The focus of chapter 6 is the modality principle. This
principle has a great deal of research support and explains how the use of
audio is crucial (Clark & Mayer 2011). The principle stresses that when
students should be given auditory lessons, not just be required to read the
text from a screen. As teachers, we should work to keep the audio narrations
short and to the point.
The chapter goes on to explain that in an E-learning
environment, we need to be aware of providing a visual overload. Planning for
students need to have a combination of activities, and not solely depend on the
visual information. We should always plan to meet the needs of various types of
learners, and audio narrations can help with the learning process.
People have “separate information processing channels
for visual/pictorial processing and for auditory/verbal processing” (Clark
& Mayer 2011). With that being said E-learning only enhances the importance
of audio. Students have limited interaction with their teachers compared to a
traditional classroom, so incorporating audio is essential.
It is important to find a balance of text, pictures
and audio lessons. As educators, we must be aware of the cognitive load that
our students’ experience and ensure we are setting them up for success (Clark
& Mayer 2011).
I found this chapter to be important because it reminds
us to consider that our students can only take in so much information. Simply
presenting pictures and words can only go so far. If we use audio, we can use
two separate cognitive channels, thus allowing for more learning (Clark &
Mayer 2011).
This relates to our ISD project because we are
teaching teachers how to use digital games in their classroom. Just as our young
students have limited cognitive loads, so do adults. When we prepare our
lessons for the teachers, incorporating audio will be a beneficial tool to help
everyone succeed. This chapter did change my idea for our ISD project, since I
had not originally planned on using audio in my section of the “professional
development”. I will now be rethinking my plan to ensure that I incorporate audio.
This chapter made me
reconsider my plan, and although it is a small change, it could have a huge
impact on the success of the presentation. As teachers, we are always looking
for ways to improve our classroom. Finding ways to improve lessons, makes
things better for our students, and that should always be our goal.
Clark, R.C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven
guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rded.). San
Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9780470874301.
guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rded.). San
Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9780470874301.
