Abstract
This article reports a quasi-experimental study on the effects of multimedia teaching and learning in English Literature – a subject which places high cognitive load on students. A large-scale study was conducted in 4 high-achieving secondary schools to examine the differences made to students' learning and performance by the use of multimedia and to relate this to different kinds of multimedia. Statistical significance and effect size calculations indicated that the equivalent of one grade level in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) was associated with the use of advanced and integrated multimedia, and that this was stronger than the effects of schools and sex of the students. It was found that advanced multimedia software eased cognitive overload, particularly in the area of intrinsic cognitive load. Limitations of the study are drawn, including the needs to examine process variables and learner-related variables. Conclusions and implications for further research and for enhancing teaching and learning with multimedia are made.
Highlights
The use of multimedia is argued to have the potential to significantly improve instructional efficacy, with regard to the successful learning of information and the development of understanding
The use of multimedia in the single-sex school (School 3) produced the smallest absolute increase in average scores over the non-multimedia group in any of the four schools (1.88), despite this school having one of the highest overall pre-intervention scores for knowledge and understanding of Macbeth for both multimedia and non-multimedia groups (5.83). These data suggest that the use of the multimedia resource in the four schools improved scores of knowledge and understanding in English Literature substantially beyond those achieved without the resource, but there was no consistent linear relationship between the pre-intervention scores and post-intervention scores of students that used the multimedia resource
The study has indicated that intrinsic cognitive load in English Literature teaching and learning canbe rendered more manageable by the use of integrated and advanced multimedia that move beyond text to animation, background materials, and voiceover commentaries
Summary
The use of multimedia is argued to have the potential to significantly improve instructional efficacy, with regard to the successful learning of information and the development of understanding Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. ; Tabbers, Martens, & Van Merriënboer, 2000 Tabbers, H.K. and Martens Van Merriënboer, R.L. J.J.G. Multimedia instructions and cognitive load theory: Split-attention and modality effects. ). The application of cognitive load theory (CLT) ) has been at the forefront of much experimental work in this area, and it articulates important implications for optimising the design of educational multimedia The promise of multimedia learning: Using the same instructional design methods across different media.
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