I think that our society has shifted to the value that "bigger is better" and that we need more, More, and MORE! All the research presented by Clark and Mayer teaches us that "less is more". Meaning, extra flashy graphics or pictures, background music or sound effects during voice overs, and full text within presentations, while at first seem appealing to use to make them more engaging or entertaining, it has been proven that these can do more harm than good. Research has shown that all that extraneous information can interfere with cognitive processing by splitting students attention and make it difficult for students to focus on what is needed to be learned because of overstimulation. Looking at the example image, can you stay focused?
By making use of the coherence principle and de-cluttering our presentations we can achieve more with less. By making sure that the printed words used are in correspondence with the images, the contiguity principle is being achieved. The modality principle explains the importance of using audio narration to our images over on-screen text, and the redundancy principle refines this further by explaining that using both audio narration and on-screen text with images can negatively impact learning. Through thoughtful use of the contiguity, modality, redundancy, and coherence principles, I have learned the proper way to use images, text and audio within my presentations that will hopefully make them more effective and engaging for my students!
I tried to incorporate ALL these principles presented by Clark and Mayer and demonstrate them within my Brainshark presentation. Brainshark is such a simple tool to add audio to slide presentations so that I can make sure to adhere to all the principles we are learning. Because it was such an easy tool to use, I will definitely be using it again. I think it will be a great way to present information to my online students, and I can track how many students are viewing the presentations. Check out my Brainshark Presentation under the EDUC 2740 tab.
By making use of the coherence principle and de-cluttering our presentations we can achieve more with less. By making sure that the printed words used are in correspondence with the images, the contiguity principle is being achieved. The modality principle explains the importance of using audio narration to our images over on-screen text, and the redundancy principle refines this further by explaining that using both audio narration and on-screen text with images can negatively impact learning. Through thoughtful use of the contiguity, modality, redundancy, and coherence principles, I have learned the proper way to use images, text and audio within my presentations that will hopefully make them more effective and engaging for my students!
I tried to incorporate ALL these principles presented by Clark and Mayer and demonstrate them within my Brainshark presentation. Brainshark is such a simple tool to add audio to slide presentations so that I can make sure to adhere to all the principles we are learning. Because it was such an easy tool to use, I will definitely be using it again. I think it will be a great way to present information to my online students, and I can track how many students are viewing the presentations. Check out my Brainshark Presentation under the EDUC 2740 tab.