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Many schools encourage the use of technology in the classroom in an attempt to keep it from becoming outdated and boring.  More importantly, as the technology at the hands of learners changes, so must the way they learn.  A great example of this is the use of multimedia, more specifically presentations tools like powerpoint, in conjunction with lecture.  That being said, much research has looked at how to properly employ the use of powerpoint.  Here is a list of what the latest research tells us:
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Many instructors use multimedia, including presentation tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint, in the classroom to hold students' attention and to streamline class preparation.  Here is what the latest research tells us about the effective use of multimedia presentations:
 
[[File:projector.JPG|right|275px|alt=alt text|source:  http://www.yorkhighschool.co.uk/_files/images/classroom.JPG]]
 
[[File:projector.JPG|right|275px|alt=alt text|source:  http://www.yorkhighschool.co.uk/_files/images/classroom.JPG]]
-'''Be wary of redundancy.'''  Research by Jamet and Le Bohec in 2006 showed a negative effect on several forms of information recall for students presented with powerpoint presentations that directly mirrored the instructor's lecture.
 
  
-'''Concise is better.'''  Research in 2003 by Bartsch and Cohern showed that elaborate powerpoint features such as unrelated images, sounds and extraneous information impaired student learning.
 
  
-'''Draw your own graphs.''' Research in 2003 by Stern, Aprea and Ebner showed that groups presented with a graph that was ‘actively illustrated’ performed better in recall tasks than groups passively presented with the same graph.
 
  
Click [http://serc.carleton.edu/econ/media/index.html here] to access ''Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics'', a website with additional information on effectively employing multimedia learning in the economics classroom.  
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*'''Avoid duplication.''' Research by Jamet and Le Bohec in 2006 showed that presenting students with a Powerpoint presentation that directly mirrored the instructor's lecture resulted in lower information recall on multiple types of tests.  
  
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*'''Concise is better.'''  Research in 2003 by Bartsch and Cohern showed that elaborate PowerPoint features such as unrelated images, sounds, and extraneous information impaired student learning.
  
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*'''Draw graphs in class.''' Research in 2003 by Stern, Aprea and Ebner showed that groups presented with a graph that was ‘actively illustrated’ performed better in recall tasks than groups passively presented with the same graph. 'Actively illustration' is when students are asked to develop a graph themselves rather than merely having a graph shown to them.
  
== "9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning" (Mayer & Moreno, 2003) ==
 
  
This paper by Mayer and Moreno addresses the problems inherent of using multimedia when teaching. The author propose a theory of multimedia learning based on 3 assumptions:  the dual-channel assumption, the limited-capacity assumption, and the active-processing assumption. The '''dual-channel assumption''' asserts that humans process verbal and visual in separate systems. The '''limited-capacity assumption''' asserts that a limit exists as to the amount of information each system can process at any given time. The '''active-processing assumption''' asserts that meaningful learning represents necessitates higher cognitive processes such as building connections between verbal and visual representations of information.  Based on these assumptions, the authors put forth the idea of '''Cognitive Overload''' which occurs when a learner's cognitive capacity is exceeded by the amount of cognitive processing desired by the learner.  Having identified the problem of '''Cognitive Overload''' and the assumptions made, the authors proceed to propose several ways of alleviating it. These ideas/theories are as follows:
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[http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/ten-secrets-for-using-powerpoint-effectively/ Ten Secrets For Using PowerPoint Effectively] offers some basic advice.
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The website [http://serc.carleton.edu/econ/media/index.html ''Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics''], which was created by KimMarie McGoldrick (University of Richmond), Scott Simkins (North Carolina A&T University), Mark Maier (Glendale Community College), and Cathy Manduca (Carleton College), contains more information concerning technology in the economics classroom.  
  
