### *Education on the Horizon: Teaching and Learning with Technology* ## Week 3: Multimedia Learning === #### Dr. Yizhen (Eejain) Huang ###### Department Erziehungswissenschaft, University of Potsdam --- ### What is media? - Media (singular: medium) are tools used to store and deliver information or data - Multimedia are communications that incorporate multiple forms of information content and processing ![](/media/media.jpg) --- ### Medium is like the *vehicle* of information. --- ### You can convey similar content with different media ![](/media/different-transportation.png) --- ### What is multimedia learning - Present the material using various media types that are intended to foster learning. - Types of media: text, audio, static graphic (photos, drawings, maps, charts, figures), dynamic graphic (video, animation), or any other vehicle of information --- ### How to design a course with multimedia elements? > I wonder, how do I decide which medium will be the most fitting one, for the topic as well as for my students? --- ### General rule of thumbs...👍 --- #### 1.The multimedia element needs to have _representational_, not _decorational_, purpose --- - Decorational: the primary instructional function of the element is to intrigue/motivate the learner - Representational: the topic to be learned is explicitly depicted in the multi-media element  --- ### Example: Bad Clipart ![](/media/badpres.jpg) --- #### 2. Inclusion of multiple sensory modalities are usually helpful, given that they are _meaningfully_ associated - Storage of information is like a web - More associations = better remembering --- ### Example - When using visuals to teach language, do you really want to teach the visual details? - Using visuals to teach English alphabet? - What about Chinese characters? --- <style> .multicol{ display: flex; } .col_l{ flex: 4; } .col_r{ flex: 4; } </style> <div class="multicol"> <div class="col_l"> <img src="/media/engalphabet.jpeg" > </div> <div class="col_r"> <section> <img src="/media/cnalphabet.jpg" > </section> </div> </div>  --- ### 3. Coherence principle: Remove _unessential_ elements from instructional material --- ### Example: Which one do you choose? - 2 minutes of animated narration introducing ocean waves - the narration plus video clips showing sensational tsunami storms - the narration plus formulas and numerical computations --- ### 4. Temporal/spatial contiguity principle - When both verbal explanation and graphic representation are necessary for learning, present both simultaneously --- ### Example: Which one do you choose? - written text and figure on the same page - written text and figure on different pages           --- ## Bonus: choose single medium --- ### Sometimes visuals are better than words? --- ### Example 1. How would you explain how a *smart phone* works? --- ![](/media/cellphone.png) --- ### Example 2. How do you decide what to wear? --- ![](/media/decisiontree2.png) --- ### Visual over words - When the concept is abstract and hard to visualize in the mind. - When the logic is not linear. - [example in presentation slides design](https://prezi.com/p/7upyb8nulbzs/ux-design-tips-for-product-managers/?click_source=logged_element&element_type=prezi_card&element_text=7upyb8nulbzs)                                                     --- ### But are visuals also relevant for PE? > In PE lessons it might be more difficult (to use audio/visual), because to me movement is always something you have to experience in order to learn and improve it.  --- - For acquiring procedural-motor knowledge, dynamic imagery is actually quite powerful (learning by watching) - But need to consider different visual perspectives --- ### Examples about visual perspectives - External is better internal imagery when learning about how to position different body parts: [Gymnastics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JueHTIusqzI) - Internal is better than external imagery when learning about how to position body in relation to the environment: [Skiing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4tsX20dPX0)