Multimedia Learning Environment Research Articles

Can an angry pedagogical agent enhance mental effort and learning performance in a multimedia learning environment?

PurposeThis study aims to examine if a pedagogical agent’s expressed anger, when framed as a feedback cue, can enhance mental effort and learning performance in a multimedia learning environment than expressed happiness.Design/methodology/approachA between-subjects experiment was conducted in which learners engaged with a multimedia learning material that taught programming algorithms, featuring a pedagogical agent who expressed anger or happiness as a feedback cue in response to the learners’ prior performance. Learners completed a self-reported scale and post-test for measuring mental effort and learning performance, respectively.FindingsFemale learners reported higher mental effort and had better learning performance when the pedagogical agent expressed anger than happiness. Male learners reported marginally lower mental effort when the pedagogical agent expressed anger than happiness.Originality/valueThis study focuses on a pedagogical agent’s expressed emotion as social information to learners. Extending from research advocating a pedagogical agent’s positive emotional expression, this study highlights the potential benefits of a pedagogical agent’s negative emotional expression, such as anger, as a cue for learners to enhance learning effort and performance in a multimedia learning environment.

Website for Students to Learn Online

Web-based multimedia learning environments have added new dimensions to curriculum content design. Yet, even with these fascinating abilities, the question remains; How can learning programs make good use of such skills to produce more effective learning outcomes? In other words, what are the best teaching methods you can use for a particular student or group of students to know that everyone has their own learning goals, motivations, knowledge, and skills? This article is a report on the current state of a six-year research project, Smart ELearning Environments, operating under the auspices of the Smart School of the Future science chair in India. The main purpose of this project is to use AI strategies to advance elearning education to the 5th generation of elearning as we can visualize it. The idea is to embed educational methods and learning theory and thought concepts in electronic learning environments in order to provide a highly intelligent, flexible and effective elearning environment.

The interactive e‐book and video feedback in a multimedia learning environment: Influence on performance, cognitive, and motivational outcomes

AbstractBackgroundContinuous advances in mobile and multimedia technologies have increased interest in the use of e‐books in educational settings.ObjectivesThe current study investigated how the e‐book technology and different types of feedback influenced the learning, motivation, and cognitive load of students within the differentiation unit of mathematics class.MethodsParticipants targeted for this study consisted of 125 first‐year students randomly assigned into one of four experimental conditions formed by a 2 (interactive e‐book vs. static PDF book) x 2 (simple feedback vs. video feedback) factorial design.Results and ConclusionsThe findings showed that there is a significant main interaction effect between the use of interactive e‐book and video feedback when students' achievement scores are measured. While no interaction effects on intrinsic motivation between the type of e‐book and type of feedback were found, the findings revealed interactive e‐book and video feedback separately increased intrinsic motivation. With regard to cognitive load, the results revealed that the use of interactive e‐book that delivered video feedback significantly reduced students' extraneous and intrinsic cognitive load.

Measuring cognitive load level in a multimedia learning environment towards the development of I-SIM

This study was administered to measure the Cognitive Load Level in a Multimedia Learning Environment towards the Development of I-SIM (Interactive Strategic Instructional Material) for Grade 7 Science students of Cayetano Arellano High School. Random sampling technique was used to determine the respondents. Pre-test and post-test instruments were prepared and the I-SIM was made from Science 7 least mastered skills, checked, and validated by Science experts in the field of Physics with the use of rubrics. Afterwards, the technicalities of the I-SIM was validated and assessed by the Tech-Vocational assesors. An adapted questionnaire by Leppink was used, modified and tested through Chronbach’s alpha. Questionnaire and other materials was digitized using google forms, then various communication letters was made. Researcher administered the pre-test, then the I-SIM followed by the Leppink questionnaire, lastly the post-test and interview. Cognitive load level were above average after, These are evident in their post-test performance together with interview results and answered descriptively through mean and standard deviation. There is no significant difference between the Cognitive Load level and Academic performance that was revealed using Pearson-r correlation. In paired T-test, it revealed that there is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of students who were exposed in a multimedia learning environment where I-SIM was utilized. This simply implicated that learning was still present though Cognitive level was above average. Furthermore, based on the results, the reduction Cognitive Load is recommended to sustain academic performance of the students to be able to develop I-SIM.

