Reflecting on Multimedia in Learning

My experience with multimedia for learning has been varied. As a participant in the education process as a student, I have experienced overwhelming presentations, littered with words and images. A complete stimulation overload. In some instances, I have experienced educators and presenters who read their slides to the audience, which increased the stimulation overload. On the other side of the spectrum, I have seen some very visually appealing presentations and visual aides. Presentations that had simple designs that did not overwhelm the viewer, simple straight to the point wording, and a calming soothing palette.

The color palette is important. According to Fussell (2022), different color palettes can have a different psychological effect on the audience; depending on the color palette you choose you can energize, sooth, or inspire the audience. For example, vibrant colors can energize your audience whereas natural tones, such as navy or green, can calm the audience.

As an educator, I tend to create fun and festive presentations for my students. I use warmer tones and on theme simple designs to energize my audience, but not to overwhelm them. I work with K-5 students, and I must be mindful that while I want my audience to be engaged with the multimedia, I do not want to overstimulate and stress them out. I also am mindful of not including long paragraphs of text for the students; some may have a learning disability and the moment they see tons of text, they will lose interest. Mayer (as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016) also discourages having extensive text and graphics within a presentation, particularly for a presentation that is part of a live, narrated presentation.

Multimedia in presentations, in learning, have their place. However, multimedia can make or break a presentation. Too much multimedia can overstimulate an audience and cause them to lose interest. On the other side of the coin, multimedia can engage the audience and help them to better understand the intended concept.

Davis, G., & Norman, M. (2016, July 19). Principles of multimedia learning. Wiley University Services. https://ctl.wiley.com/principles-of-multimedia-learning/

Fussell, G. (2022, February 18). 10 Color palettes to nail your next presentation. Shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/color-palettes-for-presentations