Developing an Online Course - Creating Multimedia Content

Multimedia

Multimedia is an essential part of online courses. Multimedia is content that utilizes a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, videos, and interactive materials.

The cognitive theory of multimedia learning developed by E. Mayer (Mayer & Moreno, 2003) proposes three assumptions about human cognition when learning with multimedia:

There are two separate channels for visual/pictorial and auditory/verbal processing, also known as dual channels
Humans can only process a finite amount of information in each channel at a time
Learning is an active process of selecting, organizing, and integrating information based on prior knowledge

Meyer's Model of Multimedia Learning

The model of media information processing is illustrated below:

multimedia processingMultimedia Processing E.Mayer (1997), Fair Use

9 Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning

There are 9 ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning that instructors and designers need to pay attention to (Mayer, E & Moreno, R. 2003):

Modality Effect: There is better transfer when words are presented as narration rather than as on-screen text.
Segmentation Effect: There is better transfer when a lesson is presented in learner-controlled segments rather than as a continuous unit.
Pretraining Effect: There is better transfer when students know the names and behaviors of a system component.
Coherence Effect: There is better transfer when extraneous material is excluded.
Signaling Effect: There is better transfer when signals are included.
Spatial Contiguity Effect: There is better transfer when printed words are placed near corresponding parts of graphics.
Redundancy Effect: There is better transfer when words are presented as narration rather than narration and on-screen text.
Temporal Contiguity Effect: There is better transfer when corresponding animation and narration are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
Spatial Ability Effect: High-spatial learners benefit more from well-designed instruction than do low-spatial learners.

Watch: Mayer's Theory of Multimedia Learning by Dr. Kacz

Insert Multimedia into D2L Content

If you wish to use media files in your course content, you should give some thought as to which method of incorporating them is better – uploading them from your computer into D2L as course objects or linking to or embedding them from an external site. Files small in size (50 MB or less) generally work very well as uploads into D2L, but some media files are very large, which can cause performance issues if you directly upload to D2L, and some D2L administrators may not allow such uploads to the D2L server. The best option is to use an embed code from the external website where the media resides. Embedding the media, rather than linking to it, ensures that learners remain in the D2L environment and thus aren’t distracted by other media on the site where the media you are using resides.

In order to find videos in YouTube that already contain closed captions (to follow accessibility guidelines), enter your keywords in the YouTube search bar, click the filters button, and click cc (closed caption). Many of the videos in Films on Demand already contain closed captions.

Create a Video Topic

Watch: Create a Video Topic

Embed a YouTube Video

Watch: Embed a YouTube Video

Embed a Video From "Films on Demand"

Watch: How to Embed a Video From "Films on Demand" into D2L

References

Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.