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== "9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning" (Mayer & Moreno, 2003) ==
  
'''Main Tips/Methods to Incorporate in the Economics Classroom:'''
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Mayer and Moreno propose a theory of multimedia learning and cognitive overload based on 3 assumptions. Cognitive overload is a term used in cognitive psychology to describe the overwhelming effects of a large amount of information on a person's working memory. Mayer and Moreno's theory involves three assumptions about cognitive overload. The first is called the dual-channel assumption and says that humans process verbal and visual in separate systems. The second, the limited-capacity assumption, argues that a limit exists as to the amount of information each system can process at any given time. Lastly, the active-processing assumption says that meaningful learning represents necessitates higher cognitive processes such as building connections between verbal and visual representations of information. Oftentimes, multimedia presentations bombard students with text, pictures, and audio all at the same time. If the assumptions in Mayer and Moreno's theory hold, multimedia learning may present a challenge to student's mental capacity, particularly for students who are not strong visual and/or verbal learners. The authors propose several ways of alleviating Cognitive Overload here: [["9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning" (Mayer & Moreno, 2003)]].
  
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== Evidence ==
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{{hidden|'''Effective Use of Visuals- Bartsch & Cobern, 2003.'''|While PowerPoints can be an effective teaching tool, it is important that teachers use visuals and effects judiciously. Bartsch and Cohen (2003) discussed two separate studies which examined the the effectiveness of and reaction to the use of PowerPoint presentations in college lecture classes.
  
{{hidden|1. Students show better comprehension of concepts presented as diagrams when they are presented with narration rather than text|
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The first study compared and contrasted PowerPoint presentations with transparencies as a tool to improve student performance and satisfaction in a course. Lecturers presented students with three types of multimedia: transparencies, basic PowerPoint (text only), and expanded PowerPoint (animated text, pictures, and sound). While researchers found no difference in students' liking of the three formats, the students felt that they learned more from PowerPoint presentations. However, students performed approximately 10% worse when presented with material in the expanded PowerPoint treatment than in the basic PowerPoint or the transparency treatment. This suggests that excessive use of visual effects may be harmful to the learning process.In light of this finding, Bartsch and Cohen next looked at whether the relevancy of graphics affected the impact of a presentation on performance. Students watched three types of PowerPoints: text-only, text and relevant visuals, and text and irrelevant visuals. They then were tested on their memory of facts from the PowerPoint Results showed that relevant visuals did not cause students to perform better or worse than a text-only PowerPoint, but that irrelevant visuals caused students to perform worse than in the other two conditions. Bartsch and Cohen conclude that while PowerPoints can be beneficial, "material that is not pertinent to the presentation can be harmful to students' learning.
Students show better comprehension of concepts presented as diagrams/animations when they are presented with narration rather than text. This means when presenting graphs, like a demand curve, it is more effective to present the graph and give an explanation of it rather than present the graph with a written 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. Students show better comprehension of multimedia explanations when it is presented in paced segments|Students show better comprehension of multimedia explanations when it is presented in paced, student-controlled segments rather than a continuous presentation. This way, the student can make sure they understand one concept before being presented with another, presumably more complex one. Since the comprehension of abstract concepts builds on basic ones, students must have a strong base in order to properly comprehend higher ones.  Asking students if they are ready to continue lecture once a unit is complete would be an example of this. Another example would be having a 'question session' after each main concept presented in lecture--this would provide student feedback and clarify any doubts they have.}}
 
 
 
 
 
{{hidden|3. Students show better understanding of a multimedia explanation when they are given background information prior to the lesson|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|4. Students show better understanding of multimedia explanations when they lack extraneous information, sounds, and images.|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.}} 
 
 
 
 
 
{{hidden|5. In multimedia presentations students show better understanding when pertinent information is bolded on underlined|For presentations that one cannot exclude extraneous information from, students show better understanding when educators signal which information is important (i.e. bolding important terms or underlining them).  An easy way to incorporate this concept would be providing students with a small outline which listed the main objectives of lecture. The use of bolding, underlining and the use of colors to indicate importance is another possible technique.}}
 
 
 
 
 
{{hidden|6. Whenever image-relevant text is used, student understanding is better when it is placed near the image it corresponds to|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.}}
 
 
 
 
 
{{hidden|7. Comprehension is negatively affected when on-screen text mirrors lecture|For example, an explanation of diminishing marginal utility is given by a professor, but also concurrently presented in text on a powerpoint slide. It is believed that presenting the exact same information via the auditory and visual system results in cognitive overload.  In order to avoid this, powerpoint presentations should be relevant to lecture but not be a word-by-word repetition.}} 
 
 
 
