Research-Based Principles for the Design of Multimedia Learning Environments

Rich Mayer

Professor of Psychology

University of California, Santa Barbara

Date: Friday, April 11, 2008
Place: Harold Frank Hall, Room 4164
Time: 2:00 pm — 3:00 pm


Abstract:

Multimedia learning occurs when material is presented using both words and pictures. For example, a multimedia message may consist of text and illustrations, narration and animation, or in an instructional simulation or game. During the past 20 years my colleagues and I at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have conducted dozens of studies on multimedia learning in which students learn about scientific topics such as how lightning storms develop, how a bicycle tire pump works, or how the human respiratory system works. Based on this research, I offer a cognitive theory of multimedia learning and ten principles for how to design multimedia learning environments. Overall, our research shows the conditions under which students learn more deeply when material is presented as words and pictures rather than as words alone.

RICHARD E. MAYER is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he has served since 1975. He is Vice President for Division C (Learning and Instruction) of the American Educational Research Association, past-President of the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and recipient of the E. L. Thorndike Award for career achievement in educational psychology. In 2008 he received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training Award, and in 2004 he was ranked # 1 as the most productive educational psychologist by Contemporary Educational Psychology. He is the author 20 books and more than 250 articles and chapters, including The Promise of Educational Psychology: Vols. 1 and 2 (1999, 2002), Multimedia Learning (2001), Learning and Instruction (2003, 2008), E-Learning and the Science of Instruction (with R. Clark, 2003, 2008), and the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (editor, 2005).