Split-attention effects in multimedia learning environments: eye-tracking and EEG analysis

Split-attention effects in multimedia learning environments: eye-tracking and EEG analysis

How Do We Deal with Uncertain Information? Effects of Verbal and Visual Expressions of Uncertainty on Learning

AbstractBased on the knowledge generation model for visual analytics including uncertainty propagation and human trust building (Sacha et al. 2016), the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2014), the multimedia principle (Butcher, 2014), and previous studies on the effects of different uncertainty visualization styles, an integrated theoretical approach is proposed to examine the influence of different degrees of information uncertainty and different uncertainty visualization styles on processing pictures of two archeological reconstructions with accompanying audio explanations presented in a multimedia learning environment. A 4 × 3 design with condition (without uncertainty visualization vs. stop light colors vs. geometric contrast vs. both uncertainty visualizations) as the between-subjects factor and uncertainty value (uncertain vs. medium vs. certain) as the within-subject factor was used. The results showed that appearance of certain content, its uncertainty values, and their verbal scientific justifications were remembered better than uncertain ones. Furthermore, stop light colors enhanced the memory of uncertainty values compared to no uncertainty visualization and were better understood, discriminated, and transferred than geometric contrast. Geometric contrast decreased the memory of the appearance of uncertain architectural elements compared to no uncertainty visualization and was better than stop light colors regarding the memory of the appearance of certain architectural elements. The study integrates and extends existing theories by showing that certain contents are processed with higher priority than uncertain contents and that the multimedia effect is also valid for metainformation such as the uncertainties of contents. Finally, recommendations for designing learning material including uncertainty visualizations are given.

When Refutation and Deep Reasoning Questions Lose Their Edge: The Case of Short, Narrated Videos

Virtual humans are virtual characters within multimedia learning environments designed to aid the learning process. While there is a large variety of research examining how to design the physical appearance of the character or the teaching strategies it should embody, there is comparatively little work around the design of the narrative the virtual human uses to communicate with the learner. In this study, we examine the use of four different types of text structures to structure the character’s narrative in an instructional video: expository, refutation text, deep reasoning questions, and refutation text and deep reasoning questions; and their effects on learning, perceptions, attitudes, and emotions about genetically modified foods. Our results largely indicated no significant differences between the different communication strategies. We hypothesize that the length, dosage, and pacing of the intervention could explain why we did not see benefits from the different narrative structures that have been found in other contexts.

Anthropomorphizing malware, bots, and servers with human-like images and dialogues: the emotional design effects in a multimedia learning environment

Emotional design refers to imbuing a multimedia learning environment with design attributes that promote learners’ positive affect and motivation to enhance learning. One such feature is anthropomorphism, in which human-like attributes are infused into learning elements in a multimedia learning environment. This study examines the affective, motivational, and cognitive effects of incorporating cute and funny human-like images and dialogues into learning objects depicting malware, bots, and servers in an animation conveying a lesson on how a distributed denial-of-service attack occurs. A between-subjects online experiment was conducted in which undergraduates from a large Asian university (n = 70) engaged with either the anthropomorphized or non-anthropomorphized multimedia lesson. The findings partially supported the anthropomorphism effects on learners’ affective-motivational states insofar as the anthropomorphized multimedia lesson evoked a significantly greater change of positive affect but did not differently affect intrinsic motivation and learning outcome than the non-anthropomorphized version. Concerning cognitive load, anthropomorphism led to significantly lower perceived difficulty regarding the learning topic (intrinsic load), which conforms with most emotional design findings. There was a marginal trend in which learners engaged longer with the anthropomorphized than the non-anthropomorphized multimedia lesson. This study offers insights on anthropomorphism in multimedia learning that extends to cultural factors unique to Asian learners and information technology subject domain. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed through the lens of cognitive-affective theory of learning with media, integrated cognitive affective model of learning with multimedia, and cognitive load theory. Future directions concerning anthropomorphism research in the multimedia learning context are addressed in this paper.

