Making Sense of Mayer – Chapter 1

I just tackled the first 3 chapters of Mayer. Whew! That is a cognitive load! I will try to sum it up here.

Multimedia: In its simplest form, it is the presentation of material in words and pictures.

Multimedia messages can be viewed in 3 different ways:

1. The Delivery Media View: This view is focused on the technology used to deliver the information such as computer, television, blackboards etc. The emphasis here is on the devices and not the student or learner.
2. The Presentation Modes View: The manner or mode in which the material is represented is the focus here. So in an eLearning presentation, words can be represented on screen and pictures would be represented as graphics. This view is considered to be learner centered because the learner can choose to interpret the information using either the text representation or the image.
3. The Sensory Modalities: This view focuses on the sensory system used to interpret the message. For example the ears are used for auditory information and the eyes for visual information. It is also learner centered since the learners “information processing activity” is taken into account.

Multimedia design has 2 views:

1. Technology Centered: This view states that the technology is the focus for delivering multimedia presentations. The issue with this view is the history has proven that technology has a poor success rate for improving learning. From motion pictures, radio, television and even the computer, learning has not improved just because it can be delivered via new technologies.
2. Learner Centered: This view begins with the human mind and how we learn. It asks “How can we adapt multimedia to enhance human learning” and uses cognitive science in the development of educational mulitmedia presentations.

Multimedia learning has 2 views:

1. As Learning Acquisition: This simply states that learning is adding information into the mind.
   1. Learning is simply information moving from material to the mind.
   2. The learners job is passive in that they simply receive the information.
   3. The teacher presents the information.
   4. The goal is efficiency of information delivery.
2. As Knowledge Construction:
   1. The information is constructed by the learner.
   2. The learner must make sense of the information.
   3. The teacher must assist the learner in making sense of the information.
   4. Information presents information as well as provides guidance for how to make sense of the information.

There are 3 outcomes of multimedia learning

1. No learning
2. Rote learning: good retention but poor transfer
3. Meaningful learning: good retention and good

2 kinds of active learning. Active learning is the “best way to promote meaningful learning”:

1. Cognitively active: the learner must construct and make sense of the information
2. Behaviorally active: the learner is physically active such as typing or clicking the mouse but there is no real learning occurring.