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The Garden of Good and Media
Mediaare powerful, and they’re neither good nor evil in themselves, but, in truth,they’re often up to no good. Text, sound, graphics, photographs, animations, color,and timing can help learners achieve instructional outcomes or can hinder them.The results depend on how media are used. Unfortunately it is easy, even withthe best of intentions and a watchful eye, to create displays that arehorrendously difficult to comprehend. On the other hand, simplicity is frustratinglydifficult to achieve, even with a great deal of effort and experience. Reachinghigher, for instructional drama, forexample, requires a masterful orchestration of media and events, but theresults can be spectacular.
Michael Allen’s 5-part series on the importance of good design
- Is Your Learner Interface Smart?
- Classic Learner Interface Errors
- Screens With a Clear View
- The Garden of Good and Media
- Learner-interface Design: Recognizing Learner Gestures
So howshould you approach your media garden? How can you create a masterpiece withoutbeing torn apart by rampant thorns, stung by poison ivy, overwhelmed by weeds,and exhausted by constant replanting and maintenance?
We’refaced with both visual and interactive design challenges, plus many more, ine-Learning. So it’s particularly unfortunate there isn’t a small set of hardand fast rules to follow. Simplistic rules and simplistic interpretation of researchare dangerous. They often misrepresent the truth. As H.L. Mencken observed, “Forevery complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” AsI review literature that intends to be as helpful as possible by simplifyingissues and offering clear direction, I find so many suggestions that conflictwith my experience. Taking recommended paths often leads to ineffective instruction,boring interactions, or most commonly, both.
Nevertheless,and as you’ve doubtlessly noticed in your reading of my articles so far, I’vedecided to take the risk of being lampooned by friends, colleagues, and criticsby offering at least moderately unequivocal guidelines. In many cases, mysuggestions go counter to common practice. What you do is up to you, of course.With that comforting reassurance in my mind, I’ll forge ahead here, telling youwhat I think and hoping I’m at least mostly right.
Overall…
Overall,I would like to offer two general guidelines. First, use each medium and eachmedia element for a reason. Restraint is generally good advice with media. Sois being purposeful. That is, don’t do things just because you can. Use mediafor defined purposes, or don’t use them at all. If you can think of no purposefor a media element, even after you’ve created and refined it, delete it andsee if you aren’t better off without it. Valid purposes are wide-ranging, of course.Don’t discount the need to make e-Learning pleasant, perhaps even entertaining.We want to communicate effectively, relaying not only information, but alsovalues and emotion.
Second,take it off. It takes discipline to avoid creating unnecessary elements andeven more discipline to delete them once they’ve been created. It can bedifficult indeed to sacrifice elements created with effort, even though thereward for doing so may be more effective experiences for your learners. But ifthere is no reason for media elements to be included, they will probably dolearners a disservice if you leave them in. Quite often, less is better.
Helpfulmedia redundancy
Irecently read in an e-Learning design book that redundancy is bad and wasteful bynature and should be eliminated. If you have text and auditory narration, forexample (note that there are many forms of redundancy to consider), the booksuggested that you eliminate one mode of communication. Some recent researchwould appear supportive. It indicates that there are advantages to usingnarration only, especially when complex graphics are displayed (
Buthere’s where interpretation and application of research becomes tricky, especiallyas we attempt to simplify guidelines. These results, for example, could betaken to conclude that learners wouldn’t benefit from having text available —that they wouldn’t find comfort in being able to access the script to absorb someconfusing phrases at their own speed. Giving learners alternatives was one ofthe founding dreams of e-Learning creators. While we have to give learners inclassrooms nearly identical instruction, we don’t have to in e-Learning.
Accommodatinglearners‘varying learning styles has been too expensive, with the directive orbehavioral instructional approaches commonly used, to provide many alternatepaths for redundancy in supporting media. Alternative modes of communicationcan provide considerable individualization of instruction in a very practicalway.
