Coherence Analysis
1. What is the Coherence Principle and
its most important constraints/criteria?
After reading Clark & Mayer's chapter 7, e-learning
and the science of instruction, Mayer's Multimedia aids to problem-solving transfer,
and Mayer and Moreno's A learner-centered approach to multimedia explanations:
Deriving instructional design principles from cognitive theory I have a good
understanding of the Coherence Principle as it relates to e-learning. The
coherence principle supports the philosophy that it is essential to eliminate
non-essential material when creating multimedia learning tools. Mayer &
Clark (2008) state that "Mayer & Moreno (2003) use the term weeding to refer to the need to uproot
any words, graphics, or sounds that are not central to the instructional goal
for the lesson." Anything extra included in a lesson may distract for the
ultimate learning goal, which can harm to ability for the student to learn.
Research has shown that instruction is not effective when extraneous material
is included in multimedia learning that does not meet the instructional goals.
Moreno & Mayer (2000) also support the lack
of clutter in multimedia learning by stating. "When processing capacity is
used to process the music and sounds, there is less capacity available for
processing the narration, organizing it into coherent cause-and-effect chain,
linking it with the incoming visual information."
With all of this substantive research, course
developers should keep the Coherence Principle in the forefront of all learning
tools to limit the students' cognitive overload. Clark & Mayer (2008) assert,
"We don't know much about how individual characteristics of learners are
related to the effectiveness of the coherence principle." Another
limitation relates to engaging the learners. Learning should be interesting and
hold the learners' attention without the overload of extraneous distraction
from too many words, unnecessary graphic or music. Bottom line is the content
of the lesson should align with the instructional goal to be effective.
2. Describe and/or include one example
of successful and one example of unsuccessful attempts to apply the Coherence
Principle in actual instruction and training you have experienced, especially
as it might be implemented in PowerPoint-based instruction and training. Have
you ever seen this principle violated or abused? Identify the violations,
including citations as needed from your textbook.
A personal example of the how the Coherence
Principle has been abused was presented at my workplace. The class was created
in PowerPoint was delivered over VoIP and as directed at teaching managers the
proper method to complete annual performance reviews. The class was created by
the HR staff with no assistance from courseware developers, even though the
company employs them. The abuse of the Coherence Principle was the use of too many
"silly" graphics to show what to do and not to do. The presenter
focused on these funny graphics and many of the learners lost focus of the
instructional goal: how to complete annual performance reviews. Removing the
graphics and simply showing the learners the proper forms and examples of how
to complete would have had a more successful result. Mayer & Clark (2008)
state, "Extraneous graphics can be distracting and disruptive of the
learning process." In the class I attended in this example fell into the
trap of too many graphics added for no benefit to achieving the learning goal.
A successful use of the Coherence Principle
relates to this video providing video and audio instruction on cooking Indian
cuisine. The video can be located by selecting this link Cooking Video.
In this instructional video, only the food
preparation is in the video not the food preparer, therefore, there are no
extraneous graphics to distract from the instructional goal of cooking Paneer
Tikka Masala. Also, the recipe appears briefly at the beginning of the video that
allows the learner to read the instructions prior to the food preparation. This
was effective and did not distract from the instruction at hand.
3. Discuss the relationship of the
Coherence Principle to other Multimedia Learning Principles examined thus far
in your readings.
The Coherence Principle directly relates to
other multimedia learning principles such as:
·
The Redundancy Principle - when graphics are coupled with
explanatory narration encourages effective multimedia learning.
·
The Modality Principle - in multimedia lessons, students learn
better from narration rather than text on the screen.
·
The Contiguity Principle - places explanatory text directly near
the supporting graphic to help the learner absorb two separate tools at the
same time.
·
The Multimedia Principle - supports that students learn more
effectively from the combination of graphics and text, rather than just text.
In short, all of these multimedia principles are
put into learning only when they directly align with the learning goal. The difference
between the Coherence, Redundancy, Modality, Contiguity, and Multimedia Principles
lies in how the material is ultimately presented to the learner.
4.
Discuss the relationship of the Coherence Principle to
fundamental theories of psychology as described by Clark & Mayer in your
textbook.
After reading chapter 7, Cook & Mayer's
(2008) psychological reasons to avoid extraneous material from multimedia
learning, I find the relationship with the Coherence Principle easy to follow
when considering the instructional goal.
Cook & Mayer (2008) start by defining the psychological
reasons to avoid extraneous audio in multimedia surround the arousal theory
that states that including audio adds entertainment value to a lesson. However,
based on Dewey's thoughts on adding audio does not improve a poor or boring
lesson. Moreover, Cook & Mayer (2008) go on to discuss that "the
cognitive theory of multimedia predicts that students will learn more deeply
from multimedia presentations that do not contain interesting but extraneous
sounds and music than from multimedia presentation that do."
There are some psychological reasons to back up
why adding stray graphics to a multimedia lesson is not effective for learners.
Cook & Mayer (2008) state, "...adding interesting but unnecessary
material - including sounds, pictures, or words- to- e-learning can harm the
learning process by preventing the learner from processing the material." Cook
& Mayer (2008) reference Harp and Mayer's (1998) list of three ways extraneous
graphics impede with learning. The three ways are distraction, disruption, and
seduction.
Avoid extraneous words or text from a multimedia
lesson as not to distract the learner and hinder with the learning taking
place.
Cook & Mayer (2008) define three types of
extraneous wording as:
·
Avoid adding extraneous words to add interest when they are not
related to the instructional goal
·
Avoid using extraneous words to expand the main point of the
lesson
·
Avoid adding technical detail for depth
5. What do you personally like or
dislike about this principle? Present a coherent, informed opinion and explain
why you hold this opinion. Are there any limitations or qualifications of the
principle (caveats) which the authors did not consider and, if so, what are
they?
After reading and
completing this assignment, I agree with Cook & Mayer's (2008) Coherence
Principle. As a technical writer and now a budding educational technologist I
subscribe to the less is more practice. I have attended many training classes
where I was distracted by too much stimuli in the presentation that I
daydreamed and doodled in my notebook. That type of training is a waste of time
and resources for all involved.
According to Mayer's research
findings in the area of improving problem-solving scores using the multimedia
principles, the comprehension improves with reduced cognitive overload. Mayer (1999)
explains, "The median gain on problem-solving transfer is 70%....these
results provide consistent evidence that students are better able to understand
multimedia explanations when words and corresponding pictures are near each
other on the page or screen." These findings directly relate to how all of
the e-learning principles are interrelated and all contribute to reducing
cognitive overload for the student. However, I enjoy a
training class that incorporates just the right blend of narration, graphics,
and music and maybe not all at the same time.
I don't see many
limitations to the Coherence Principle knowing that the main premise behind it is
not to overwhelm the mind of the learner with extraneous graphics, text, or
music. One caveat that I would
take into consideration besides the learning goal is the demographics of the
learners. I'd like to consider the learners' age, disabilities, and socioeconomic
factors.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and
the science of instruction, 2nd edition.
San Francisco, CA:Pfeffer.
Mayer, R. E. (1999). Multimedia aids to problem-solving
transfer. International Journal of Education Research, 31(7),
611-623.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. E. (2000). A learner-centered
approach to multimedia explanations:
Deriving instructional design principles from Cognitive Theory. IMEJ Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of
Computer- Enhanced Learning.2(2). Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://imej.wfu.edu/articles/2000/2/05/index.asp
