The Multimedia Principle implies that we "use words and graphics rather than words alone" (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 67). According to Richard Mayer, an astonishing 90% of what we learn comes from what we see, leaving only 10% of our learning that happens with our other senses. When so much learning takes place visually, we must make sure that we are adhering to good visual literacy principles. We must also ensure that we are teaching with the Multimedia Principle in mind, meaning that we teach using graphics and text together. Graphics should be more than just decorative; they should represent, show topical relationships, organize, show transformation, or animate for interpretation (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 72).
Multimedia Principle
The example at the right is a screenshot of a graphing game I like to use with my students when demonstrating how to count, make tally marks, and turn those marks into a graph. The screenshot does demonstrate the Multimedia Principle. Text is clear and concise. It is used to show at the top of the image what the presentation is about. One clear sentence is given at the bottom, stating the objective of the graphic(s). The graphics here are Organizational, as defined by Clark & Mayer, since they "depict the relations among elements" (2011, p. 72). We know from text we are learning about tally charts. The Gestalt theory component of similarity shows us that "like goes with like," meaning that matching animal clipart from the counts chart on the left and the tally chart on the right demonstrate the relationship between the numeral and the tally marks.
|
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2013). White space is not your enemy: A beginner's guide to communicating visually through graphic, web & multimedia design. New York: Focal Press.