mutually exclusive
fashion; rather, these
elements are selected
and organized
dynamically to produce
logical mental
constructs.
“multimedia principle”
states that “people learn
more deeply from words
and pictures than from
words alone”
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Assumption of Multimedia Learning
• There are two separate
channels (auditory and visual)
for processing information
(sometimes referred to as
Dual-Coding theory);
• Each channel has a limited
(finite) capacity (similar to
Sweller’s notion of Cognitive
Load);
• Learning is an active process
of filtering, selecting,
organizing, and integrating
information based upon prior
knowledge.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cognitive Process
Three processes
that are
essential for
active learning
are selecting
relevant
material,
organizing
selected
material and
integrating
selected
material with
existing
knowledge
( Mayer, 1996, 2001;
Wittrock, 1989).
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of Multimedia Learning
Selecting relevant material occurs when a
learner pays attention to appropriate words
and images in the presented material. This
process involves bringing material from the
outside into the working memory component
of the cognitive system.
Organizing selected material involves building
structural relations among the elements. This
process takes place within the working
memory component of the cognitive system.
Integrating selected material with existing
knowledges involves building connections
between incoming material and relevant
portions of prior knowledge. This process
involves activating knowledge in long term
memory and bringing it into working memory.
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Memory Stores in Multimedia Learning
1. sensory (which receives stimuli and stores it for a very short
time),
2. working (where we actively process information to create
mental constructs (or ‘schema’), and
3. long-term (the repository of all things learned).
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Sensory Memory
MULTIMEDIA
PRESENTATION
SENSORY
MEMORY
Words
Ears
WORKING
MEMORY
selecting
words
Sounds organizing
words
LONG-TERM
MEMORY
Verbal
Model
Prior
integrating Knowledge
Pictures
Eyes
selecting
images
Images
organizing
images
Pictorial
Model
Pictures and words come in form the outside world as a multimedia
presentation and enter sensory memory through eyes and ears. Sensory
memory allows for pictures and printed text to be held as exact visual
images for a very brief time period in a visual sensory memory and for
spoken words and other sounds to be held as exact auditory sensory
memory.
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Working Memory
MULTIMEDIA
PRESENTATION
SENSORY
MEMORY
Words
Ears
WORKING
MEMORY
selecting
words
Sounds organizing
words
LONG-TERM
MEMORY
Verbal
Model
Prior
integrating Knowledge
Pictures
Eyes
selecting
images
Images
organizing
images
Pictorial
Model
The central work of multimedia learning takes place in working
memory. Working memory is used for temporally holding and
manipulating knowledge in active consciousness
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Long Term Memory
MULTIMEDIA
PRESENTATION
SENSORY
MEMORY
Words
Ears
WORKING
MEMORY
selecting
words
Sounds organizing
words
LONG-TERM
MEMORY
Verbal
Model
Prior
integrating Knowledge
Pictures
Eyes
selecting
images
Images
organizing
images
Pictorial
Model
Long term memory correspond to the learner’s storehouse of
knowledge. Unlike working memory, long term memory can hold
large amount of knowledge over long periods of time. To actively
think about material in long term memory, it must be brough into
working memory back.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
PowerPoint Overload
Most PowerPoint presentations look a
particular way because the PowerPoint
tool has features that make particular
tasks easy.
Unfortunately, many PowerPoint features
and techniques contradict current
research in cognitive science.
We can no longer expect our audiences
to adapt to our PowerPoint features;
instead we have to change our own
thinking to conform to a more relevant
principle:
The design of PowerPoint
presentations should be
compatible with how people learn.
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Question to Designer
• Does the presentation take advantage of the
dual-channel
structure
of
the
human
information processing system, by presenting
complementary material in words and pictures?
• Does the presentation take into consideration
the limited capacity of the information
processing channels, by minimizing the
chances of overloading the cognitive system?
• Does the presentation promote active cognitive
processing by guiding the processes of
selecting,
organizing,
and
integrating
information?
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Solutions
Our understanding of the way the mind works has three
implications for PowerPoint:
1. PowerPoint presentations should use both visual
and verbal forms of presentation;
2. Filling the slides with information will easily
overload people's cognitive systems; and
3. Presentations should help learners to select,
organize, and integrate presented information.
A set of research-based principles to reduce cognitive load
in PowerPoint:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
INTRODUCTION
THEORY
The Signaling Principle
The Segmenting Principle
The Modality Principle
The Multimedia Principle
The Coherence Principle
APPLICATION
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CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Signaling Principle
Research finding: people learn better when the
material is organized with clear outlines and
headings (the Signaling Principle).
Instead of writing a Title, write a Headline that
explains the main idea of every slide.
Summarize the single overriding idea of the
slide in clear and conversational language.
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Segmenting Principle
Research finding: People learn better when
information is presented in bite-size segments (the
Segmentation Principle).
Break up information through your PowerPoint by
referring back frequently to the Slide Sorter view.
Your story should have an even pace from one slide
to the next, without long pauses on any single slide.
Where your pauses are long, or you have much to
say, those are signs that you need to break up that
slide into more slides.
If you have too many slides for the time you have to
speak, return to Slide Sorter view and think about
ways you can distill your story down to its essence.
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Modality Principle
Research finding: People understand a
multimedia explanation better when the words are
presented as narration rather than on-screen text
(the Modality Principle).
Reduce visual overload by moving text offscreen, and shift processing to the auditory
channel by narrating the content instead.
The elegant way to accomplish this in PowerPoint
is to use the Notes Page view. Instead of just
including “Notes” below, write out your story
there in narrative form.
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Multimedia Principle
Research finding: people learn better from words
and pictures than from words alone (the
Multimedia Principle).
It’s not easy to turn your words into pictures, but
the first three techniques in this paper can help
set the stage:
1. writing headlines helps you clarify what
you want to illustrate,
2. breaking up your story into digestible bites
reduces the amount of information to
visualize
3. moving text off screen opens up more
space in the area above for images.
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Coherence Principle
Research finding: people learn better when
extraneous material is excluded rather than included
(the Coherence Principle).
Cut everything out of your PowerPoint slides that
does not support your main idea. Keep things
simple.
• Cut all text on screen you are not going to
narrate.
• Remove corporate logos unless you think people
will forget who you are.
• Delete complex, patterned backgrounds in your
PowerPoint template that have nothing to do with
the content of your slide.
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Way of Human Mind in Multimedia
Regardless technology and software development, the way human
mind and learning will remain. The theory of multimedia learning
offers us as Instructional Designer, humanistic ways to design our
instructional multimedia to success
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
1. Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning
(2nd ed). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
2. Clark, R. & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning
and the science of instruction (2nd ed).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
3. Mayer, R. E. (2008). Learning and
Instruction (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Merrill Prentice-Hall.
4. Mayer, R. E. (Ed). (2005). Cambridge
Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Mayer and Moreno, (2003) A Cognitive
Theory of Multimedia Learning:
Implications for Design Principles at
http://www.unm.edu/~moreno/PDFS/chi.
pdf
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