Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning

Introduction

If you are designing a PowerPoint presentation, developing an online course or preparing to flip your classroom, you may need to reconsider how you will get students to engage with the material without the traditional face-to-face interaction.  In the book Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Press, 2001), Richard E. Mayer discusses twelve principles that shape the design and organization of multimedia presentations

We’re going to cover the basics of his 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning in this Moodle book.

The Coherence Principle - Less is More

The Coherence Principle states that humans learn best when extraneous, distracting material is not included.

How to use the Coherence Principle:

You can use the Coherence Principle as you’re planning your visual elements. Ask yourself, “Is this image 100% necessary to help with comprehension? Or could you find a better one? Does this message use simple enough language so the audience will understand? Maybe I could trim down a few words.”

The Coherence Principle is also quite helpful when you’re editing your training video or eLearning course. As you re-watch the experience, make sure to watch with a critical “Coherence Principle” eye. Determine how you can reduce, simplify, and clarify.

The Signaling Principle - What is Important

The Signaling Principle essentially means that humans learn best when they are shown exactly what to pay attention to on the screen. If there is a ton of information on the screen, how is the learner supposed to know what is the most important part?

How to use the Signaling Principle:

This is where you can utilize the signaling principle by thoughtfully using features such as highlighting important words and using animated arrows to point out significant information. Another way you can use the signaling principle is by having slides or scenes that separate learning sections. This is a quick and easy way to signal to the learner that we’re moving on to the next topic.

The Redundancy Principle - Speech or Text, Not Both

The Redundancy Principle. This principle suggests that humans learn best with narration and graphics, as opposed to narration, graphics, and text. The theory here is that if you already have narration and graphics, then the text on top is just redundant information. And this can be overwhelming for a learner.

How to use the Redundancy Principle:

You can use this principle for videos or eLearning courses that have narrated audio. Try to only include graphics or text, but not both together. Or if they are together, make the text minimal.

The Spatial Contiguity Principle - Group Related Information

How to use the Spatial Contiguity Principle:

This one makes sense intuitively. You should keep all related text and graphics physically close together in your frame. This makes it much easier for learners to process the information, using less energy to decipher meaning. This principle is pretty straight forward. Make it easy for your audience to know where to look for information.

In the example above, the bones of the skull are labelled using a legend, with descriptions off to the side of the image. Numbers are used to link the areas identified with the names. This divides learners’ attention and should be avoided.

In this example, labels are provided on top of the graphic, which makes it easier to focus on the content.

See HERE for further examples

The Temporal Contiguity Principle - Present Information Together

The Temporal Contiguity Principle states that humans learn best when corresponding words and visuals are presented together, instead of in consecutive order.

Similar to the Spatial Contiguity Principal, presenting an animation that is followed by audio narration separates the two in time, resulting in less learning than if the animation and narration were synchronised in time. Related media should be integrated and presented synchronised in time.

How to use the Temporal Contiguity Principle:

If you’re introducing a new process, the animation (or visual) should be occurring at the same time as the voiceover audio. This is preferred to having the voiceover audio play first, and then watching a visual after. You can use this by making sure your voiceover audio is always timed well with your visuals or animations.

The Segmenting Principle - Learner Control

The Segmenting Principle states that humans learn best when information is presented in segments, rather than one long continuous stream. Mayer found that when learners can control the pace of their learning, they performed better on recall tests. 

How to use the Segmenting Principle:

You can use this principle by providing learners with more control over their learning. This is done by adding next buttons or allowing the speed which a video plays.

This principle also suggests that learning is broken up into smaller, bite-sized chunks. Make sure that no one lesson, slide, or video has too much information packed in it.

Find more information HERE

The Pre-Training Principle - Start with the Basics

The Pre-training Principle states that humans learn more efficiently if they already know some of the basics. This often means understanding basic definitions, terms, or concepts before beginning the learning experience.

And this makes intuitive sense. If a learner starts an eLearning course knowing about the topic, they can easily become overwhelmed once complex visuals and definitions start being thrown their way. A bit of pre-training before starting the course really would have helped.

How to use the Pre-Training Principle:

You can use this principle by creating an introductory “guide” or “cheat sheet” for learners to use throughout the course. Or you can create an entire lesson up front dedicated to understanding the basics, before the learner moves into the actual course.

Further examples can be found HERE

The Modality Principle - Limit Text

The Modality Principle states that humans learn best from visuals and spoken words than from visuals and printed words. This doesn’t mean that you should never use text on screen, it simply means that if there are visuals and too much text, learners will be overwhelmed.

How to use the Modality Principle:

Try to limit the amount of text you use on screen overall. Rely more on visuals, unless you need to define key terms, list steps, or provide directions.

