Multimodal/Multimedia: Digital tool demonstrator (Online activity 6)

What have I learnt about multimodal/multimedia tools for use in a blended primary school environment?

After looking at a range of digital tools in online activity 6, it has motivated me to do further reading about multimodal and multimedia use in educational contexts. Through my work as a teacher in a blended primary school environment, I have used a range of multimedia tools to help present lesson content to my learners with the aim of catering for a range of learning preferences and styles. The platform I mostly use to present learning material is a class site using the google sites platform. Although my students appear to enjoy the material I share with them on the class site, I have never been completely sure whether their learning is advantaged by this in comparison to more traditional approaches. A few of the articles I have read in recent days have provided me with insight and clarity into the advantages and disadvantages of using multimedia to present learning material. 

Firstly, O'Halloran et al. (2018) highlight an important point, that teachers need to be aware of the affordances and challenges digital technologies promote and therefore it is important that teachers do their research into each digital tool to ensure it is suitable for the learning outcome. Therefore I need to be more critical of multimedia content before I choose to use it as a teaching resource.

Secondly, Mayer (2014) discusses the use of multimedia in relation to student cognitive processing. The research he presents using 'A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning' is very convincing and relevant to a blended learning context. It is based on cognitive processing theory about how the brain processes information using multimedia, and uses the senses and memory banks which in turn result in a student converting new knowledge into short and long term memory. He discusses three demands on cognitive processing being extraneous processing (material presented causing cognitive overload with irrelevant information), essential processing (material presented causing the mind to build mental representation of information) and generative processing (material presented in a way that learners can easily relate to and make sense of). Mayer (2014) suggests a number of evidence based tips that will assist in maximising learning using multimedia. The tips he mentions that I found useful include:

To minimise extraneous processing
  • Eliminate extraneous words and pictures
  • Highlight essential words and pictures
  • Place text next to the part of the graphic it describes
  • Present corresponding graphics and spoken text at the same time
  • Present graphics with spoken words rather than graphics with spoken and printed words Present a preview of the test items or instructional objectives before the lesson 
To manage essential processing
  • Break a complex lesson into manageable parts
  • Before a lesson, provide training in the names and characteristics of key elements
  • Present graphics with spoken text rather than with printed text 
To foster generative processing
  • Presenting words and pictures rather than words alone
  • Use human speech rather than machine speech 
  • Put words in conversational style
Finally, McArdle (2011) also mentions the benefits of multimedia learning, although she refers to it as multiple-sense learning. She points out that learners absorb 80% through sight, 11% through hearing and the remaining 9% through the other senses combined. Therefore she recommends that learning material utilise as many of the senses as possible to optimise learning; although as Mayer (2014) suggests, this should be done in a particular way. 

 Online activity 6 has encouraged me to delve deeper into the use of multimedia use and its potential impacts on my students learning. It has enabled me to meet both learning outcomes one and two, as I have been able to look deeper into the contemporary practice of using multimedia to enrich student learning experiences, critically evaluating its use leading to me being more informed about using it effectively to foster students generative processing. 

References:

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Multimedia instruction. In M. J. Spector, D. M. Merrill, J. Elen & J. M. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 385-399). New York, NY: Springer New York.

McArdle, G. H. (2011). Instructional Design for Action Learning. New York, NY: AMACOM

O’Halloran, K. L., Tan, S., Wiebrands, M., Sheffield, R., Wignell, P., & Turner, P. (2018). The multimodal classroom in the digital age: The use of 360 degree videos for online teaching and learning. In H. de Silva Joyce & S. Feez (Eds.), Multimodality across classrooms: Learning about and through different modalities (pp. 84-102). Routledge.




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