Worked Example Screencast

Worked Example Screencast

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Coherency Principle Analysis

(Note: references to specific page numbers are not included in this document because they are not available in the e-book format.)

What is the Coherence Principle?

According to Clark and Mayer (2008) the coherence principle means “You should avoid adding any material that does not support the instructional goal.” This includes any extraneous words, sounds, or graphics. Mayer (1999) also explains that “when addition pictures or words are added, learners are less able to make connections between corresponding visual and verbal representations.The extraneous material may overload working memory and may signal readers to focus on inappropriate aspects of the material.”

I find this to be an intriguing concept because it has so many parallels in other fields, particularly in communication. We have all been taught since high school that when writing a coherent or unified paper, we begin with a clear topic and everything that follows supports that topic. Irrelevant or extraneous information needs to be edited to keep the communication clear and concise.

The print industry employs a hierarchy of heads and subheads, weighted and unweighted letters, headers, footers, pagination, and icons that tie everything together and guides the reader to the desired goal. Mayer and Moreno (2000) refer to these as “signals.” The same principle is found in design principles regarding color theory, page balance, and the “golden ratio.”

Our minds seem to enjoy unity, clarity, and balance and becomes frustrated with incoherence and irrelevancy created by extraneous audio, graphics, and words.

Successful and Unsuccessful Examples

Ironically, I see many violations of the coherence principle during professional development presentations at educational conferences and workshops. I attended one workshop where a presenter shared a number of cartoons as part of his presentation. I know he was trying to make a point, and would have if he had limited it to just a few selections, but a number of them were just gratuitous and distracting. Perhaps he was just trying to lighten the mood of the audience, but it was over done and burdensome.

Honestly, some of the best examples of using the coherence principle correctly is found in National Geographic magazines. I truly appreciate the illustrated charts and graphs that clearly demonstrate complex relationships and processes as well as dramatic photos with clear and concise captions. Everything presented contributed to the overall message.

Apple also does a great job of showcasing their new products. They have one, clear message that is beautifully crafted. There is nothing extraneous in their presentations.

Coherence and other Multimedia Learning Principles

The Coherence Principle is closely related to the Redundancy, Contiguity, Modality principles of Multimedia Learning. In each case, one of the learning channels, audio or visual, is overwhelmed with extra information which hampers the learning process.

With the Redundancy Principle, Clark and Mayer (2008) recommend that we “avoid e-learning courses that contain redundant onscreen text presented at the same time as onscreen graphics and narration” which can overtax cognition by processing extraneous information. Also, according to Moreno and Mayer (2000) “Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and text if the visual information is presented simultaneously to the verbal information.”

The Contiguity Principle states that, “The psychological advantage of integrating text and graphics results from a a reduced need to search for which parts of a graphic correspond to which words, which allows the user to devote limited cognitive resources to understanding the materials.”

The Modality Principle states that we should present words as speech, rather than as on-screen text because “learners may experience an overload of their visual/pictorial channel when they must simultaneously process graphics and the printed words that refer to them.” (Clark and Mayer, 2008).

Our minds seem to be able to process a limited amount of information at the same time. It seems that Clark and Mayer (2008) are inviting designers to mimic the rudimentary learning experience of listening to well told stories by story tellers who narrated and used associated pictures or objects. Our very earliest learning experiences began with listening and seeing, long before we ever learned how to read or write. It seems that our learning channels work most efficiently with seeing and hearing, and that the closer we can simulate that experience, the more effective our online teaching and learning will become. Any extraneous information or confusing relationships between what is said and what is shown simply thwarts understanding.

Coherence Principle and Psychology Theories

According to Clark and Mayer (2008), “There is little evidence that emotion-grabbing adjuncts--which have been called seductive details--promote deep learning.’ Instead of adding extraneous words, sounds, or graphics to gain a learners attention, we should help them gain understanding by keeping the message clear so a student can make relevant connections. “Cognitive interest occurs when a learner is able to mentally construct a model that makes sense.” (Clark and Mayer 2008) They also explain that “understanding leads to enjoyment,” which is a great motivator for learning.

Dressing up a multimedia presentation does not necessarily lead to better learning. As Clark and Mayer (2008) explain, “...attempts to force excitement do not guarantee that students will work hard to understand the presentation.” They also state that, “The achievement of cognitive interest depends on active reflection by the learner, rather than to exposure to entertaining but irrelevant sights and sounds.” (Clark and Mayer, 2008).

Likes and Dislikes

It is interesting that the Coherence Principle applies more to novice learners than to more experienced learners. Clark and Mayer (2008) found that “instructional design techniques that are effective for beginners may not be effective for more experience learners.”

Clark and Mayer (2008) hold that our learning channels have limited processing capacity and that, when reached, we have difficulty processing more. I believe that is true, but I also believe we can increase our capacity for quickly sifting through irrelevant material and getting to the “meat” of the matter. Isn’t that part of why we study, to increase our knowledge and understanding of complex matters? I am often amazed at accomplished individuals who seem to process very complex information and ambiguous circumstance quickly and accurately.

I believe that following the principles outlined by Clark and Mayer (2008) are fundamental, but I am concerned that if we always appeal to the novice level of understanding by using proven multimedia learning principles, we might fall prey to mediocrity by catering to the lowest common denominator.

On the other hand, I also believe everyone, no matter how sophisticated they are, enjoys simplicity over complexity. Perhaps our challenge is to understand complex ideas clearly enough so that we can communicate them as simply and concisely as possible so that learners can enjoy the "aha" moments that come when they finally achieve understanding.

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction, 2nd edition. Pfeiffer: San Francisco, CA.

Mayer, R. E. (1999). Multimedia aids to problem-solving transfer. International Journal of Educational 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. Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning, 2(2), 2004-07

Digital Story: "The Most Foolish Thing..."

This is a true story!

Podcast: EZschool.com

Episode 1: Personal Responsibility

We run a charter high school that has both onsite and online programs. We are often baffled by questions we are asked by people interested in our school. I thought it would be fun to share some of these comments in an entertaining and, hopefully, educational way, and voila', the EZschool.com podcast was born!

Enjoy!

Instructions:

1. Click on Full Screen Mode
2. Click on Actions Button and choose "Show speaker notes"
3. Enjoy!

Creating My Learning Log

Creating a quickie website using Blogger is a different experience for me. I cut my teeth on web design using Dreamweaver and CSS.

Using blogger is a convenient, quick, and inexpensive (free) way for students to create their own websites without the fuss of getting a domain name, finding a hosting service, and creating HTML pages from scratch. However, I must confess that I had to do a little digging to learn how to create Pages in Blogger!

This assignment fulfills AECT standard 2.3 Computer-Based Technology by using the HTML editor to insert text, images, and video that can be viewed online.