Page 35 - The Inquiry into the Development and Implementation of a Multimedia Resource to Help Improve Parental Involvement in Their Child’s Reading Literacy During the Primary School Years.

draws attention to a region of a screen (deKoning et al., 2009). By highlighting the

key information, it helps direct learner attention, thus targeting particular elements of
the video for processing in the working memory. This can reduce extraneous load by

helping the learner determine which elements are important, and it can also increase
germane load by emphasising the connections within the information. Mayer and

Moreno (2003) and deKoning et al. (2009) have shown that this approach improves

the learner’s ability to retain and transfer new knowledge from animations, and
Ibrahim et al. (2012) have shown that these effects extend to video.

Segmenting can be accomplished by structuring information in learner-paced

segments (Mayer 2008, p.765) or creating shorter video chunks, also known as

chunking, of a series of related knowledge (Guo et al., 2014). Guo also determined
that informal talking-head videos are more engaging, and that Khan-style (Khan

Academy) tablet drawings are more engaging. He states that students engage
differently with lecture and tutorial videos and that even high-quality, pre-recorded

classroom lectures might not make for engaging online videos.

Matching the Modality is the process of using both the audio/verbal channel and the

visual/pictorial channel to present new information while reducing the potential for
overload of either. An example of this is a narrated or voice-over animation of a

learning process, it uses both channels to explain the process, thus giving the learner
dual and complementary streams of information to highlight features that should be

processed in working memory. In contrast, showing the animation while also

showing printed text uses only the visual channel and thus overloads this channel
and impedes learning (Mayer and Moreno, 2003).

Weeding/Coherence refers to the weeding out of extraneous material that does not

contribute to the learning goal and may reduce essential processing capacity. This

material may be auditory/verbal or visual/pictorial and is ‘not essential to building a
mental model of the to-be-learned system’ (Mayer 2008, p. 763). An example of this

may be music, distracting backgrounds or flashing animations. As the French writer
and poet Antoine de Saint Exupéry deduces, “Perfection is achieved, not when there

is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

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