The Affect of Multimedia on the Learning Process

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS WHEN MULTIMEDIA IS INVOLVED?
At the University of Maribor in Slovenia, electrical equipment was used to monitor brain activity when people were exposed to different media.

The subjects included 38 student-teachers enrolled on a psychology course. 19 (6 men and 13 women) were gifted students (IQ range 130-140). The other 19 (10 men and 9 women) were average reporting no special talent (IQ range 90-110).

Each student was seated in front of a computer. The media types were presented in different combinations of: text, sound, picture, and video. The order of presentation was randomly determined for each person.

The presentations were as follows:

1. The text presentation was about the planet Mars and was written on a piece of paper. It instructed individuals to mentally visualize data provided in the text.

2. The picture presentation consisted of text delivered orally and on a computer monitor. The data was accompanied by music and a picture showing the structure of the planet Mars.

3. The video presentation was the same as above, except instead of a picture, a video clip was used to show an animated flight over the planet’s surface.

Findings:

1.The text presentation in comparison with the picture and video produced higher mental activity.

2. An opposite effect was observed in the occipital and temporal locations. This showed a failure by the students to visualize data provided by text alone.

3. The video and picture presentations showed no significant difference in mental activity from each other.

These results are expected from what is known about the function of these areas. One of the basic functions of the temporal cortex is the processing of auditory input (hearing), while vision is processed in the occipital lobes

Recommendations:

The results show that students find it difficult to form mental models from text alone. Multimedia presentations trigger visualization strategies such as mental imagery, which is crucial to many kinds of problem solving.

References:

Gerlic, I. & Jausovec, N. (1999). Multimedia: Differences in Cognotive Processes Observed with EEG. Educational Technology Research and Development, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 5-14

[tags] multimedia and learning, research into learning, learning with multimedia [/tags]

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