Assignment 3: Core Multimedia Skills

(Note: Turn down volume!)

The multi-media object I chose to update was my PowerPoint from my first blog post. The changes made to the object are based on new understandings of the multi-media theories covered in prior blog posts.

The first change I made was the addition of audio to compliment each slide. First, this helps with redundancy theory, as it allows for more narration rather than just text content (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014). Instead of reading cluttered text, viewers can listen too. This also follows Dual Coding Theory, which posits that we learn from both audio and visual channels of information, and that utilizing both sensory channels can improve understanding (Paivio, 2007). Adding audio further enhances the presentation as viewers are engaged both visually and vocally.

Another aspect that was changed throughout from the original presentation was the use of signaling in the bullet points used. Signaling techniques put emphasis on the key aspects or words within a multi-media lesson (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014). This helps the viewer focus on the most important parts of the slide and presentation, easing the difficulty in identifying the most important part to focus on.

Another change made was to conform with Cognitive Load Theory. Our working memory can only process so many ideas and visual objects at a time, so minimizing the number of objects can help focus viewers attention (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014). For slide 5, I reduced the extra stylization for the bullet points to make them easier to read and prevent extraneous overload.

A final major change I made was the addition of a large “31 Million People” alongside a change in audio tone to make stand out the large number of people affected by cybersecurity breaches. The change of tone falls under the modality principle, which in addition to the added audio, the change in tone helps carry the importance of the particular point (Mayer & Fiorella, 2014).This also intentionally contrasts with the relatively text heavy previous slide.

References:

Mayer, R. E., & Fiorella, L. (2014). Principles for reducing extraneous processing in multimedia learning: Coherence, signaling, redundancy, spatial contiguity, and temporal contiguity principles. (pp. 279-315). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369.015

Paivio, A. (2007). Mind and its evolution: A dual coding theoretical approach. L. Erlbaum Associates. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FaGYAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&ots=Fca4XsFZZv&sig=h4L9uKLg18arcOVTG7yxkU8qb-s&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false