The Impact of Instructional Design on College Students’ Cognitive Load and Learning Outcomes in a Large Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

Abstract

Abstract:The effective design of course materials is critical for student learning, especially for large lecture introductory courses. This quantitative study was designed to explore the effect multimedia and content difficulty has on students' cognitive load and learning outcomes. College students (n = 268) were randomized into 1 of 3 multimedia groups: text + graphics (Group 1-TG); audio + text + graphics (Group 2-ATG); or video + audio + text + graphics (Group 3-VATG). Participants answered a demographic survey and pretests before viewing 2 food science supplemental lecture materials (i.e., water mobility and amino acid structures) and completing the cognitive load instrument and post-tests within a noncontrolled setting. Cognitive load scores were tabulated and compared using a 3 × 3 ANOVA and Tukey post hoc analysis across multimedia groups and food science supplemental lecture materials. Based on the post hoc, students in Group 1-TG had higher intrinsic cognitive load scores than Group 2-ATG (ANOVA, P < 0.05). Cognitive load and post-test scores were tabulated and compared using a spearman correlation across groups. In Group 1-TG, students that reported less intrinsic cognitive load had higher post-test scores. Also, students that reported more germane cognitive load had higher post-test scores. In Groups 2-ATG and 3-VATG, students that reported less extraneous cognitive load had higher post-test scores (ANOVA, P < 0.05).

Expository multimedia comprehension in E‐learning: Presentation format, verbal ability and working memory capacity

“…However, it is in line with several studies suggesting that for low prior knowledge students, or with longer and more complex texts, and when students control the learning pace, auditory presentations might not be better than text‐only ones (Leahy & Sweller, 2011, 2016; Oberfoell & Correia, 2016; Tabbers et al, 2004; Wong et al, 2012). In particular, in an E‐learning setting, Andrade et al (2015) employing similar conditions such as in this study, found a similar lack of differences between presentation formats. Previous studies have explained this result because written material can be re‐read and remembered, compared to transient spoken material (Wong et al, 2012).…”

“…An estimation of the sample size required to detect effect sizes of medium size (e.g., around d = 0.5) with power at 80%, in a within‐subjects design such as the one carried out here suggests that our sample sizes were adequate. Similar studies (Andrade et al, 2015) are hard to find in the literature, and they tend to also report small and/or non‐significant results. Replication studies with pre‐registration, or studies with bigger samples to accurately establish the effect size, would be required to further investigate this issue.…”

“…Previous studies carried out in E‐learning contexts found that self‐reported measures of cognitive load were not associated with learning performance (Andrade et al, 2015), and that participants judged that including images and other decorative elements led to better understanding (Costley & Lange, 2017). In contrast, the present study systematically manipulated load in materials, and assessed working memory capacity and comprehension through performance measures, and found that individual differences in working memory capacity mediated comprehension in a particularly loaded condition (audio + keywords + decorative, dynamic images).…”

“…Similar results of superiority of written text over audio were found by Leahy and Sweller (2011, 2016) and Wong et al (2012), with complex, lengthy instructional material, and with self‐paced learning (Tabbers et al, 2004). In a more naturalistic setting, Andrade et al (2015) tested the modality principle and cognitive load effects in E‐learning, comparing three conditions of supplemental materials for an introductory blended learning course, where students viewed the materials at home, after face to face lessons: Text + Graphics; Audio + Keywords + Graphics; and Video + Audio + Keywords + Graphics. There were no significant differences among the three mean post‐tests among the modality groups, although in self‐report measures the presentations including audio, but not the video plus audio, were perceived to be less difficult and more clearly presented than text and graphs only.…”

Perceptual Map Teaching Strategy

“…A recurring issue in teaching any subject is the quality of the course material, and no matter how much experience a teacher has had in business, contents must be added to the course material, so as to keep it structurally sound and updated, in order to satisfy evolving needs of students and related stakeholders (Andrade, Huang & Bohn, 2015). To improve the depth and quality of one key topic in branding courses-commonly taught only with a description of features, purposes and examplesthis article develops a teaching strategy and a class transcript that includes the theory behind a perceptual map and the procedures to build it.…”