If youequate redundancy with boring, you might think the suggestion to eliminate redundancywould have my support, since it’s become my highly publicized mission to stampout boring e-Learning (not all e-Learning, mind you, just boring e-Learning).It doesn’t. Although it’s a simple, pragmatic rule and therefore deserves someleniency, it’s a bad simple rule.
Theprimary mission of creating meaningful and memorable experiences requireseffective communication with the learner. Redundancy, when used effectively, isa powerful tool to help antsy learners get important messages. Public speakersare often told to:
- saywhat you’re going to say,
- sayit, and
- summarize what you’ve said.
Redundant,indeed. But boring only if the message itself is boring or so simplistic thatsaying it once is sufficient. If the message contains information that theaudience values, wants to understand, and wants to remember, redundancy will beappreciated and probably necessary.
Antsy learners
Idescribe e-Learners as antsy learners because their environment, both physical andmental, is primed for action. It’s not naturally a reflective environment, but ratherone geared for movement, input, and response. Although quiet analysis andreflection can certainly produce valuable learning outcomes, the trappings of e-Learningfight the likelihood of it. It’s neither physically comfortable to sit at a computerfor very long, nor in line with our expectations that we will be passive. Withall the electrically energized equipment around us, we are ready for and expectingthings to happen. If things don’t happen, e-Learners get antsy. They get boredand leave. Good for them, I say! Vote with your feet!
Althoughcovered in previous installments, it’s worth mentioning again: The readingcomprehension of e-Learners is not the same as that of learners’ quietly embracingbooks or working one-on-one with mentors. The e-Learning environment demandsinteractivity and responsiveness to learner needs.
Special needs
Redundantmedia are sometimes invaluable to learners with special needs, such as visualor hearing impairment. Other learners may learn more readily from one form ofcommunication, such as narration, than from others, such as text or graphicillustration. Redundancy allows an application to address a wider audience andcan provide more effective experiences for all.
Learner control
Redundancyof media to reinforce a message is most effective and desirable in e-Learningwhen learners have sufficient control. There’s nothing more boring than havingto sit through repeated presentations of content that is already understood.Learner control is essential, and those ready to move on should be able to doso without fear that they’ll miss something important.
On theother hand, some learners may not have fully grasped a message presented in onemedium, say through narration. They may not only appreciate, but also trulyneed to have the message presented through graphic animation, illustration, ortext. For these learners, there really isn’t any redundancy; it’s analternative channel of communication that works. It’s a matter of finding theright message in the right medium for each learner.
How doyou make an optimum environment for all learners? Two essential components are:
- Provide redundancy. If it consumes extra learner time or if simultaneous use causesmedia to distract from each other, put the redundancy under the learner’scontrol.
- Frequently challenge learners to demonstrate their learning. If they cannot meetthe challenges, allow them to call up the alternative support media or events.
A finalnote with respect to redundancy. It’s important for learners to know that theirtask isn’t to wade through all the media and all the redundancies you canprovide. Their task is to reach performance proficiency. Redundancy isn’t thereto slow their trek toward mastery, it’s actually there to shorten it. To be effective,your instructional designs must help learners focus on what is and isn’t important.Don’t scatter essential content across otherwise redundant media elements,making it a learning scavenger hunt.
Effectiveuse of media
Let’slook now at uses of specific media — not with the intent of addressing everyimportant nuance of each multimedia element, but rather with specific considerationof using media in support of effective e-Learning.
Text
Text ispowerful and flexible. It can describe objects, experiences, processes, hazards,concepts, and philosophies almost equally well. It can be written and editedusing word processing tools that are widely available. And yet text is often ineffective,especially in multimedia presentations where activity and movement contrastwith static, less flashy text passages that usually take more work and time tocomprehend than graphics or animations. The computer itself, with an electronicdisplay, keyboard, mouse, and motors humming, suggests change and movement. Wedon’t sit at a keyboard expecting to be quietly contemplative. We expect to bedoing something. Text in any significant quantity almost feels out of place ininteractive multimedia applications because it requires concentrated focus,stillness, and reflection. And it is out of place!
