Added cognitive burden or interest: Effect of enhancement in learning from slide lesson presentation in authentic classroom setting

Abstract

Multimedia technology is providing educators great potentials to improve teaching and learning. For the past decade or so, the use of slide lesson presentation, which is a form of multimedia, of various self-motivated designs has significantly increased in almost every local authentic classroom setting without significant scholarly examination of their real effects on student learning. The purpose of this empirical study is to look at the tangible impact of added enhancements in the form of interesting yet conceptually unrelated clip arts and sound effects on student learning as well as in terms of overall instructional efficiency. One hundred thirty five Nonscience major university students enrolled in three introductory physics classes served as the subjects of the study. Relevant data were collected through online standardized materials and researcher made paper and pencil tests. Retention and transfer tests were used to quantify student learning. Learning performance and mental effort as a measure of cognitive load during instruction were utilized to assess overall instructional efficiency. Findings revealed that the use of enhancements could lead to better retention and transfer but exceedingly comparable overall instructional efficiency. This suggests that in commonplace classroom settings, interest may mitigate, if not eliminate, the negative effects of remarkable although conceptually irrelevant multimedia elements. Keywords - Multimedia, Enhancement, Coherence Principle, Dual Coding Theory, Instructional Efficiency, Slide Presentation