The Benefits of Implementing Authentic-Based Multimedia Learning in Higher Education Institutions

Multimedia has become one of the most complex and diverse digital learning media for creating knowledge and enabling a sensory learning environment that helps students to learn better and integrate information. By emphasizing on real-world experiences, learning is intended to be applied to students’ thought process. However, learning while having fun cannot be isolated from the media, which makes it easy for students to access it. This implies that the media must be able to fulfil the demands of students’ progress. According to existing learning theories, authentic-based learning environments aid students in developing appropriate and effective understanding. Personal relevance for the students’ perspective, authentic-based learning environments are positioned within suitable educational settings and the notion of an authentic-based learning environment is based mostly on situated learning theory and may be described in terms of the task setting of student roles. Students are always engaged in learning when the education is creative, interactive, and challenging. Thus, multimedia learning can create an authentic learning environment. Instructions that are not created using multimedia theories may result in an unproductive learning environment. This study examined some of the advantages that students may by from employing authentic-based multimedia learning in higher education. Internet databases with relevant information, such as SCOPUS, ERIC, Springer, IEEE, Emerald, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Google were searched. Research on the literature acquired from web sources has demonstrated that authentic-based multimedia learning environments provide several benefits to students in higher education institutions. Students’ attention is sustained as skills are reinforced because they are more engaging, fascinating, and fun to use as well as the creation and deployment of technology to improve student learning outcomes and the review of student attrition and classroom engagement. This also enabled students to transmit multimedia content. To improve students’ academic performance, higher education institutions should implement authentic-based multimedia learning in teaching and learning settings.

The influence of emotion and learner control on multimedia learning

The present study explored the influence of emotion and learner control on learners in multimedia learning environment. Study 1 investigated the effects of emotion on the learning outcomes (recognition test scores, transfer test scores) and learning performance (internal motivation level, cognitive load, learning satisfaction, perceived achievement) of multimedia learners. The results showed that compared with the learners in positive emotional state, the learners in negative emotional state had poor learning scores, but had lower cognitive load and higher perceived achievement level. Study 2 investigated the effect of learner control on multimedia learning in negative emotional state. The results showed that for the learners with negative emotions, the recognition test scores and transfer tests scores of the learner control group were significantly higher than those of the program control group. The present study showed that control strategies could help multimedia learners benefit from negative emotions.

Examining the Accelerated Playback Hypothesis of Time-Compression in Multimedia Learning Environments: A Meta-Analysis Study

With the explosion of multimedia learning environments and the use of digital time-compression algorithms in common software and hardware, we need guidance on how to use this technology without sacrificing quality and learning outcomes. The purpose of the meta-analysis is to examine the existing empirical research literature to derive an overall integrated model for the use of digital time-compression algorithms in multimedia learning environments. We frame this research by coining the accelerated playback hypothesis, which posits that learning outcomes will not diminish with accelerated playback of multimedia learning materials until a threshold is reached. Systematically searching twelve academic databases and filtering the literature, we identified seven qualified manuscripts with k = 18 independent effect size comparisons using time-compression in the context of multimedia learning. The overall effect size for playback speed 1.4–1.5x is small and significant at g = −0.212 [95% CI = −0.378, −0.045]. The overall effect size for playback speed 1.8–2.0x is small and non-significant at g = −0.362 [95% CI = −0.743 to 0.019]. Discussion and implications for practice and research are provided.

