Theories of Multimedia Learning

EDCI 337: Module 1 Blog Post

Overview

This module helped me learn about Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning as well as the principles that focussed upon reducing extrinsic cognitive load along with managing the intrinsic cognitive load. In the given blog post, I am going to discuss about my overall experience with respect to the use of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and the principles that I used while creating the screencast.

Reflection

• Of all the principles of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, I found the principle of Cognitive Load theory to be the most intuitive one. This is because most people have limited capacity with respect to grasping and retaining certain kind of information for a given time duration. However, I found the principle of dual coding theory to be little surprising as I did not know about the existence of two separate systems in an individual’s brain where one system is focussed on retaining the verbal data while the other is linked with visual information.
• The multimedia learning principle that I have followed in the past is the contiguity principle. This is because whenever I am presenting the theoretical and visual data, I try to keep them together so that the audience is able to relate the image with the provided information. However, I believe that I have not followed the redundancy principle in my past projects as I had included certain information more than once in the presentation that added extra and unnecessary load. In order to avoid such kind of load, I’ll try to focus on including the data in a precise and brief way and thus, avoid repetition of information.

Screencast

I used the tool of PowerPoint for the purpose of creating my screencast.  I was focussed towards the principle of dual coding theory while creating my screencast. This helped in making my PowerPoint presentation attractive with respect to visual appearance and interactive in relation to verbal information that I shared along with the screencast. However, I found the principle of active processing to be little challenging because it was difficult to design the activities that would help me in retaining the interest of audience for long, throughout the presentation. 

I imagined the university students as my intended audience. This helped me in making my presentation more vibrant and practical to keep my viewers indulged throughout the screencast. I focused on including more visual data rather than theoretical information throughout my presentation.