When humans form media and media form humans: An experimental study examining the effects different digital media have on the learning outcomes of students who have different learning styles

Abstract

A set of computer-based experiments are reported that investigate the understanding achieved by learners when studying a complex domain (statistics) in a real e-learning environment using three different media combinations-Text only, Text and Diagrams and Spoken Text and Diagrams, and the results agree with earlier work carried out on more limited domains. The work is then extended to examine how student interaction and student learning styles affect the learning outcomes. Different responses to the media combinations are observed and significant differences occur between learners classified as Sensing and Reflective learners. The experiment also identified some important differences in performance with the different media combinations by students registered as Dyslexic. The experiment was therefore repeated with a much larger sample of Dyslexic learners and the earlier effects were found to be significant. The results were surprising and may provide useful guidance for the design of material for Dyslexic students.

The modality and redundancy effects in multimedia learning in children with dyslexia

“…Students with dyslexia performed better in a text-only condition, compared with text and diagrams and with audio and diagrams, whereas typically developing students scored higher in the sound-and-diagram condition. This is in contrast to the expectation that text only would hinder the students with dyslexia, and Alty et al (2006) suggested that this has to do with compensating strategies in the students with dyslexia. It could also be explained by the finding of Harrar et al (2014) that people with dyslexia have a larger cost when switching their attention from visual information to audio-presented information, leading to more or faster cognitive (over)load.…”

“…An eye-tracking study would be necessary to confirm this. Considering the fact that study time is relevant, it is important to note that in system-paced learning environments, study time is a stable factor because it is determined by the system and not the learner and that in research with user-paced learning environments, study time has often not been taken into account (e.g., Alty et al, 2006;Jamet & Le Bohec, 2007;Scheiter et al, 2014). In the meta-analyses of Ginns (2005), the only time condition that is indicated is the time spent on the transfer test, not study time itself.…”

Assessing the accessibility of online learning

“…A study by Alty et al (2006) found that while nondyslexic students' learning outcomes improved most when presented with sound and diagrams rather than text alone, the opposite was true of a group of dyslexic students undergoing the same tests . This was a surprising finding given that dyslexic students are thought to have the most problems with text alone; Beacham and Alty suggest that this could be due to being forced to develop considerable compensation skills for text over other media.…”

Processing and learning from multiple sources: A comparative case study of students with dyslexia working in a multiple source multimedia context

“…In two studies, Alty and colleagues (Alty, Al-Sharrah, & Beacham, 2006; examined the effects that different combinations of representations, such as textual and visual materials (e.g., diagrams) as well as audio files (voice over), had on the learning of statistics among students with dyslexia. In the first study, Alty et al (2006) compared students with and without dyslexia across three conditions: one group received the learning materials as text only, one group received the materials as diagrams + voice over, and one group received the materials as text + diagrams.…”