Summary :
In 1996 Large, Beheshti, Breuleux, & Renaud found that animation and audio/visual presentations enhance comprehension but did not improve students’ ability to recall. Animation seems to be more effective with procedural text than descriptive text (Large, Beheshti, Breuleux, & Renaud, 1994).
Ariew & Ercetin discovered that for intermediate second language learners some video annotations have a negative impact on reading comprehension.
Young learners need a combination of visual and verbal information to maximize comprehension (Panagiotakopoulos, Ioannidis, 2002).
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Large, A., Beheshti, J., Breuleux, A., & Renaud, A. (1996). Effect of Animation in Enhancing Descriptive and Procedural Texts in Multimedia Learning Environment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 47 (6), 437-448. |
Grade 6 primary schools students in Montreal area. Majority were 12 year olds but some were 11. A total of 122 students participated.
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To determine whether a complex descriptive text is enhanced by animation so long as the animation exhibits close semantic links with the text. To explore the importance of captions in linking an animation with a descriptive text so as to increase comprehension of the text. To investigate the relationship between spatial ability and students’ ability to recall and comprehend a text or a text enhanced with still images and animation. |
Animation significantly enhanced comprehension of a descriptive text. The addition of the animation to text did not produce significant gains in students’ ability to recall the text, identify its main themes, or answer questions on it. On average, students with higher spatial abilities performed better than those with low spatial abilities on propositional recall, answering multiple choice questions, thematic recall, and problem solving. |
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Brewer, N., Harvey, S., & Semmler, C. (2004). Improving Comprehension of Jury Instructions with Audio-Visual Presentation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 765-776. |
90 law undergraduate students (38 males and 52 females) and 90 legally untrained adults (41 male and 49 female). |
To examine whether mock-jurors’ comprehension of a judge’s instructions on the law of self-defense was enhanced by an instructional format that combined audio-visual presentation with a flowchart? |
Audio-visual format produced a marked improvement in comprehension: verdict accuracy, a multiple-choice or recognition test, a paraphrase or recall measure, and a scenario measure that involved transfer of legal knowledge to novel fact situations. Audio-visual instructional format produced an improvement in novices’ comprehension. The distinctive role of audio-visual instructional format from the visual flow chart was not determinable from this study. |
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Large, A., Beheshti, J., Breuleux, A, & Renaud, A. (1994). Multimedia and Comprehension: A Cognitive Study. Journal of American Society for Information Science, 45 (7), 515-528. |
120 grade 6 students |
Does the addition of still images, animation and sound to text enhance any information product? What is the role of complexity and text type (descriptive and procedural) in influencing the impact of animation? |
If the learning objective is to understand the principles underlying text, then animation seems to enhance a text. If the objective is to memorize information so that it can be regurgitated as completely and accurately as possible, text alone may be more successful. Animation was more effective when used with procedural rather than descriptive text. |
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Ariew, R. & Ercetin, G. (2004). Exploring the Potential of Hypermedia Annotations for Second Language Reading. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 17(2), 237-259. |
103 adult intermediate and advance level adult ESL learners. |
Do different types of hypermedia annotations facilitate learning? Does this depend on the proficiency levels of the students? |
Learners interact with text differently according to their proficiency level and prior knowledge. Video annotations had negative impact on reading comprehension for intermediate learners, which suggests that video may be distracting to them |
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Panagiotakopoulos, C.T., & Ioannidis, G.S. (2002). Assessing children’s understanding of basic time concepts through multimedia software. Computers and Education, 38 , 331-349. |
374 nursery and school-aged children in 3 nursery schools and 3 elementary schools in Greece. |
What is the role of computers with multimedia software in assessing the perception of the basic time concepts by children? |
The presentation method employing the use of multimedia is preferable when: The environment through which the time concept is examined is not static but involves movement or changes 2. There are facets, which can be emphasized through the use of multimedia so as to assist the child and to avoid misleading its judgment 3. a high degree of accuracy and precision is called for, when trying to avoid the introduction of unrelated details likely to mislead the child. When visual and verbal information was combined with sound information, students’ comprehension was enhanced. |
Summary :
Five modalities were tested the text, picture, film clip, audio-only, and audio-video instructions.
Based on the findings for the three modalities (text, pictures, film clip) it was seen that film clips and pictures required less cognitive load to interact. Because most participants in the film clip condition almost never practiced the exercises. They also had most movements correctly executed compared to text and pictures. Moreover, most people preferred the film clips condition to the text and picture condition. However, more learning took place under the picture condition rather than film clip condition. Furthermore, participants in the picture condition needed less time for execution than participants in the film clip condition.
