The Expertise Reversal Principle in Multimedia Learning

Abstract

This chapter explores the research evidence for the feedback principle in multimedia learning, to consider more complex learning environments such as simulation and game-based training, and to discuss the impact of the feedback principle on our theoretical understanding and implications for instructional design. According to the feedback principle in multimedia learning, novice students learn better with explanatory feedback than with corrective feedback alone. The theoretical rationale for the feedback principle is based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Research in the area of simulation-based training (SBT) has also examined the effectiveness of feedback for improving performance and learning. When implementing explanatory feedback, instructional designers should take care not to increase extraneous processing by considering other multimedia learning principles, such as the modality principle. There is still much research left to do to define the boundary conditions of the feedback principle.