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Text can be combined with images, animation, audio or video in a variety of platforms including Powerpoint, Flash, and video.

The Best Choice .... according to the experts

When using visuals, audio or animations, it is best to combine them with text, but only enough to comprehend the content. Too little information may cause students to have problems processing information, but too much information can cause information overload.

Rationale

Sweller, 2002 – "Human cognitive architecture includes a working memory of limited capacity and duration with partially seperate visual and auditory channels"

Basic Information

Below are some suggested guidelines for content which includes multimedia elements. Thanks to Carol McQuiggan for compiling this information.

Multimedia Principle

Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone. On screen animation, slide shows, and narratives should involve both written or oral text and still or moving pictures. Simples blocks of text or auditory only links are less effective than when this text or narration is coupled with visual images.

For instance, this example of a Quantum Bouncing Ball includes a combination of the animation and audio text narration (as well as a caption) to provide greater understanding than either the animation or text alone.

Spatial Contiguity Principle

Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen. When presenting coupled text and images, the text should be close to or embedded within the images. Placing text under an image (i.e., a caption) is sufficient, but placing the text within the image is more effective.

Color Vocabulary Example

In the first example Welsh color terms are placed directly on regions of color wheel to show what each term means. In the second example, the labels are placed at the edge of the image, so students need to guess which region on a color wheel each word refers too.

Good Label Example	Bad Label Example

Temporal Contiguity Principle

Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively. When presenting coupled text and images, the text and images should be presented simultaneously. When animation and narration are both used, the animation and narration should coincide meaningfully.

Note: If you need to post a large image on a separate page, you should also provide a smaller version on the main page with relevant detail.

Map Example

In the examples below, the location of a meteor crater in the Yucatan peninsula is described, but in the first example, the map is presented below the map, but in the second version, the image is not on the page, but accessed via a link.

Coherence Principle

Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included. Multimedia presentations should focus on clear and concise presentations. Presentations that add “bells and whistles” or extraneous information (e.g., to increase interest) impede student learning

A good example of balancing text and images can be found at a Flash Bouncing Ball Tutorial This example uses mostly static pictures and text, but efficiently. The text is clear and concise and the graphics are minimal, but effective. The overall effect is one where the reader can concentrate on making the connections between the text and graphic without becoming distracted by extraneous material.

Basic vs. Detailed Map Example

Another examples are these maps. One shows just the roads of Pennsylvania with the road from Williamsport to Harrisburg. The second is based on a satellite photo showing the mountain ranges. The coherence principle predicts that the simpler road map is more comprehensible for driving instructions. All maps taken from Google Maps.

Modality Principle

Students learn better from animation and audio narration than from animation and on-screen text. Multimedia presentations involving both words and pictures should be created using auditory or spoken words, rather than written text to accompany the pictures. Why? Because your eye cannot watch the animation and read on-screen text at the same time.

See also "Redundancy Principle"

Students learn better from animation and audio narration alone than from animation, narration, and on-screen text. Multimedia presentations involving both words and pictures should present text either in written form, or in auditory form, but not in both.

Elaboration Principle

Students learn better from design effects that stimulate cognitive elaboration (e.g., meaning, self-generation, interactive images, interrogation, self-relevance). That is, tutorials which allow students to "experiment" with different variations may be more helpful. The aforementioned strategies are most effective for novices (e.g., low-knowledge learners) and visual learners (e.g., high-spatial learners). Well structured multimedia presentations should be created for whom they are most likely to help.

References

Additional Links

• Adobe Deisgn Center Value of Multimedia in Learning
• TIPS Dual Coding Theory

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