Based on the findings for two modalities (audio-video and audio only) it was seen that audio-only condition required less cognitive load to interact. This is because in the audio-video condition participants had to use two channels to process the information. And when people are under high cognitive load they form biased impressions than people under low cognitive load.
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Van Hooijdonk, C. & Krahmer, E. (2004). Information modalities for procedural instructions: The influence of text, static and dynamic visuals on learning and executing RSI exercises. Available online at http://wwwhome.cs |
Experiment 1: 30 young adults, between 18 and 30 years of age. 15 male and 15 female. The participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition. Experiment 2: 26 young adults between 18 and 25 yrs age. 13 male and 13 female. None participated in the first study. |
The purpose of the study was to test the effects of task difficulty and information modality (comparing dynamic visuals with static visuals and text) on learning a specific class of procedural tasks, namely exercises aiming at the prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The term CANS (short for Complaints of Arm, Neck and/or Shoulders) was introduced as an alternative term. Experiment 1: The participants learn and execute 20 RSI prevention exercises in two degrees of difficulty. The following measurement were tested: the influence of presenting and instruction in text, picture or film clips on learning times, amount of practicing during learning, execution times, and number of execution errors. The experiment had a 3 (information modality: dynamic visual [film clip], static visual [picture], text) X 2 as between participants variable and difficulty degree (easy, difficult) as within participants variable, and with learning times, amount of practicing during learning, execution times, and number of correctly executed exercises as dependent variable. Experiment 2: Participants were asked which instructional format (text, picture, film clips) they preferred in a forced choice experiment. The experiment had a 3 modality (text, picture, film) X 2 difficulty degree (difficult, easy) factorial design. |
Experiment 1 Learning times: Modality: Participants in the picture condition required the shortest learning times, participants in the text condition had the longest learning times, and learning for film clips was in between the two. Difficulty: If was found that the difficulty degree had an effect on the amount of time to learn the exercise. But there was no significant differences the difficulty degree and information modalities were found. Practicing time: Modality: Participants in film clip condition almost never practiced, while in picture condition they practiced about fifth of the exercises, and in the text condition participants practiced about half of the exercise. Difficulty: Participants practiced the difficult exercises more often than easy ones. Execution times: Modality: Participants in the text condition had much longer execution times than those in the picture and film clip condition. Participants in picture condition needed somewhat less time for execution than the participants in the film clip condition, but the difference was relatively small. Difficulty: The instruction in text was more difficult than the instruction for pictures and film. There was no significant interaction between difficulty degree and information modality. Correct Execution: Modality: The participants who watches the film clip executed the most movements correctly. Difficulty: The participants executed the easy exercises correctly than the difficult ones. In the film clip condition, both easy and difficult exercises were almost executed correctly. In the text and picture condition however, easy exercises were performed correctly more often than difficult exercises. Subjective satisfaction: Modality: Had no effect on the subjective satisfaction regarding the web site and the exercise. And no effect was found between the three conditions for web site and for the exercises. Experiment 2 The results showed that for all exercises most participants preferred the film clips for illustrating the RSI exercises. For all exercises the majority of the participants preferred the film clip to text and pictures. Interestingly, for the first easy exercises the participants preferred the film clip and text to the instruction in a picture. For the second easy exercise the participants preferred the film clip and picture to the instruction in text. |
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Hinds, P. (1999). The cognitive and interpersonal costs of video. Media psychology. 1 ( 33), 283-312. |
Study 1: 71 undergraduates from the industrial management program at Carneige Mellon University who volunteered to get extra credit points toward course grade. All participants learned English as their first language. The study was a 2 (low [audio only] or high [audio-video] amount of information) X 2 (poor or good signal clarity) within-subjects design. Study 2: 70 undergraduates in the business program at Carnegie Mellon University who volunteered to get extra credit toward course grades. All participants had learned English as their first language. Five participants were suspicious of the priming manipulation and were removed from the analysis. The study was a 2 (positive or negative) X 2 (low or high) design with priming and cognitive load as independent between-subject variables. |
Hypothesis 1 : interacting over audio-video will generate a higher cognitive load than interacting over audio only. Hypothesis 2: interacting over media with poor signal clarity (TV-quality) will result in a higher cognitive load than interacting over media with good signal clarity (PC-quality). Hypothesis 3: Increased cognitive load will result in impressions more biased toward a primed trait. Hypothesis 4: Communication over communication technology high in cognitive load will result in impressions more biased toward a primed trait than will communication over communication technology low in cognitive load. Purpose of Study 1: Was to examine the relationship between two dimensions of communication technology and cognitive load. Purpose of Study 2: Was to test the effect of cognitive load on impression formation. |
