Instructional Technology Conference
Middle Tennessee State University
Building Communities of Learners
April 3-5, 2005
Accommodating the Needs of Learners in Multimedia Environments
|
Ahmet F. Satici Harriette L. Spiegel Track 2 |
Abstract
Designing multimedia to accommodate needs of individual learners improves its effectiveness. Research supports that learners are more successful when they study from instructional materials matching their learning style. Therefore, in the process of multimedia design, special attention should be given to accommodate learner styles in addition to instructional design. This paper will discuss various dimensions of learning styles and ways of accommodating these learning styles in multimedia environments.
Description
Advancements in learning technologies create greater demand for use of multimedia in learning environments (Ghinea and Chen, 2003). New authoring tools facilitate the creation of multimedia environments; however creating an effective multimedia environment still requires a great deal of analysis, design, and development.
Instructional design is the main factor in creating quality multimedia similar to the production of other instructional materials and learning environments. However, in the design and development process, more attention should be paid to the accommodation of needs of learners with various learner styles, because learner style has an important effect on learners' achievement.
Research shows that learners do better when they interact with instructional materials that accommodate the needs of their cognitive styles. According to Riding and Cheema (1991) there are over thirty different cognitive style dimensions defined in the literature. Existence of multiple styles, and sometimes conflicting needs of these cognitive style dimension makes it difficult even impossible to accommodate the needs of learners. Riding and Rayner (1998) categorize many of these learner styles into two dimensions: the wholist-analytic dimension and the verbal-imagery dimension.
There are many factors affecting the quality of multimedia environments. Lewis and Jansen (1997) grouped these factors under three main groups: content, design, and operation. Content issues include accuracy, completeness, distraction, need, social and political considerations, and structure. Design issues include color, image size, user control, media, navigation, record keeping, security, pacing/timing. Operation issues include cost, feedback, delivery methods, objectives, delivery platforms, rewards, and settings. Based on Riding and Rayner's cognitive style categorization, this paper will discuss the implications of relevant issues to the accommodation of learner needs.