Mayer's Theory of Multimedia Learning

After reflecting on Mayer's Theory of Multimedia Learning and Multimedia Principles, I pondered about multimedia learning and my past experience with this type of instructional content. I guess I never did think about how special each principal would play in creating a powerful, effective media for instruction.

Simply put Mayer's Principles consist of 12 rules or tips for an effective design.

1. Coherence Principle – People learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.

2. Signaling Principle – People learn better when cues that highlight the organization of the essential material are added.

3. Redundancy Principle – People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration, and on-screen text.

4. Spatial Contiguity Principle – People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

5. Temporal Contiguity Principle – People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.

6. Segmenting Principle – People learn better from a multimedia lesson is presented in user-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit.

7. Pre-training Principle – People learn better from a multimedia lesson when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts.

8. Modality Principle – People learn better from graphics and narrations than from animation and on-screen text.

9. Multimedia Principle – People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.

10. Personalization Principle – People learn better from multimedia lessons when words are in conversational style rather than formal style.

11. Voice Principle – People learn better when the narration in multimedia lessons is spoken in a friendly human voice rather than a machine voice.

12. Image Principle – People do not necessarily learn better from a multimedia lesson when the speaker’s image is added to the screen. (Mayer, 2009).

When we had to teach virtually at the beginning of the school year, our principal wanted us to create lessons with our faces recorded within the PowerPoint lesson. Which made me think about why this was the case if it necessarily doesn't help but possibly distract the learner.

Before we begin to explore how both pedagogy and andragogy play a role in multimedia learning we need to look at the differences. Pedagogy is the traditional teaching method and practice of teaching children, while andragogy is the term used for teaching adult learners.

Pedagogy and andragogy can be differentiated into five areas

1. learning behavior

2. learner experience

3. learning orientation

4. readiness to learn

5. motivation for learning

In pedagogy, learners are essentially motivated by extrinsic factors. Extrinsic motivation is when we are motivated to perform a behavior or engage in an activity because we want to earn a reward or avoid punishment. In andragogy, adults are expected to be motivated by intrinsic factors. Intrinsic motivation factors are when you engage in a behavior because you find it rewarding. (Pew, 2007).

For more information on Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation please click here.

Multimedia learning relates to pedagogy/andragogy in the notion that both learning factors are targeted by each principle, which is why it is essential in forming a deeper form of learning.

I am confident that my current multimedia training materials are developed to ensure the most effective presentation and I am very excited to teach the learned knowledge to my future students.

References

Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

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 (p. 59–70). Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Pew, Stephen. (2007). Andragogy and Pedagogy as Foundational Theory for Student Motivation in Higher Education. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching. 2. 10.46504/02200701pe.