Blog Post 1: Theories of Multimedia Learning

Of all the Principles of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia learning, Which Did I find Most Intuitive?

After reading this week’s articles and watching the videos explaining the many principles of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia learning, I think that one of the most intuitive was the coherence principle. This principle is important when the goal is to maximize the extraneous load felt by students. Extraneous load is described as the cognitive effort that does not help the learner towards the goal of retaining and processing the information, and often arises from poorly designed lessons. The coherence principle helps to reduce this load by omitting unnecessary material meant to spice up the presentation but distracts from the learning material. Robert Mayer specifically warns against the inclusion of what he describes as ‘seductive details’, which include all information that is purely included to be interesting, but is irrelevant. He explains that this information is often retained more than the actual learning material because it is eye catching or emotion inducing; taking away from the lesson at hand. The coherence principle involves only including text, narration and graphics that directly relate to the learning, and promote the use of simple visuals and the avoidance of distractions such as background music. 

Which Principle Surprised me the Most?

One of the principles that surprised me the most was the personalization principle, which works to optimize germane load. Germane load is described in the readings as the mental capacity or cognitive activity required in order to integrate the new learning information with existing knowledge as well as process this new information into long term memory. The personalization principle describes that learners retain information from multimedia presentations more effectively when they are presented by an individual who speaks in a conversational style. Instead of using formal, stiff or academic language, speaking in a relaxed and personable tone makes the learners connect much more to the speaker. This is done through the conversational social cues that engage the learner, which encourages active listening. This principle was surprising to me because it was finally able to describe the way I’ve felt in learning scenarios in the past, when I’ve felt unable to engage in a presentation or effectively retain the information at hand because the professor was speaking in a way that was overly academic or simply too dull for me to actively pay attention to. This has often affected how well I do in the class, as that initial lack of information retention makes it more difficult to review when studying for exams. This has also been such a large factor in how much I enjoy the class as a whole, because even if the information at hand is objectively interesting, I’m unable to enjoy my learning experience if the presentation is formal and stiff. 

Who Was My Target Audience?

For my first ever screencast, I decided to play around on Canva and give a little tutorial on one of the tools the free site provides. I chose to use the template function and show my audience how to make a professional and well formatted resume by making the template their own. My target audience for this screencast was individuals just beginning to make their ways into the professional sector, which requires the ability to not just build a resume, but have one that is aesthetically professional, well formatted, and easy to read. The first impression a resume provides to potential employers can be important, and it might be hard for individuals just starting out to know how to properly put together a resume, what to include, or how to format it.

I hope you enjoy my first ever screencast! I had a lot of fun putting it together and learning this new technology!

When I was making my screencast, I wanted to make sure to keep my initial little powerpoint simple, and not crowd the slides with too much written information or any unneeded or off topic images. Instead, I just added a few point form notes, categorized in columns in relation to their topic. I also wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just reading word for word what was on the slides, which I avoided by only putting a few words on the slide as prompts for my talking points.

While giving my tutorial of the Canva site, I wanted to make sure I was using pretty casual language and wasn’t speaking in an overly professional manner. The one thing that was a little difficult during the making of this screen cast was the recording process, as I find even when recording my voice alone I still get a little camera shy!