Benefits and Pitfalls of Multimedia and Interactive Features in Technology-Enhanced Storybooks

Abstract

A meta-analysis was conducted on the effects of technology-enhanced stories for young children’s literacy development when compared to listening to stories in more traditional settings like storybook reading. A small but significant additional benefit of technology was found for story comprehension (g+ = 0.17) and expressive vocabulary (g+ = 0.20), based on data from 2,147 children in 43 studies. When investigating the different characteristics of technology-enhanced stories, multimedia features like animated pictures, music, and sound effects were found beneficial. In contrast, interactive elements like hotspots, games, and dictionaries were found to be distracting. Especially for children disadvantaged because of less stimulating family environments, multimedia features were helpful and interactive features were detrimental. Findings are discussed from the perspective of cognitive processing theories.

The Effectiveness of Applying Multimedia Web-Based Technologies in Culinary Skills Training

“…However, Mayer (2010) and Surjono (2015) advise that excessive use of multimedia may or may not lead to effective learning, and Takacs, Swart, and Bus (2015) postulated that visual information would distract learners' ISSN 2327-5499 2015 attention. The experimental study of Rummer, Schweppe, Fürstenberg, Scheiter, and Zindler (2011) further specified that complexity of multimedia information would increase mental effort and thus hinder the learning outcomes, but this finding was not in line with the present study's results.…”

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Disembodied Voice and Embodied Affect: e-Reading in Early Childhood Education

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