Unlesslearners read and understand the text presented, text fails as a tool to facilitatelearning. It is important, therefore, that we think carefully about the use oftext versus other means of communication. Two common and often fatal errorsmade in e-Learning design are:
- useof large amounts of text and
- anexpectation that unassisted text will be effective in carrying criticalmessages to learners.
Textshould almost always be supported by other media helping to convey the samecontent. It is often appropriate to forgo text altogether in favor of such alternativesas narration, illustration, video, animation, or a combination of these.
Trythinking in opposition to the norm. When you decide to use text, consider usingit in a supportive role rather than in the primary role of communicating withlearners. Since it is often easiest to start your designs with text-basedcommunications, go ahead with it at first, then see how much text you can make unnecessary.If you can then give learners the option to access the text you were able toremove, in case they want it, you’ve achieved a nice measure of learner controland individualization!
Styles and placement.Whenever text is used, it should be ably crafted and presented. It’s importantto consider all characteristics of text presentation, not just the wording. Howtext appears on the screen makes an enormous difference in its effectiveness.
Styles. Don’tuse many different fonts. Too many create a dazzling effect that prevents theeye from focusing comfortably and tracking effectively. Don’t mix differentcolors, italics, boldness, underlining, shadowing, right justification,centering, and left justification with great frequency. Establish styleguidelines and stick to them systematically. Following guidelines will helplearners become familiar with your structure. In other words, well-implementedguidelines create another means of communication with learners. If thestructure is carefully articulated, sometimes without reading a word, learnerscan quickly:
- seehow many topics are being presented
- seewhat the main topics are
- understand the relationship of the text to other screen elements
- noteessential concepts
- differentiate between principles and examples of the principles
- noteimportant definitions and facts to be remembered
- noteexceptions and warnings
Placement. Organizedplacement of text helps learners know what the text is about even withoutreading it. They might know, for example, that a sentence provides importantfeedback information while another provides general instructions, just by theirplacement. Consistent, meaningful placement helps learners find the informationthey want without having to search through more lengthy blocks of textcontaining a mix of things.
Learnerswill have more success with text if its placement provides enough separationfor legibility and if careful consideration is given to its formatting. CheckSidebar 1 for some important and effective guidelines.
SIDEBAR 1 General guidelines for screen text presentation
- Contrast headings and text blocks strongly.
- Keep headings and the blocks of text they identify close together.
- Favor white space over drawn divisions, borders, boxes, and other containers. Boxes and borders often add more noise than clarity (except for sidebars, of course!).
- Separate instructions from instructional content, possibly by putting each in a standard place on the screen.
- Keep body text between 10 and 14 points. If it’s too big, it inhibits the ability to read words in phrases; if it’s too small, it’s too hard to read.
- Consider reversing the sans serif/serif rule for printed text. On screen, use serif type for headings and sans serif type for body text.
- Don’t use more than one serif font, and avoid serifs for very small text (if small text is necessary).
- Use upper- and lowercase letters. Words written in all uppercase letters are generally harder to read. If used, all capitals should generally be for short labels and headers, not for full sentences.
- Keep columns narrow, around 40 characters or 4 inches in maximum width.
- Never place more than seven lines of text together. Having only five is better than seven, and three is better than five. In other words, keep paragraphs short — even if that means using one-sentence paragraphs. Use lists when possible — bullet points instead of paragraphs.
Scrolling. Until the Internetcame along, there was a strong preference among experienced designers to avoidscrolling text. The mechanics for scrolling take away precious white space fordisplay areas, and they often box in the text in ways that destroy the overalleffectiveness of good screen design. When text moves up and down, readers losetheir place and orientation. They cannot refer back or forward to other partsof the text that are covered up without more scrolling.
Further,scrolling text gives writers no length constraints. As a result, they tend towrite lengthy passages that are far too long for screen presentation. All thesethings interfere with comprehension and a good learning experience.
