Multimedia Instruction and Principles

It is with great regret that I have to say that I have very limited experience with virtual reality and augmented reality. When I have used either alternate reality experience, it has been for virtual field trips. In Nearpod there is a feature called VR Fieldtrip. When this feature is used students can view an interactive 360 video on their devices. Recently I used this when reading the book My First Day by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien. In the book, a little boy, who lives on the Mekong Delta, travels to school via boat. I used this lesson to discuss different ways children around the world go to school. We discussed children in the Philippines who swam to school before boats were given to their villages, or children in China who climb up and down a mountain on a ladder. I used the VR Fieldtrip feature to show my students the Mekong Delta so that they could better understand what the main character experienced during his travels to school.

Nearpod recently updated and now has an augmented reality feature called Nearpod 3D. With Nearpod 3D students can interact with 3D objects; the library primarily has animals, human body parts, and places. Nearpod 3D functions much in the same way as the VR Fieldtrip feature. It is a 3D image that you can interact with by zooming in, turning the image for a full 360 view. It has its benefits for getting closer looks at human body parts, such as animal cells. Biology students could zoom in and get a look at the structure of the animal cell.

The feature that I find to be the most exciting, but unfortunately is not applicable in my content area, is the PHET simulation. This simulation allows for students to simulate math or science concepts. For example, the Equality Explorer Lab allows students to test different objects (sphere, cube, pyramid) on a scale to see if they have an equal or unequal weight distribution. Users can change the weight value of each object. For example, the sphere can be valued at one, the cube at two, and the pyramid at three. Students would be tasked with determining how many cubes equal three pyramids.

All of these technology features are amazing and have so much potential, but caution should be used when implementing them into classroom instruction. Rackaway (2012), when integrating technology into the classroom it must be done intentionally and not haphazardly; when added haphazardly it becomes a diversion from “intentional pedagogy,” (Ludwig et al., 2004, as cited in Rackaway, 2012, p. 191). There is a place for them within classroom instruction, but it should be done carefully. When integrating multimedia into classroom instruction, educators should keep in mind cognitive load theory. According to cognitive load theory “acquiring new knowledge is more difficult when the working memory, which has limited capacity, is overloaded bu information and processing demands,” (Greer et al., 2013, as cited in Çeken & Taşkın, 2022). The overprocessing of multimedia during the learning process hinders the actual knowledge acquisition, which negates any effectiveness from the inclusion of the multimedia.

Rackaway (2012) notes that students are very adaptable to technology integration in the classroom due to the amount of technology present in their day to day lives. This can be used to an educator’s advantage. Students can demonstrate content acquisition in new ways. For example, students can generate multimedia presentations, such as videos, to teach their peers about content specific topics; these tasks are shown to increase student motivation, content knowledge acquisition, and collaboration skills (Koc, 2011, as cited in Yu & Zadorozhnyy, 2022).

Multimedia instruction options hold so much potential within the classroom. From differentiation, accommodations, to project based learning opportunities. It is encouraged for teachers to find ways to integrate multimedia into instruction; however, they are cautioned from overusing or misusing multimedia as it can lead to an overload on the working memory or detract from the educational experience. It is exciting to think about the future applications and developments of multimedia instruction.

Çeken, B., & Taşkın, N. (2022). Multimedia learning principles in different learning environments: a systematic review. Smart Learning Environments, 9(1), 1–22.

Rackaway, C. (2012). Video killed the textbook star?: Use of multimedia supplements to enhance student learning. Journal of Political Science Education, 8(2), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2012.667684

Yu, B., & Zadorozhnyy, A. (2022). Developing students’ linguistic and digital literacy skills through the use of multimedia presentations. ReCALL (Cambridge, England), 34(1), 95-109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344021000136