ICT multimedia learning affordances: role and impact on ESL learners' writing accuracy development

This work examined the role and impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools such as YouTube as an open educational resource-cum-tool with respect to its affordances of captions and their adjustable settings like font size and color (i.e., enhanced captions of videos); these affordances were proposed for their multimedia learning effects for the development of ESL learners' writing accuracy. This work hypothesized that the frequent use of these affordances as a technique can create and enhance a multimedia learning environment which can in its turn help learners focus more on the (new) target language input, be more able to notice their errors and correct them by way of conscious comparisons between their own output and target language input. In effect, their L2 writing becomes more accurate over time. This work investigated the role and impact of these YouTube affordances on the development of ESL writing accuracy through exploring the learners' personal experience with and actual use of these affordances for the development of ESL writing accuracy over five months. Moreover, it sought to determine whether or not learners' L2 writing accuracy improved after the implementation of the proposed YouTube affordances for ESL writing improvement. Furthermore, it explored the correlation between the development of learners' L2 writing accuracy, if any, and the impact of these YouTube affordances on the development of ESL writing accuracy. The findings of this study revealed that the frequent use of ICT multimedia tools like YouTube with respect to its affordances of captions and their adjustable settings like font size and color (i.e., enhanced captions of videos) played a positive role that impacted the improvement of learners' English writing accuracy over five months. Also, the findings demonstrated that participants' L2 writing accuracy (as indicated by all the metrics used in this study for measuring the learners' writing accuracy progress) developed significantly after five months of the implementation of the proposed YouTube affordances of enhanced captions as a technique for the development of ESL writing. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant evidence, although ethically speaking this evidence was not conclusive as it was limited by the small sample size of this group of participants and thus the elicited and analyzed data, which suggested that there was a strong correlation between the development of learners' L2 writing accuracy and the frequent use of the proposed YouTube affordances of enhanced captions for the development of ESL writing accuracy. It was concluded that ICT tools such as YouTube with respect to its affordances of captions and their adjustable settings like font size and color (i.e., enhanced captions of videos) can be effectively used and recommended as a technique for the development of learners' L2 writing accuracy due to their positive and enhancing multimedia learning effects.

Task-induced involvement load and working memory: Effects on active and passive vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners in a multimedia learning environment

Task-induced involvement load and working memory: Effects on active and passive vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners in a multimedia learning environment

The Effectiveness Of Using Dynamic Visualization In Natural Science Learning To Improve Students' Understanding In Junior High Schools

Visualization can support an instructional process. Visualization consists of all types of nonverbal illustrations. The very rapidly computer technology enables the development of multimedia learning environment. This research was aimed at describing the effectiveness and attractiveness of the use of dynamic visualization in an instruction on transportation system and excretion in organisms. Sixty four students of grade 8 who consisted of 36 males and 28 females were used as the subjects of the research. The data of the research were collected in the form of pre-test and post-test scores in the students’ understanding of transportation system and excretion in organisms and in the attractiveness of the use of dynamic visualization in the instruction. Statistical test showed that the mean of the comprehension test before the use of dynamic visualization differed significantly from that after the use of dynamic visualization and that dynamic visualization was attractive to be used in the instruction. Hence, it can be concluded that dynamic visualization can enhance students’ understanding.

Relationship between objective and subjective cognitive load measurements in multimedia learning

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to compare subjective and objective cognitive load measurements in a multimedia learning environment. For this purpose, 20 university students studied in multimedia environments designed by researchers during which eye movements and multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded. Self-report ratings were obtained at the end of the experiment, and retention performances of the students were measured. After the data were collected, Pearson Correlation analysis was applied. According to the results, significant relationship between the number of fixations and EEG frequency band powers was found. In addition, there was a negative relationship between retention performance and number of fixations. Moreover, a negative relationship was found between retention performance and self-reported measurements.

Using eye movements to measure intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load in a multimedia learning environment.