More information can be found HERE

The Multimedia Principle - Words and Pictures

The Multimedia Principle states that humans learn best from words and pictures than just words alone. This principle is sort of the foundation of all Mayer’s principles, that images and words are more effective than words alone.

In any kind of training, it is customary to use words, either printed or spoken, as the main method of sharing information. Words are quick and cheap – you don't need specialist software or expertise to produce them.

Research results suggest that words and graphics are more effective when combined than just words alone, with some provisos:

• graphics should not be an afterthought: they should be planned alongside the text to maximise understanding
• decorative graphics do not improve learning

Multimedia presentations that represent material in both words and pictures encourage learners to make connections between the pictorial and verbal representations of the information, making the experience more meaningful and more likely to be committed to long-term memory. By contrast, providing words alone may encourage learners – especially those with less expertise – to engage in shallow learning by not making connections with other knowledge.

There is more to instruction than simply presenting information, and page after page of text is rarely sufficient.

How to use the Multimedia Principle:

You can use this principle by being very thoughtful about the images you select. Remember that these images need to enhance or clarify the information.

Further information can be found HERE

The Personalisation Principle - Conversational not Formal

The Personalisation Principle says that humans learn best from a more informal, conversational voice than an overly formal voice. Having a more casual voice actually improves the learning experience.

How to use the Personalisation Principle:

You can use this by keeping your language simple and casual. Try to avoid overly professional sounding text, or long, complex words. It also helps to use the first person (you, I, we, our). This is where it helps to consider your audience demographics and try to match the tone of your voiceover to enhance personalisation.

More details can be found HERE

The Voice Principle - Human

The Voice Principle states that humans learn best from a human voice than a computer voice. While Siri and Alexa are getting pretty close, there is no substitution for a human voice. It’s important to note that the studies are still rather preliminary for the Voice Principle. But even so, it makes sense to use a human for your voiceover.

How to use the Voice Principle:

You can use this principle by recording your own professional narration, or hiring a professional to create an audio voiceover. Make sure your audio is high quality by using a professional microphone and mastering in audio editing software.

The Image Principle - Facecam

The Image Principle states that humans do not necessarily learn better from a talking head video. Talking head videos are incredibly common in eLearning courses and MOOCs. The research on this one is also still in its early phases, so take this principle with a grain of salt.

The thinking here is that if there is important information to be learned, relevant visuals on the screen will be more effective than showing a talking head of an instructor.

How to use the Image Principle:

Instead of having a talking head of the instructor, use relevant animations and visuals that help reinforce the audio voiceover. Note that talking heads can provide some value for the instructor by building credibility and trust. This is especially useful to establish at the beginning of your learning experience. Just try to limit your use of talking heads as your video or course dives deeper into the learning content.

Principle Overview

1. Coherence Principle – People learn better when extraneous words, pictures and sounds are excluded rather than included. 

2. Signaling Principle – People learn better when cues that highlight the organization of the essential material are added. 

3. Redundancy Principle – People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration and on-screen text. 

4. Spatial Contiguity Principle – People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen. 

5. Temporal Contiguity Principle – People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively. 

6. Segmenting Principle – People learn better from a multimedia lesson is presented in user-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit. 

7. Pre-training Principle – People learn better from a multimedia lesson when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts.  

8. Modality Principle – People learn better from graphics and narrations than from animation and on-screen text. 

9. Multimedia Principle – People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone. 

10. Personalization Principle – People learn better from multimedia lessons when words are in conversational style rather than formal style. 

11. Voice Principle – People learn better when the narration in multimedia lessons is spoken in a friendly human voice rather than a machine voice. 

12. Image Principle – People do not necessarily learn better from a multimedia lesson when the speaker’s image is added to the screen.

References

Mayer, R. (2001). Multimedia Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

How to use Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia - https://waterbearlearning.com/mayers-principles-multimedia-learning/

Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning are a Powerful Design Resource - https://www.emergingedtech.com/2017/06/mayers-12-principles-of-multimedia-learning-are-a-powerful-design-resource/

Mayer’s Principles for Multimedia Learning - http://instructionaldesign.io/toolkit/mayer/

12 Principles of Multimedia Learning - https://www.hartford.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/fcld/_files/12%20Principles%20of%20Multimedia%20Learning.pdf

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning - https://sites.google.com/site/cognitivetheorymmlearning/

The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning - https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Cvw6BAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA279&dq=mayer%27s+12+principles+of+multimedia+learning&ots=HvZcUdyV_Y&sig=PAICI-LcXumW8phwNYmkzZaznaw#v=onepage&q=mayer's%2012%20principles%20of%20multimedia%20learning&f=false