Maria Opfermann

Learner Performance in Multimedia Learning Arrangements: An Analysis Across Instructional Approaches:

In this study, the authors compared four multimedia learning arrangements differing in instructional approach on effectiveness and efficiency for learning: (a) hypermedia learning, (b) observational learning, (c) self-explanation–based learning, and (d) inquiry learning. The approaches all advocate learners’ active attitude toward the learning material but show differences in the specific learning processes they intend to foster. Learning results were measured on different types of knowledge: conceptual, intuitive, procedural, and situational. The outcomes show that the two approaches asking learners to generate (parts of) the subject matter (either by self-explanations or by conducting experiments) led to better performance on all types of knowledge. However, results also show that emphasis on generating subject matter by the learner resulted in less efficient learning.

Multimedia learning and the Internet: ensuring accessibility for people with learning disabilities

Computers and the Internet as sources of information retrieval and entertainment have become increasingly important. Web‐based environments allow for combining different representational codes and addressing different sensory modalities which might be especially beneficial for users with special needs (eg. for blind people or for people with reading and writing disabilities). Our studies investigated which representational formats are beneficial to foster recognition and understanding of users with learning disabilities. As factors, we varied modality (visual, visual + auditory) and codality (text, text + pictures) aspects which led to a 2×2 design, whereas visual information was presented by means of symbols. Dependent variables were ratings of recognition and understanding in the first study and performance on recall in the second study. Participants were students from schools for special educational needs. Our results show that users profit mostly from auditorily presented information accompanied by symbols. This is in line with our expectations because research shows that only a few learners with learning disabilities are able to process written language in a meaningful way. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for ways to make web‐based environments more accessible to disabled users.

Hypermedia and Self-Regulation: An Interplay in Both Directions

Rapid technological developments and growing interest in learning approaches other than traditional ones such as ex cathedra teaching have made hypermedia environments an increasingly popular learning device. Such environments have several advantages, but place demands on learners as well, such as requiring substantially more metacognitive and self-regulatory skills compared to structured and guided learning environments. For instance, learners should be able to check whether they learn with an appropriate combination of representations and whether their pace of information retrieval or navigation speed is appropriate. On the other hand, hypermedia environments can also support metacognitive and self-regulatory abilities and skills precisely because of their demands. When learners are not only passive recipients of information that is presented to them in bite-sized pieces but have to take decisions regarding their own learning process, active and constructive learning can be enhanced.