Week 2: Explore Research on Multimedia [Oct. 9, 2011, 5:06 p.m.]

Implications of Limited Capacity

Capacity to take in information is limited
Extraneous, essential, and generative processing combine to create a cognite load
Too much extraneous information unrelated to learning goals interferes with essential and generative processing.
Too much essential information (too much or too complex to easily process) can interfere with generative or deep processing
Learners sometimes do not process the information more deeply with generative processing
Learning can be improved by:
- Reducing extraneous processing
- Managing essential processing
- Fostering generative processing

Coherence: Learners perform better when extranous material is excluded
- Excluding interesting but irrelevant images and words
- Excluding interesting but irrelevant sounds and music
- Excluding unneeded symbols and words
Signaling: Learners perform better when cues show the structure of the lesson and highlight what is important
Redundancy:
Spatial contiguity
Temporal contiguity