Multimedia: How to Combine Language and Visuals

In the last decade, advanced computer technology has allowed for development of information systems and learning environments that combine language with other forms of human communication in innovative ways. Language in the form of written texts, for example, can be combined not only with static pictures or graphs as in printed material, but also with animation or video

Suggestions for Better Integrating ICT enhanced

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9The particular situation of academic teachers and learners in campus-based Higher Education today gives rise to the idea of an integrated dimensional framework for instructional design (ID). We will relate it to the potential of ICT, especially for blended learning. It is argued that the framework can become the kernel of an advisory system addressing current needs of practitioners in campus-based Higher Education by taking advantage of research evidence

Regulating distance to the screen while engaging in difficult tasks

Regulation of distance to the screen (i.e., head-to-screen distance, fluctuation of head-to-screen distance) has been proved to reflect the cognitive engagement of the reader. However, it is still not clear (a) whether regulation of distance to the screen can be a potential parameter to infer high cognitive load and (b) whether it can predict the upcoming answer accuracy. Configuring tablets or other learning devices in a way that distance to the screen can be analyzed by the learning software is in close reach. The software might use the measure as a person-specific indicator of need for extra scaffolding. In order to better gauge this potential, we analyzed eye-tracking data of children (N = 144, Mage = 13 years, SD = 3.2 years) engaging in multimedia learning, as distance to the screen is estimated as a by-product of eye tracking. Children were told to maintain a still seated posture while reading and answering questions at three difficulty levels (i.e., easy vs. medium vs. difficult). Results yielded that task difficulty influences how well the distance to the screen can be regulated, supporting that regulation of distance to the screen is a promising measure. Closer head-to-screen distance and larger fluctuation of head-to-screen distance can reflect that participants are engaging in a challenging task. Only large fluctuation of head-to-screen distance can predict the future incorrect answers. The link between distance to the screen and processing of cognitive task can obtrusively embody reader’s cognitive states during system usage, which can support adaptive learning and testing

Eye Tracking Indicators of Reading Approaches in Text-Picture Comprehension

Despite numerous researches on reading as well as multimedia comprehension, reading approaches in text-picture comprehension have become a focus of research only rarely. The current experiment aims at exploring text-picture comprehension in different reading approaches with item solving. In a within subjects design using eye tracking, seventeen secondary school students processed our blended text and picture materials in three different ways. (1) Unguided processing with text and picture and without the question. (2) Information gathering to answer the question after the prior experience with text and pictures. (3) Comprehending text and pictures to solve the task with the prior information of the question. Eye tracking data showed that text and picture play different roles in comprehension in different reading approaches. The data suggest that (1) text plays the main role to construct the mental model in unguided spontaneous processing of text and picture. (2) Students seem to mainly rely on the picture as an external representation when trying to answer a question after the prior experience with the material. (3)Text and picture are both used heavily when students work out an answer with the prior experience with the question presented. The text likely plays a major part in guiding the processing of meaning, whereas the picture is used as an external representation for information retrieval. Our work provides a first step towards an Item Solving Model in Text-Picture Comprehension. It also provides pedagogical implications for learning in secondary school

Multimedia: How to Combine Language and Visuals

In the last decade, advanced computer technology has allowed for development of information systems and learning environments that combine language with other forms of human communication in innovative ways. Language in the form of written texts, for example, can be combined not only with static pictures or graphs as in printed material, but also with animation or video

A cognitive approach to user perception of multimedia quality: An empirical investigation

Whilst multimedia technology has been one of the main contributing factors behind the Web's success, delivery of personalized multimedia content has been a desire seldom achieved in practice. Moreover, the perspective adopted is rarely viewed from a cognitive styles standpoint, notwithstanding the fact that they have significant effects on users’ preferences with respect to the presentation of multimedia content. Indeed, research has thus far neglected to examine the effect of cognitive styles on users’ subjective perceptions of multimedia quality. This paper aims to examine the relationships between users’ cognitive styles, the multimedia quality of service delivered by the underlying network, and users’ quality of perception (understood as both enjoyment and informational assimilation) associated with the viewed multimedia content. Results from the empirical study reported here show that all users, regardless of cognitive style, have higher levels of understanding of informational content in multimedia video clips (represented in our study by excerpts from television programmes) with weak dynamism, but that they enjoy moderately dynamic clips most. Additionally, multimedia content was found to significantly influence users’ levels of understanding and enjoyment. Surprisingly, our study highlighted the fact that Bimodal users prefer to draw on visual sources for informational purposes, and that the presence of text in multimedia clips has a detrimental effect on the knowledge acquisition of all three cognitive style groups