As ageneral preference, look for alternatives to scrolling masses of text. Scrollingshould be unnecessary except for special cases in which full documents or longlists are vital resources. It’s best if graphics carry much of the content and definethe interactive context, requiring only small amounts of text for clarity.
Graphics
We cantake in nonverbal, sensory information and understand it much faster than wecan decode messages in either the written or the spoken word. Through touch ora glance, it’s possible for us to instantly gather information that would takemany words and much, much more time to process verbally. Certain sounds alsoconvey large amounts of information in an instant. Consider the sound of a carcrash or the disappointed inflection in a loved one’s voice. Compare what theycommunicate and how instantly they do it to the number of words required to communicatethe same thing, if indeed words could communicate the same thing.
Someresearchers have argued that we tend to think visually, and because we do, wecan think much faster about many things than if we could think only byprocessing the syntax of spoken language serially. Because we are able and readyto process information through visual constructs, it takes us less effort toabsorb it. And that makes us eager for visual information.
Ourattraction to visual information might be a natural desire to conserve energyand save time. It might also be laziness. In any case, e-Learners value graphicpresentation of information, expect it because of the medium’s capabilities todeliver it, and need it to counteract the ineffectiveness of text displayed oncomputer monitors. (Guidelines for graphics are summarized in Sidebar 2.)
SIDEBAR 2 Criteria for graphics
Comprehensible | Images should be visually clean and crisp. |
Meaningful | Images must be understandable at the learner’s level of knowledge. |
Compatible | Styles and colors should complement and fit in with other design elements. |
Relevant | Graphics should communicate information of value to the learner. |
Consistent | Graphics should be consistent in terminology (callouts, labels, etc.). |
Valuable | If providing redundancy, graphics should reinforce either hard-to-understand content or things that are important to remember. If graphics are delivering the message, they should be nontrivial lest learners conclude all graphics are superfluous and ignore them. |
Icons. Many icons, such asthose on electronic devices, cars, and software applications, are unclear atfirst and difficult to identify. This problem often stems from an unfortunatelack of user testing.
Thinkingthey can evaluate the lucidity of images by themselves, designers unwittinglygenerate icons that are unintelligible to others. Once you know what iconsrepresent, it can be difficult to recall any problem deciphering them. You thinktheir functions are obvious and easily identifiable.
Iconsmay solve the designer’s space problems and provide efficient user controls, butthey may also fail to be meaningful without explanation and practice identifyingthem. In such instances, icons may obstruct targeted learning. Design testingis the key.
Withthe ever growing palette of options we can offer learners, successful e-Learningdesigns deserve tremendous respect. They are never trivial design achievements.
Imagery
Much ofthe speed of visual communication comes from our ability to recognize an imageand instantly associate with it all the attributes of similar familiar objects.Graphics, video, photographs, and animations in e-Learning can speed understanding,reduce learning effort, and enrich the experience.
Not allimagery is helpful, however. Images should be relevant and meaningful, not justdecorative. They should be clear and easy to make out, accommodating learnerswith less-than-perfect eyesight. They should be compatible with the deliverychannel so as not to cause disruptive delays. Images should not upstage otherimportant display elements or defocus learners. All in all, there are manychallenges to effective use of imagery in e-Learning.
Consider download time. Whileit’s hard enough to come up with good instructional designs and effectiveimagery, there’s an effective difference between printed imagery that isinstantly present without downloading (as a book provides) and imagery thattakes time to appear — potentially very noticeable time that unavoidably drawslearner attention if not irritation. The value of imagery must be carefullyweighed against the delays and distractions the images may impose on interactivity.
Incontrast to the cost of distributing printed images, there is very little real expensein distributing high quality color images over the Internet. So we are quitefree, and therefore tempted, to use many graphics without careful selection. Weshould use imagery when it contributes positively to the learning experience. Lackof imagery does often suggest a missed opportunity. But use it wisely.
