The GovStat Glossary Animations: An Evaluation of Control, Learning, Time, and Satisfaction

The Glossary Animations are short, instructional multimedia presentations that explain statistical terms. This paper presents research and best practices that can guide the development of successful multimedia instruction. The Glossary Animations are critiqued, with consideration given to several fields including educational cognitive psychology, instructional design, information science, and graphic design. A study was conducted to examine the use of controls in the GovStat Glossary Animations, and whether different levels of control affect the learning rate, the quality of learning, or user satisfaction. The results of the study are evaluated with the goal of creating a better multimedia instructional interface, and recommendations are provided for future Glossary Animation designs