Have you ever had this feeling, which is when a simple object is explained in a very complex way or with lots of unnecessary information, you will feel confused? This unnecessary cognitive load is described as ‘Extraneous Cognitive load’ ”.
There are few methods can help to reduce the Extraneous Processing. They are Coherence, Signaling, Redundancy, Spatial Contiguity and Temporal Contiguity Principles. Now, I am going to tell you how to use it.
Coherence Principle means that “we need to cut out the extra, only use the information that learner needs. ” For example, “Does the message use simple enough language so the audience will understand” (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 11) ?
Signaling principle means that “humans learn best when [highlighted information] are shown on the screen”(Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 14). Because they can know what they need to pay attention to, like this.
Redundancy Principle means that “if you already have narration and graphics, then the text on top is redundant information. And this can be overwhelming for a learner” (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 16). Therefore, “try to only include graphics or text, but not both together. Or if they are together, make the text minimal (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 17).
Spatial Contiguity Principle means that “humans learn best when relevant text and visuals are physically close together” (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 18). For example,
The Temporal Contiguity Principle means that “the animation should be occurring at the same time as the audio” (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 21)This will be better than “you have audio play first, then watch the visual first” (Andrew DeBell, 2020, How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included], para 21)
Reference:
DeBell, A. (2020, July 24). How to Use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning [Examples Included]. Water Bear Learning. https://waterbearlearning.com/mayers-principles-multimedia-learning/
Hi Andy. Thank you for your post. I think you have summarized these concepts very well, and at the same time you have also applied the knowledge of multimedia learning, and summarized the Signaling principle and Spatial Contiguity Principle very well through pictures.