  
{{hidden|8. Students show better understanding if both multimedia and narration are presented 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.}}
 
  
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Click [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131503000277  here] to read the full study.}}
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{{hidden|'''Effective Use of Text- Jamet & Le Bohec, 2006.'''|When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, it is important that what the presenter is saying is not directly replicated in the text on the screen. Eric Jamet and Olivier Le Bohec, of the Université Rennes, examined the effects of redundant text on performance when using multimedia as a teaching technique. They showed three groups of students three different types of multimedia. The first group saw no written text. The second group viewed written text and then heard the same information spoken. The third group saw and heard the information at the same time. Results showed that duplication of the text, regardless of whether it was sequential or static, resulted in lower retention of material in subsequent memory tests. These findings suggest that overloading a student with both visual and auditory signals may actually be detrimental to their academic performance.
  
{{hidden|9. The Spatial Ability Effect|The Spatial Ability Effect has to do with personalizing multimedia presentations for each student.  It holds that students with high spatial ability benefit more from simultaneous presentation of narration, sound and images because they have a higher threshold for undergoing cognitive overload.  Therefore they should be presented with more elaborate multimedia presentations.}}
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Click [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X06000294/ here] to see the study.}}
  
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{{hidden|'''Effective Use of Graphs- Stern, Aprea and Ebner, 2006.'''|Graphs are an integral part of teaching economic concepts, but can be ineffective if not used properly. Stern, Aprea and Ebner looked at how people can use graphs to transfer knowledge from one topic in economics to another. In their studies, participants first learned about stockkeeping in one of three ways. The first group was shown text and a graph about the topic, but did not have to engage with the graph. The second group were shown text and learned how to construct a linear graph about this topic through a set of instructions. A control group merely received text about the topic. Then, all the participants had to process a text and answer questions regarding a different economics topic, revenue functions and break-even points of companies. The questions could easily be answered through the construction of a linear graph similar to the one shown to the first two groups. The study found that groups who actively engaged in drawing graphs about stockkeeping  performed better on later questions, particularly if they drew a graph to answer the questions about revenue functions. This study presents strong support for the practice of requiring students to draw graphs to illustrate theories rather than merely asking them to describe the theories in words.
  
 
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Click [http://www.ifvll.ethz.ch/research/history/stern_aprea_ebner_2003.pdf/ here] to see the study.}}
For the original article, click [http://www.elizabethoc.com/9ways/article.pdf here].
 
 
 
== Evidence ==
 
 
 
{{hidden|'''Bartsch & Cobern, 2003.'''| "We investigated whether students liked and learned more from PowerPoint presentations than from overhead transparencies. Students were exposed to lectures supported by transparencies and two different types of PowerPoint presentations. At the end of the semester, students preferred PowerPoint presentations but this preference was not found on ratings taken immediately after the lectures. Students performed worse on quizzes when PowerPoint presentations included non-text items such as pictures and sound effects. A second study further examined these findings. In this study participants were shown PowerPoint slides that contained only text, contained text and a relevant picture, and contained text with a picture that was not relevant. Students performed worse on recall and recognition tasks and had greater dislike for slides with pictures that were not relevant. We conclude that PowerPoint can be beneficial, but material that is not pertinent to the presentation can be harmful to students' learning." Click [http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ778703&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ778703/ here] to see the study.}}
 
 
 
 
 
{{hidden|'''Jamet & Le Bohec, 2006.'''|"The purpose of this study was to examine the redundancy effects obtained when spoken information was duplicated in writing during the learning of a multimedia document. Documents consisting of diagrams and spoken information on the development of memory models were presented to three groups of students. In the first group, no written text was presented. In the second, written sentences redundant with the spoken information were progressively presented on the screen while in the third group, these written sentences were presented together. The results show that whatever the type of text presentation (sequential or static), the duplication of information in the written mode led to a substantial impairment in subsequent retention and transfer tests as well as in a task in which the memorization of diagrams was evaluated. This last result supports the hypothesis that the visual channel is overloaded as the cognitive theory of multimedia learning suggests."  Click [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X06000294/ here] to see the study.}}
 
  
 
== Conclusion ==
 
== Conclusion ==
  
Multimedia should serve as a guide to lecture, not compete with the teacher.  This means teachers have to be careful to not only keep student attention, but also make smart multimedia decisions to ensure every minute of lecture is transmitting information to the student in an efficient, engaging way.  
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Multimedia should serve as a guide to lecture, not compete with the teacher.  This means that teachers have to be careful to not only keep student attention, but also make smart multimedia decisions to ensure every minute of lecture is transmitting information to the student in an efficient, engaging way.  
  