In a previous study, DeLeeuw and Mayer (2008) found support for the triarchic model of cognitive load (Sweller, Van Merrienboer, & Paas, 1998, 2019) by showing that three different metrics could be used to independently measure 3 hypothesized types of cognitive load: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. However, 2 of the 3 metrics that the authors used were intrusive in nature because learning had to be stopped momentarily to complete the measures. The current study extends the design of DeLeeuw and Mayer (2008) by investigating whether learners’ eye movement behavior can be used to measure the three proposed types of cognitive load without interrupting learning. During a 1-hr experiment, we presented a multimedia lesson explaining the mechanism of electric motors to participants who had low prior knowledge of this topic. First, we replicated the main results of DeLeeuw and Mayer (2008), providing further support for the triarchic structure of cognitive load. Second, we identified eye movement measures that differentiated the three types of cognitive load. These findings were independent of participants’ working memory capacity. Together, these results provide further evidence for the triarchic nature of cognitive load (Sweller et al., 1998, 2019), and are a first step toward online measures of cognitive load that could potentially be implemented into computer assisted learning technologies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

The Effect of Valence and Arousal on Virtual Agent's Designs in Quiz Based Multimedia Learning Environment

The Effect of Valence and Arousal on Virtual Agent's Designs in Quiz Based Multimedia Learning Environment

Is too much help an obstacle? Effects of interactivity and cognitive style on learning with dynamic versus non-dynamic visualizations with narrative explanations

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of visual/verbal cognitive style and interactivity level in dynamic and non-dynamic multimedia learning environments. A group of 235 biology students learned about photosynthesis either from a computer-based animation or a series of static pictures with spoken explanatory text. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: with or without the possibility to pause, to play, or to fast-forward/rewind the learning environment (self-paced versus system-paced condition). Participants obtained better results when learning with the system-paced environment than with the self-paced one. A significant triple interaction between cognitive style, type of pacing, and type of visualization showed that highly developed visualizers learned poorer with self-paced static pictures than with system-paced static pictures. There were no significant effects regarding verbal cognitive style. Results shed more light on the relation between different levels of interactivity and visual cognitive style, when learning from static pictures.

Meta-Analysis of Emotional Designs in Multimedia Learning: A Replication and Extension Study

Emotions can both facilitate and hinder learning. Emotional design features such as colors and shapes can be embedded in multimedia learning environments to manipulate learners’ affects and learning outcomes. However, some studies suggest that emotional designs promote learning, while others show that they hinder it. Although Brom et al. (Educational Research Review 25:100–119, Brom et al. 2018) published a meta-analysis on the use of emotional designs in multimedia learning, an updated search showed that more studies were published recently. Thus, the present meta-analysis is a replication and extension of Brom et al.’s (Educational Research Review 25:100–119, Brom et al. 2018) meta-analysis. A total of 28 articles yielded the following independent effect sizes for each outcome examined: retention (k = 28), transfer (k = 38), comprehension (k = 16), mental effort (k = 28), perceived difficulty (k = 19), change in positive affect (k = 25), intrinsic motivation (k = 28), and liking/enjoyment (k = 19). Results showed that including emotional designs enhanced learning outcomes (retention: g+ = 0.35; transfer: g+ = 0.27; comprehension: g+ = 0.29), change in positive affect (g+ = 0.09), intrinsic motivation (g+ = 0.15), mental effort (g+ = 0.11), liking/enjoyment (g+ = 0.10), and reduced perceived difficulty (g+ = − 0.21). Moderator analyses were conducted for retention, mental effort, intrinsic motivation, and positive affect, and findings showed that mean effect sizes were moderated by participant characteristics as well as methodological and contextual features of the studies. We discuss these findings as well as their theoretical and practical implications.

The effects of background music on learning: a systematic review of literature to guide future research and practice

This review builds on prior reviews by synthesizing thirty studies that examined the effects of background music (BM) on learning from 2008 to 2018. Each study was coded based on key methodological features, BM’s characteristics, and reported BM effects on learning (i.e., negative, neutral or positive). Frequencies and percentages were used to describe BM effects on learning across studies, methods used, and BM’s characteristics manipulated in the selected studies. Results showed (a) inconclusive findings as noted in prior reviews, (b) the need for more rigorous research methods, (c) that not all BM interventions are the same, and (d) a dearth of studies exploring BM impacts in multimedia learning environments. Implications are discussed for primary researchers, synthesis researchers, faculty and instructional designers.