Study 1 Hypothesis 1: Suggested that communication technology can increase cognitive load (H1). The participants in this study constantly made more errors in audio-video than in audio-only conditions. Thus, showing that more cognitive load is required to interact over an audio-video than over an audio-only system. Also, supporting the idea that having to process more channels and more screens of information may increase cognitive load. Hypothesis 2: There was less support for the idea that poor signal quality increases cognitive load. Study 2 The results of study 2 confirmed that people under cognitive load rely more heavily on the use of a negative prime when forming impressions than do people under low cognitive load. Hypothesis 3: Confirmed that high cognitive load can lead to biased impressions (impressions biased toward a primed construct, thus suggesting less systematic processing of individuated information about the target). Hypothesis 4: Participants who interacted over audio-video were more influenced by the primed-trait than were participants who interacted over audio only. A contrast comparing audio only to audio-video in the negative-trait primed condition indicated that participants in the audio-video condition were more vulnerable to the negative prime than participants in the audio-only condition. Thus, suggesting that impressions of people communicating over an audio-video medium may be more biased toward a primed trait than impressions of people communicating over audio only. |
Summary:
Animation tends to be more effective when complemented with other strategies, especially direct instruction. In a study Lin & Dwyer proved that static visual treatment is just as effective as varied animated treatment in learner achievement. When the static visual treatment is highly developed, it can be just as effective as animation. The main idea of certain material is easily recalled from animated node-link maps rather than static maps or even animated text. Huang explains, computer based instructional units are also effective in the cognitive psychomotor skill learning areas. Kidwai, Munyofu, Swain, Ausman, Lin, & Dwyer, determined that animation impacts factual and contextual learning but not higher order learning.
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Reference |
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Purpose/Questions |
Findings/Implications |
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Higgins, N. & Hess, L. (1999). Using electronic books to promote vocabulary development, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 31(4) ,425-430. |
22 third-grade children randomly assigned to control (n=11) and experimental groups (n=11) |
The purpose of the study was to determine whether mere animation or animation with supplemental instruction is more efficient in learning and retention of unfamiliar words. The used material was an electronic book of poetry for children. |
The children with supplemental instructions in conjunction with animation scored significantly higher (M=5.00, SD=0.89) than the children who did not receive synonyms, definitions and questions in addtition to animation (M=2.91, SD=1.30). |
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Lin, C. & Dwyer, F. (2004). Effect of varied animated enhancement strategies in facilitating achievement of different educational objectives, International Journal of Instructional Media, 31(2),185-198 |
93 college level learners randomly assigned into 1 control and 3 experimental groups |
The purpose of the study was to investigate effects of instructional enhancements (advance organizers, adjunct questions and feedback) in conjunction with animation on learners' information acquisition. |
There were insignificant differences in learner achievement among different treatment groups. Static visual treatment alone was found to be as effective as the animated treatments (advance organizers, questions and feedback) in facilitating learner achievement. |
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Blankeship, J. & Dansereau, D. F. (2000). The effect of animated node-link displays on information recall, Journal of Experimental Education, 68(4) . |
133 college students randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions: static node-link map (concept map), static text, animated node-link map and animated text. |
The purpose of the study was to determine efficiency differences of static node-link maps and text or animated node-link maps and text on learners' information acquisition. |
The participants showed the highest level of information acquisition after using animated node-link maps (M=22.40, SD=10.48) as opposed to other conditions (M=17.24, 14.30, 10.13; SD=10.72, 12.57, 12.00). The research suggests using concept maps in conjunction with animation as an effective way to improve learners' information acquisition. |
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Huang, J. (1995). “Digitized Speech as Feedback on Cognitive Aspects of Psychomotor Performance during Computer-Based Instruction.” In: Proceedings of the 1995 Annual National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), (17 th, Anaheim, CA, 1995). |
N=68 who were university students from four sections of beginning tennis classes at the Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. The participants were categorized into two groups: one group having high prior knowledge and the other group having low prior knowledge. Then, they were randomly assigned to a computer and completed one of three treatment; spoken audio only-KOR, knowledge of the correct response-KCR (voice with text), and elaboration feedback-EF (voice with text, visual and animation). |
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Kidwai , K., Munyofu, M., Swain W. J., Ausman, B. D., Lin, H., & Dwyer, F. (2004). Effect of Visual Scaffolding and Animation on Students’ Performance on Measures of Higher Order Learning. Association for Educational Communications and Technology , Chicago , IL October 19-23, 2004 . |
Approximately 90 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to three treatments (control, simple and complex). The participants were taken the four dependent measures; Drawing, Identification, Terminology, and Comprehension after they received the respective instructional presentation. |
The purpose of the study was to investigate the instructional effectiveness of two visual scaffolding strategies (simple and complex scaffolding) used to complement animated instruction. |
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