Make itmeaningful. Some imagery simply makes pages more pleasant to view. In suchcases, their utility for learning is to magnify learner interest and create a moredesirable learning environment. This use of imagery is fine, but if the graphicscan simultaneously reinforce or clarify key learning concepts or procedures, itis much better. There are so many ways for learners to misunderstand or fail tounderstand important messages. Sitting at a computer is not necessarily anoptimal learning situation for many who need to learn. Learners may be anxiousor befuddled by the computer, and distractions may be all around. There will besuccessful, uncontrollable assaults on learner comprehension. Whether ourmessages are encoded in text, graphics, animation, or narration, it’s importantthat they are shaped and presented effectively. Again, some well-devisedredundancy may be what is needed to get a meaningful message across.
Color Redundancy
Wedon’t simply want attractive screens. We want attractive screens that work. Inaddition to its ability to enhance the attractiveness of screen displays, colorhas the capability to both assist and hinder communication with learners. Itcan highlight items of importance or blind the eye. It can create a visual coherenceor a bedazzling (not good) rainbow.
Whilesome colors have natural associations (e.g., green with grass, nature, freshness)or widely held, learned associations (e.g., red with stop, warning, hot), wereadily come to accept new, contextual associations and meanings of colors ifthey are used consistently. McDonald’s arches are what color? (See Figure 1.) You know, don’t you? IBM’s logo and products are? Right, blue. Pepsi andCoke cans are what colors, respectively? (See Figure 2, left.) You know thesethings, without having been taught and tested on them.
FIGURE 1 A learned association.
You don’t have to think
to know what color the arches should be.
FIGURE 2 Two more learned associations.
You know what colors and what
product names belong here without
even being consciously aware of them.
FIGURE 3 Good design needs no
labels in order to
make a point.
(Figure Courtesy of Michael
Graves & Associates)
We havean especially strong capacity to quickly recognize things that make a differenceto us. We can often recognize them by just one of their attributes, such astheir color, shape, position, or sound. When multiple differentiatingcharacteristics are present, we recognize an object even more quickly andconfidently. Because we cannot always depend on color perception, it makes mostsense to use color as a redundant code to reinforce messages. That is, weshould make messages as clear as possible without the use of color, then addcolor in ways that make the message even stronger.
MichaelGraves demonstrates this principle in the design of physical objects, such asthe teakettle he designed for Target stores. (See Figure 3.) A teakettlelid is unfortunately (and sometimes unexpectedly) hot, to the point of causingaccidents. One should also be careful about the spout, as it gets hot andserves up potentially scalding liquids.
Color Complications.Working with color is often challenging and unexpectedly tedious. For example,the colors of objects interact with background colors and the colors of otherobjects near them. While we know this, most of us don’t have to deal with theissue frequently and may not suspect how dramatic this effect can be. As aresult, we can produce dreadful displays without knowing what’s going wrong orhow to fix them.
Designerscan perfect individual display elements, then discover how poorly they worktogether as they pop up in interactions. Our navigation controls may brightlyovershadow content or may be engulfed by a sea of similarly colored elements.Elements may clash in an unpleasant way or lose their ability to be associatedeffectively all because of indiscriminate color use.
Further,because of insensitivity to certain colors, ambient lighting conditions, ormonitor color calibration, some learners will have difficulty discerning color differencesespecially if they are subtle. In short, the wonderful world of color interfacestakes careful planning and artistry or it isn’t so wonderful at all.
Color competency. It’snot possible to fully address principles of good color application here, ifindeed it’s possible in any treatise. The good news is that some common sense,a practical approach, and some time for experimentation are often enough to goon. Here are some tips for dealing with color palettes, contrast, and dazzle:
SIDEBAR 3 Some ideas for helpfully redundant use of color
- Mark successfully completed items with bright green dots and items unsuccessfully
completed with red X’s. - Use a differentiating color for irreversible actions, such as “Submit” or “Evaluate
My Work” or “Done.” - Frame counter examples or unacceptable practices in uniquely colored and
bordered frames. - Use a unique color and font size for headings.
