Notes from Mayer & Moreno Reading

Mayer, Richard E. & Moreno, Roxana 2003, Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning in Educational Psychologist, 38 (1), pp43-52.

Notes from Mayer and Moreno reading

• Multimedia Learning – learning from words and pictures (p.43)
• Multimedia Instruction – presenting words and pictures that are intended to foster learning. The words can be printed (e.g., on-screen text)or spoken (e.g., narration). The pictures can be static (e.g., illustrations, graphs, charts, photos or maps) or dynamic (e.g., animation, video, or interactive illustrations) (p.43).
• Meaningful Learning – deep understanding of the material, which includes attending to important aspects of the presented material, mentally organizing it into a coherent cognitive structure, and integrating it with relevant existing knowledge. Meaningful learning is reflected in the ability to apply what was taught to new situations, so we measure learning outcomes by using problem-solving transfer tests (Mayer & Wittrock, 1996) (p.43).
• Meaningful learning requires that the learner engage in substantial cognitive processing during learning, but the learner’s capacity for cognitive processing during learning, but the learner’s capacity for cognitive processing is severely limited. Instructional designers have come to recognise the need for multimedia instruction that is sensitive to cognitive load (Clark, 1999; Sweller, 1999; van Merrienboer, 1997) (p.43).
• Cognitive overload – the learner’s intended cognitive processing exceeds the learner’s available cognitive capacity (p.43).
• Three assumptions about how the mind works in multimedia learning:
  1) dual channel – humans possess separate information processing channels for verbal and visual material
  2) limited capacity – there is only a limited amount of processing capacity available in the verbal and visual channels
  3) active processing – learning requires substantial cognitive processing in the verbal and visual channels (p.44)
• Meaningful learning often requires substantial cognitive processing using a cognitive system that has severe limits on cognitive processing (p.45).
• Three kinds of demands for cognitive processing in multimedia learning:
  1) essential processing – aimed at making sense of the presented material including selecting, organizing, and integrating words and selecting, organizing, and integrating images
  2) incidental processing – aimed at nonessential aspects of the presented material
  3) representational holding – aimed at holding verbal or visual representations in working memory (p.45)
• The total processing intended for learning consists of essential processing plus incidental processing plus representational holding. Cognitive overload occurs when the total intended processing exceeds the learner’s cognitive capacity. Reducing cognitive load can involve redistributing essential processing, reducing incidental processing, or reducing representational holding (p.45).

• Multimedia instruction should be designed in ways that minimize any unnecessary cognitive load (p.50).