Clark & Mayer refer to the segmenting of instruction as "breaking a lesson into manageable segments" (2011, p. 205). Sometimes, complex topics, procedures, or sequences contain large amounts of content that is new to the learner. While trying to process and internalize this information, poorly designed lessons progress through the lesson without considering whether or not a learner understands what has already been presented. Pretraining "ensure(s) that learners know
the names and characteristics of key concepts" and also helps learners to understand unfamiliar terms or interfaces involved with large lessons full of new content (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 212). Below, I show an example of when the Segmenting Principle and the Pretraining Principle enhance instruction.
the names and characteristics of key concepts" and also helps learners to understand unfamiliar terms or interfaces involved with large lessons full of new content (Clark & Mayer, 2011, p. 212). Below, I show an example of when the Segmenting Principle and the Pretraining Principle enhance instruction.
Segmenting & Pretraining Principles
In a former course for the M.Ed. Media - Instructional Technology program, we were assigned a multimedia design principle on which to create a presentation for our peers. Mine was on the Segmenting & Pretraining Principles. One of the examples I cited on these principles in practice is the presentation on the life cycle of a frog to which I have hyperlinked at the right. Students can progress sequentially through each step of a frog's life cycle, and they can go back and repeat a particular stage until they feel comfortable with proceeding. The Segmenting Principle is important here, as this particular concept is generally taught to K-2 students. Their attention spans often do not allow for them to completely grasp such complexity without a good deal of repetition. The pretraining involved in the introduction lets the learner know that each division they will be exploring is called a "stage" of the life cycle.
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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.