  
{{hidden|Sources|Bartsch, R. "Effectiveness of PowerPoint Presentations in Lectures." Computers & Education 41.1 (2003): 77-86. Print.
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{{hidden|Sources|Bartsch, R. and K. Cobern. "Effectiveness of PowerPoint Presentations in Lectures." Computers & Education 41.1 (2003): 77-86. Print.
  
 
Jamet, E., and O. Lebohec. "The Effect of Redundant Text in Multimedia Instruction." Contemporary Educational Psychology 32.4 (2007): 588-98. Print.  
 
Jamet, E., and O. Lebohec. "The Effect of Redundant Text in Multimedia Instruction." Contemporary Educational Psychology 32.4 (2007): 588-98. Print.  
  
Mayer, Richard, and Roxana Moreno. "Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning." Educational Psychologist 38.1 (2003): 43-52. Print.
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Mayer, R., and R. Moreno. "Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning." Educational Psychologist 38.1 (2003): 43-52. Print.
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Stern, E., C. Aprea, and  H. Ebner. "Improving Cross-content Transfer in Text Processing by Means of Active Graphical Representation." Learning and Instruction 13.2 (2003): 191-203. Print.}}
  
Stern, E. "Improving Cross-content Transfer in Text Processing by Means of Active Graphical Representation." Learning and Instruction 13.2 (2003): 191-203. Print.}}
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__NOTOC__

Latest revision as of 21:12, 20 October 2013

Many instructors use multimedia, including presentation tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint, in the classroom to hold students' attention and to streamline class preparation. Here is what the latest research tells us about the effective use of multimedia presentations:

alt text


  • Avoid duplication. Research by Jamet and Le Bohec in 2006 showed that presenting students with a Powerpoint presentation that directly mirrored the instructor's lecture resulted in lower information recall on multiple types of tests.
  • Concise is better. Research in 2003 by Bartsch and Cohern showed that elaborate PowerPoint features such as unrelated images, sounds, and extraneous information impaired student learning.
  • Draw graphs in class. Research in 2003 by Stern, Aprea and Ebner showed that groups presented with a graph that was ‘actively illustrated’ performed better in recall tasks than groups passively presented with the same graph. 'Actively illustration' is when students are asked to develop a graph themselves rather than merely having a graph shown to them.


Ten Secrets For Using PowerPoint Effectively offers some basic advice. The website Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics, which was created by KimMarie McGoldrick (University of Richmond), Scott Simkins (North Carolina A&T University), Mark Maier (Glendale Community College), and Cathy Manduca (Carleton College), contains more information concerning technology in the economics classroom.

"9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning" (Mayer & Moreno, 2003)

Mayer and Moreno propose a theory of multimedia learning and cognitive overload based on 3 assumptions. Cognitive overload is a term used in cognitive psychology to describe the overwhelming effects of a large amount of information on a person's working memory. Mayer and Moreno's theory involves three assumptions about cognitive overload. The first is called the dual-channel assumption and says that humans process verbal and visual in separate systems. The second, the limited-capacity assumption, argues that a limit exists as to the amount of information each system can process at any given time. Lastly, the active-processing assumption says that meaningful learning represents necessitates higher cognitive processes such as building connections between verbal and visual representations of information. Oftentimes, multimedia presentations bombard students with text, pictures, and audio all at the same time. If the assumptions in Mayer and Moreno's theory hold, multimedia learning may present a challenge to student's mental capacity, particularly for students who are not strong visual and/or verbal learners. The authors propose several ways of alleviating Cognitive Overload here: "9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning" (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).

Evidence

Conclusion

Multimedia should serve as a guide to lecture, not compete with the teacher. This means that teachers have to be careful to not only keep student attention, but also make smart multimedia decisions to ensure every minute of lecture is transmitting information to the student in an efficient, engaging way.