- Color code items which learners can move or delete.
- Highlight optional paths or little-known facts of interest.
If there are no good reasons to use a different color for an object, don’t.
Palettes. A trickinterior designers often use is to find a piece of clothing, a piece of art, oreven a decorative pillow that is attractive because of its colors. This worksfor e-Learning design as well. Actually, you might want to search the Internet forsome sites that are visually pleasing and then use a similar palette. I keep afew handy books on my desk that have colors organized by themes, including theemotions they engender. Some are high-energy, some are reflective, and othersare somber, sophisticated, trendy, youthful, and so on. It has worked well forme to determine the right “mood” for my subject matter and learners and then scanthrough the color collections for something I can use. If you want to be in vogue,the January issue of Communication Arts Magazine each year publishes thecolor palettes of the year as chosen by a panel of experts. It’s not quite aseasy as “choose a palette and color your screen,” but it’s faster if you start witha collection of complementary colors and then test them on your content andinterface components.
Contrast. Thereare many types of contrast at work in our visual and even our auditorycommunication with learners. Contrast exists in size, position, texture, scale,animation, volume, timbre, saturation, transparency, and color. In general, ourattention is drawn to things that are different — that contrast with others.When designing learner interfaces or content displays, you won’t always knowwhat other items will be on the screen. Sometimes the navigation controls andall the content displays are being created from scratch, so optimally contrastingcolor palettes can be defined and applied.
Moreoften, however, projects will incorporate existing display material or accessexternal media that won’t exist until later — maybe not even until after theapplication is in use. Such typical situations suggest the use of neutralcolors for interface contrivances. Although I sometimes feel that I can’ttolerate one more gray button, gradations from white to black do yield manyusable shades that complement almost any other color that might be on thescreen.
A goodrule for contrast, whether it’s color, text size, or any other parameter: Iftwo items aren’t the same, make sure learners can easily discern the difference.Don’t make them so similar that it takes time and effort to decide whether theyare the same or different. Subtle differences can be attractive, but they oftenconfuse functionality. So make contrasts big and bold.
Dazzle. Althoughcolor can reinforce our ability to determine the meaning or status of icons andother objects, the prime directive is this: “Don’t distract the learner throughrainbows of color or use of garish, attention-drawing colors.” In following therule of contrast — making sure that intended contrasts are strong enough to bediscernable without conscious thought — it’s important not to go too far anddevelop so many contrasting elements that the eye cannot comfortably restanywhere. Dazzle is as often found in e-Learning as it is on many types of Websites. It generally results from a combination of putting too many items on thepage and then wanting to make them all stand out and draw attention. Moreitems, more need for contrast, more colors, more dazzle. The strategy fails.Presenting fewer items with good clustering, spacing, and organization is anexcellent antidote to many ineffective designs.
Sound effects
Soundsadd a strong dimension to interactive applications. Just as with color andanimation, however, sounds have as much ability to be distracting and annoyingas they do to be helpful and pleasing.
Effective use of sound effects. Soundeffects can be valuable design assets when they:
- Convey information, such as:
- The learner’s gesture has been recognized
- An option or process is being applied
- An effective solution or correct answer has been entered
- A significant goal has been reached
- A selected option is not applicable
- A value is out of range
- The maximum or minimum value has been set
- Time is running out
- Support learner’s focus:
- Sound effects should usually be very short in duration — only long enough to be distinctive.
- Sounds should be pleasant (even for most errors).
- Sounds should not broadcast failures to nearby persons as it can be quite defocusing to all. The public announcement of successes can even be disturbing, although probably less harmful.
- Amuselearners
- Convey an energetic, lighthearted attitude
- Helplearners realize that mistakes can be instructive Ineffective use of sound effects.
