This TOPkit Digest issue is brought to you by Joseph Lloyd (Joseph.Lloyd@ucf.edu), Ed.D., Instructional Designer, Center for Distributed Learning, Division of Digital Learning, University of Central Florida. He discusses "Increasing Student Engagement in Online Classes with Graphics and Multimedia."
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Video Tip - Using Multimedia Resources
- Announcements - TOPkit ThinkTank 2024; TOPkit Workshop 2025: Save-the-Date, Proposal Reviews, Proposal Submissions, Registration Opening Soon!
- Top Tips - Increasing Student Engagement in Online Classes with Graphics and Multimedia
- From the Community - Graphics and Multimedia in Course Design
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Top Community Topics
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In this video, educator Brian Johnsrud, discusses the types of multimedia and Open Education Resources available to educators and provides a list of things to look for when choosing resources online.
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TOPkit ThinkTank 2024
The Fall 2024 TOPkit Hackathon is cancelled. The first ever TOPkit ThinkTank is scheduled in place of the Hackathon. The ThinkTank event will provide a collaborative platform to reimagine our initiatives and address the evolving needs of educators and instructional designers. Register to join us virtually, Tuesday, November 12, 2024 for TOPkit ThinkTank 2024!
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Increasing Student Engagement in Online Classes with Graphics and Multimedia |
Turning Your Online Course Up to 11! |
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Introduction: Student engagement and motivation in education have been of great interest and studied for more than a century. Dewey (1913) defined motivation in terms of interest, stating that if we can make sure the student is interested in a topic, then the student will put in the effort to learn the facts and ideas about that topic. Studies have continued to look into student engagement and motivation while developing several theories. Parrish (2022) stated, “Engagement and motivation are separate, related, but often confused. Motivation is the driving force that causes a student to take action. Engagement is the observable behavior or evidence of that motivation. Motivation is necessary for engagement, but successful engagement could also help students to feel motivated in the future.”
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Graphics created and provided with permission by Joe Fauvel, Web Designer, CDL Graphics.
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Multimedia Learning Theory. Mayer’s (1997) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning has made a significant contribution to the field of instructional design and educational cognitive psychology. Mayer’s Multimedia Learning Theory is based on several foundational principles. These are:
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Multimedia Contiguity Principle states that related text and graphics should be close together so that the students can make meaningful connections between the two (Mayer & Moreno, 1998).
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Modality Principle which describes how information should be presented in the modality format that is most relevant to the content. For example, complex visual information may be better presented as images, while straightforward text can be used for textual content (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).
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Coherence Principle suggests that your content should maintain a logical and coherent structure in multimedia presentations. You should not present information in a fragmented manner (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).
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Cognitive Load Theory was developed by John Sweller (1988). and stated that our working memory can only hold a small amount of information at one time and that instructors should avoid cognitive overloading to maximize learning. Mayer integrates this theory into the Multimedia Learning Theory by advocating that minimizing extraneous cognitive load by designing multimedia that are concise and avoid distractions (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).
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Dual Coding emphasizes the importance of presenting information in both visual and verbal format. Combining text with relevant images or multimedia can improve comprehension and retention compared to presenting the text alone (Mayer & Moreno, 2003)
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Cognitive Load and Multimedia Integration. Cognitive Load Theory, developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968, explains that sensory memory is short-term and, if not processed, is lost. Important sensory memories move to short-term working memory and then to long-term memory. This foundational theory remains fundamental in memory research and has inspired further studies (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 2016). The theory outlines three main memory components: sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory (Chandler & Sweller, 1991).
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In his presentation at the TEDGlobal 2010 conference, data-journalist David McCandless says, “It feels like we’re all suffering from information overload, or data glut, and the good news is that there might be an easy solution to that. And that’s using our eyes more. Visualizing information so that we can see the patterns and connections that matter.” Studies have shown that long-term memory is nearly unlimited, and that the true intellectual power in humans lies in the knowledge stored in that long-term memory (Sweller et al., 2019). The goal of instructors in the classroom, whether online or in person, is to try to have their students learn the material, thereby retaining the information, so reducing cognitive overload is something that instructors and instructional designers need to keep in mind.
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Improved Learning Outcomes. The addition of graphics and multimedia can lead to improved learning outcomes in online classes. Research by Clark and Mayer (2016) indicates that the inclusion of images and multimedia in online courses improves learners’ retention of information. Graphics and multimedia can help present complex information clearly (Anglin et al., 2014).
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Student Motivation and Engagement. Thinking about the design of higher education classes, especially online classes require faculty to consider what the needs of their students are and how they can design the courses to meet those students needs and help them succeed in achieving the course learning outcomes. One way to accomplish this is to think about what the student experience is like as they progress through the course. Albert Bandura has studied how students learn in great detail and developed a theory of how they learn called the Social Cognitive Theory. One of the key components of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory is self-efficacy (1977). The more students believe in themselves and their abilities, the more likely they are to succeed. One part of self-efficacy is the student’s willingness to persist at tasks (Bandura, 1997).
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Students who were surveyed responded to the following questions:
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- Do Action Icons make the course page more interesting?
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Does the quality level of graphics used in a Webcourse affect your overall perception of the class organization?
- Do you feel that graphics and multimedia help you learn the material better?
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Summary: As you can see from the graphs, students overwhelmingly felt that graphics and multimedia made the material more engaging, more organized, and helped them learn the material better.
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Graphics and Multimedia in Course Design |
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Increase Student Engagement and Success |
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An increasing number of students are taking online classes. This number has continued to rise post-COVID and is steadily increasing year by year. Keeping those students engaged in online classes is just as important as in face-to-face classes and takes a slightly different approach.
The TOPkit article, "The Promise of Multimedia: Examining the Value of Graphic Design for Course Design and Student Success!", provides tips on multimedia integration and UDL principles in online classes. Course design must consider students as multifaceted beings as much as it views the online space as multidimensional.
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Generative AI may have been used to retrieve relevant research, generate suggested language, and enhance original content.
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Bren Bedford, MNM, SFC®, Web Project Analyst II, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida
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Florence Williams, Ph.D., Associate Instructional Designer, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida
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