From Diversifying Economic Quality: A Wiki for Instructors and Departments
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− | {{hidden|1. Present diagrams with narration rather than with text.|Students show better comprehension of concepts presented as diagrams/animations | + | {{hidden|1. Present diagrams with narration rather than with text.|Students show better comprehension of concepts presented as diagrams/animations paired with spoken explanation. Presenting both a graph and written text overloads the visual learning system while failing to employ the auditory one. A graph presented with a verbal explanations employs both the visual and auditory systems, resulting in more effective transmission of information.}} |
− | {{hidden|2. Present multimedia explanations in paced segments.|Students show better comprehension of multimedia explanations when | + | {{hidden|2. Present multimedia explanations in paced segments.|Students show better comprehension of multimedia explanations when they are presented in paced, student-controlled segments rather than as continuous presentations. The pause allows students to solidify understanding of one concept before being presented with another. Ask students if they are ready to continue lecture once a unit is complete, or offer a 'question session' after each main concept is presented in lecture.}} |
{{hidden|3. Provide students with background information before class.|By pre-training students, they waste less time attempting to understand logistical aspects of lecture and rather focus on the abstract concepts and ideas. Providing all students with a vocabulary sheet via email the night before lecture would be a great example of incorporating this. This way students enter lecture and are not distracted by attempts to understand economic jargon.}} | {{hidden|3. Provide students with background information before class.|By pre-training students, they waste less time attempting to understand logistical aspects of lecture and rather focus on the abstract concepts and ideas. Providing all students with a vocabulary sheet via email the night before lecture would be a great example of incorporating this. This way students enter lecture and are not distracted by attempts to understand economic jargon.}} | ||
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{{hidden|7. Present multimedia and narration simultaneously.|When presented with mixtures of narration and multimedia (i.e. a verbal explanation and an animation) students show better understanding if both forms are presented simultaneously rather than successively. For example, instead of lecturing on the income effect and ''then'' showing an animation that also explains it, the explanation and the animation should be presented in a sequential, simultaneous manner. It is believed that by harnessing both the auditory and visual systems and providing complementary information through each system, the student will not suffer from cognitive overload and will therefore better comprehend the concept being taught.}} | {{hidden|7. Present multimedia and narration simultaneously.|When presented with mixtures of narration and multimedia (i.e. a verbal explanation and an animation) students show better understanding if both forms are presented simultaneously rather than successively. For example, instead of lecturing on the income effect and ''then'' showing an animation that also explains it, the explanation and the animation should be presented in a sequential, simultaneous manner. It is believed that by harnessing both the auditory and visual systems and providing complementary information through each system, the student will not suffer from cognitive overload and will therefore better comprehend the concept being taught.}} | ||
− | {{hidden|8. Avoid on-screen text that duplicates your lecture.|PowerPoint presentations should be relevant to lecture but not be a word-by-word repetition. For example, do not provide a slide with written text that | + | {{hidden|8. Avoid on-screen text that duplicates your lecture.|PowerPoint presentations should be relevant to lecture but not be a word-by-word repetition. For example, do not provide a slide with written text that duplicates your spoken explanation of diminishing marginal utility. Presenting the exact same information via the auditory and visual systems may result in cognitive overload.}} |
Learn more by reading Mayer and Moreno's paper. | Learn more by reading Mayer and Moreno's paper. |
Latest revision as of 08:37, 3 November 2011
1. Present diagrams with narration rather than with text.
|
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Students show better comprehension of concepts presented as diagrams/animations paired with spoken explanation. Presenting both a graph and written text overloads the visual learning system while failing to employ the auditory one. A graph presented with a verbal explanations employs both the visual and auditory systems, resulting in more effective transmission of information. |
2. Present multimedia explanations in paced segments.
|
---|
Students show better comprehension of multimedia explanations when they are presented in paced, student-controlled segments rather than as continuous presentations. The pause allows students to solidify understanding of one concept before being presented with another. Ask students if they are ready to continue lecture once a unit is complete, or offer a 'question session' after each main concept is presented in lecture. |
3. Provide students with background information before class.
|
---|
By pre-training students, they waste less time attempting to understand logistical aspects of lecture and rather focus on the abstract concepts and ideas. Providing all students with a vocabulary sheet via email the night before lecture would be a great example of incorporating this. This way students enter lecture and are not distracted by attempts to understand economic jargon. |
4. Eliminate extraneous information, sounds, and images.
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It is believed that unnecessary factors 'take up' cognitive processing away from necessary ones. The idea here is that students will be confused by the abundance of information and the need to sift through it to understand which concepts are relevant. Incorporating this idea in the economics classroom means prudence when creating PowerPoint slides. One must must be careful to only include relevant information and not be swayed by the novelty of including elaborate explanations or unnecessary tangents. |
5. Highlight key information.
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For presentations that must include detailed information, students show better understanding when educators signal which information is important. An easy way to incorporate this concept would be providing students with a small outline listing the main objectives of lecture. The use of bolding, underlining, and colors to indicate importance is another possible technique. |
6. Place image-relevant text near the corresponding image.
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The assumption here is that students spend less time attempting to attach the image and the text and therefore have more cognitive capacity left over to understand more abstract concepts. |
7. Present multimedia and narration simultaneously.
|
---|
When presented with mixtures of narration and multimedia (i.e. a verbal explanation and an animation) students show better understanding if both forms are presented simultaneously rather than successively. For example, instead of lecturing on the income effect and then showing an animation that also explains it, the explanation and the animation should be presented in a sequential, simultaneous manner. It is believed that by harnessing both the auditory and visual systems and providing complementary information through each system, the student will not suffer from cognitive overload and will therefore better comprehend the concept being taught. |
8. Avoid on-screen text that duplicates your lecture.
|
---|
PowerPoint presentations should be relevant to lecture but not be a word-by-word repetition. For example, do not provide a slide with written text that duplicates your spoken explanation of diminishing marginal utility. Presenting the exact same information via the auditory and visual systems may result in cognitive overload. |
Learn more by reading Mayer and Moreno's paper.
Richard E. Mayer and Roxana Moreno, "Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning," EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 38(1), 43–52 Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.