Although there’s something appealing aboutsounds, perhaps just because of their novelty, it’s easy to use sounds in waysthat detract from learning. Designers need to use much care. Don’t:
- Makenoise without much reason
- Confuse learners with inconsistent use of sounds
- Letsounds play too late or out of synchronization
- Irritate learners by
- Playing sounds repeatedly
- Assaulting the ear
- Playing sounds for extended periods
- Embarrassing learners
Music. Because computers arenow fast enough to play music concurrently with interactive events, somedesigners can’t resist doing it. Playing music just because it’s possible is amistake. Learners who favor background music can usually arrange for it ontheir own, often just by using utilities available on their computers.
On theother hand, context-supportive background music should probably be consideredmore often. The groundbreaking computer game Myst demonstratedthe effectiveness of eerie background sounds and music in setting a tone forcontemplation. Although most e-Learning projects lack the resources to gobeyond sound clips heralding entry into a learning module, well-chosen musiccan tap emotions to energize learners and to create important motivating experiences.It might be used, for example, to dramatize testimonials, demonstrations ofgood or poor performance, or the effects of good customer service. It’s apowerful tool too often overlooked.
Video
Videopresentations can be very helpful when the instructional paradigm makes gooduse of them. Video can actually be less expensive to produce than goodnarration. With today’s digital cameras and editing software, it’s possible toproduce some highly acceptable video segments without renting editing studiosor special equipment.
Ifactors are needed, the costs can rise quickly — not just from the cost of hiringprofessional talent, but because a good script and directing will also be essential.Music and sound effects may be needed. As production values rise, lighting,sets, and coordination become essential too. And the problem of later makingchanges becomes a concern.
Thencome the problems of distributing video. CD-ROM and DVD deliver excellentquality video. When distribution of e-Learning via one of these discs is convenient,video distribution can certainly be contemplated. While technologies fordelivering video over the Internet continue to improve, the results are not asfluid or effective as we’re used to seeing on TV. As a result, learners often wrinkletheir noses and think more about the fact that they are viewing somewhat crudevideo than about the content and message.
A last resort. Videois often considered a medium of last resort not only because of costs, editingrequirements, and distribution problems, but because it doesn’t always offersignificant advantages over other media and approaches.
Video pros. Videocan show body language, emotions, and non-verbal aspects of communication. Itcan bring business leaders more “up close and personal,” for example. It canconvey the concerns of customers or the sincerity of the instructor. It caninexpensively show a manufacturing process, pet training, machine operation, avirtuoso performance, a chemical reaction, or a tornado. A wide range ofmovement-based information can be conveyed through video.
Video cons. Inaddition to possible problems of production, editing, and distribution, real-worldviews are often not fully instructive. Videos often include too much detail andtoo many irrelevant features. Learners can be easily distracted by them. We cansee what a tornado looks like, but that doesn’t tell us much about the forcesthat create it. To see the breadth of damage it can cause, we need to see maps,statistics, and a variety of high-quality, wide-area photos. Animated diagramscan facilitate learning more than videos alone.
Ifinstructional video is used, it’s important to give learners control to pause,backup, and replay. Video segments should be short with each segment having awell-defined focus and message. Related interactions should be available toreinforce and clarify segments. When interlaced with video segments, they keeplearners more active and thinking.
As analternative to video, illustrations using translucent layers can allow us to seeinto objects and processes in ways that are uniquely valuable. Sometimes, evensimplified drawings can be better than videos, although they may not be lessexpensive. Video is a wonderful option. Where it’s needed, it can beirreplaceable. Designers should think carefully about what video does anddoesn’t provide before they choose to use it.
Next time
In thenext and final installment, we’ll look at the input gestures that learners canmake and the ones that e-Learning technology recognizes. In many ways, present-daycomputers are quite insensitive to learners, and this severely limits theapplicability of many traditional models of instruction. The gestures computerscan detect must therefore be put to good use. We’ll talk about how to do this.
REFERENCE
Moreno, R. and R.E. Mayer. (2002). Verbal Redundancy in Multimedia Learning:When Reading Helps Listening. Journal of Educational Psychology,94(1), 156-163.
