Guidelines and Standards for Research Guides

Designing instructional videos for asynchronous learning can be challenging.  How do you effectively convey the information while keeping learners engaged and motivated? One theory you can use is the  Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). The cognitive psychologist Richard Mayer first articulated CTML in 1997 in an effort to discover the best way to utilize words and pictures to encourage meaningful learning.

Theory

Research has found that multimedia learning is most effective when creators avoid cognitive overload by helping learners select, organize and integrate information to reduce extraneous processing this can be achieved by utilizing the twelve principles of multimedia learning.

Practice

When designing multimedia content it's important to reduce the amount of effort it takes to understand the information being presented (extraneous cognitive load), manage the amount of effort it takes to understand the specific information you are trying to teach (intrinsic cognitive load), and optimize the amount of effort it takes for the learner to convert the content from working memory to long term memory (germane cognitive load). The following 12 principles can be used to achieve these goals.

Reduce the amount of effort it takes to understand the information:

• don't include any graphics, text, music, or narration that is not directly supporting learning goals
• help learners identify essential material by highlighting and signaling that it is important
• make sure what's happening on the screen matches the narration
• include text sparingly and make sure that it is physically located close to related graphics
• provide graphics and narration simultaneously

Manage the effort it takes to understand the specific information:

• chunk content into smaller, discrete concepts, or units of learning
• introduce key concepts and terms prior to the main content to help orient learners
• provide information visually as pictures accompanied by narration.  Avoid printed text as much as possible

Optimize the amount of effort it takes for the learner to convert the content from working memory to long-term memory:

• present information in multiple formats (i.e. spoken words and pictures instead of spoken words alone)
• address the learner as if you are in a conversation
• use human voice narration
• avoid including the instructor's face when presenting multimedia information

For more information check out the resources on the Further Reading & Examples page.

The documents below can help you assess other LibGuides, as well as evaluate and improve your own Research Guides.