Principles of Educational Multimedia User Interface Design

Abstract

Although opinions differ (e.g., Clark, 1983;Mayer, 1997), limited evidence suggests that some media are better than others at communicating certain kinds of information (e.g., Najjar, 1996b). For example, when a learner needs to remember a small amount of verbal information for a short period of time, information that is presented via the auditory This paper discusses principles of educational multimedia user interface design. The purpose of these principles is to maximize the learning effectiveness of multimedia applications. The principles are based on the results of studies in psychology, computer science, instructional design, and graphics design. The principles help user interface designers make decisions about the learning materials, learners, tasks that the learners perform, and tests for measuring learning performance.

A Framework for Mapping Multimedia to Educational Concepts

“…[1], [2], [3]). Researchers have also highlighted the effects of different media types on learning ( [12], [23]) and work has been done to produce guidelines for designing multimedia educational materials (e.g.…”

“…It is widely accepted that learning is improved when multimedia is used in education ( [1], [2], [3]). The invention of computers, the internet and multimedia have brought with it the possibility of developing highly effective and easily-accessible learning environments.…”

Dynamic Interactive Learning Systems

“…Using an interactive web-based learning program can increase the learning enjoyment level, which in turn may increase students' understanding and the effectiveness of learning in a longer timeframe in terms of information retention (Street and Goodman, 1998). Some authors have argued that interactivity of Computer Mediated Learning (CML) can boost the speed and level of student learning (Horton, 2000;Najjar, 1998) and helps to improve students' confidence and motivation (Klassen et al, 2001). …”

“…Learning environments generally include four main components, an enabling context, resources, tools, and scaffolds (Hannafin et al, 1999) and more specifically, Personal Learning Environments (PLE) transfer the management of learning from the institution to the learner (BECTA, 2007). On the other hand, multimedia learning technologies can provide different combinations of picture (static and/or dynamic) and word (written or spoken) (Mayer, 2001;Najjar, 1998).…”

Beyond Segmented Instructional Animation and its Role in Enrichment of Education and Technology

“…One reason for this variety of results is that animation is a general term that refers to different forms of representation. While investigating the use of animation, some researchers indicated positive effect on students' learning process (Najjar 1998;Rieber 1990; Williamson and Abraham1995) and thinking skills (Schnotz and Kűrschner 2008). Other researchers claim that animation may carry potential for misconceptions since in most cases they are simplified version of a phenomenon (Schnotz and Rasch 2005).…”