Name: Toby Hopp

Date: May 02, 2010

Article Summary:

Experimental examination of whether interactive elements aid long-term understanding and retention.

Article Title:

Do Multimedia Features Promote Understanding and Retention?

Citation:

Baytiyeh, H. & Naja, M. (2010). Do multimedia features promote understanding and retention? International Journal of Instructional Media, 37, 43-53

Problem:

Researchers concerned with multimedia, cognition, and education agree that image display has a positive relationship with memorization. However, current research has neglected to comparatively analyze the impact of dynamic and static imagery on memorization. To that end, this study compared the difference effect between static and dynamic images in memorization.

Context:

60 college undergraduates were subjected a pretest-posttest experimental design. Individuals were randomly assigned to two separate treatments. Treatment 1 exposed participants to an educational module on earthquakes. Material was displayed via static imagery and only black and white was used. Treatment 2 exposed participants to the same information on earthquakes. Within this module, however, a Flash-based design was used and interactive elements such as colors, animation, and simulation were employed to present the information. Before exposure to learning modules, both groups were pretested for subject matter knowledge and no significant difference was discerned. Next, both groups were subjected to the learning modules and, immediately afterwards, given a posttest. Finally, and in order to measure long—term retention, the researchers waited for two months before issuing each study participant the previously delivered posttest.

Findings:

Analysis of the posttest scores indicated that each learning module (Treatment 1 and Treatment 2) positively impacted subject matter knowledge. Surprisingly, however, no statistically significant difference between the modules was found; that is, both modules increased participant’s knowledge about equally. Secondly, long-term retention was measured. Therein, researchers again found little difference in retention levels between exposure groups, as Treatment 1 and Treatment 2 groups retained largely the same levels of information.

Recommendations:

Certainly, interactive multimedia tools have engaging properties which should lend themselves to the educational venue. However, in the current study, multimedia usage was restricted to linear presentation of material whereupon students were expected to acquire knowledge in the “sponge” mode. Moreover, study participants were not actively engaged with the material or the intellectual applications of the obtained knowledge. Accordingly, the researchers speculated that furnished content merely replaced textbooks with “more fashionable tool” (p. 51). To that end, the study suggests that educators should use multimedia to design content that fosters “a conversation” (p. 51) between content and user. In extension, the study’s authors propose that interaction alone does little to foster engagement. Instead, they suggest that interactivity will be most effective when, for example, interactive features allow “students to submit different inputs for the system to use during the concept’s animation.”