21 Psychological Principles of Using ICT in Education

DR. Geeta R Thakur

 

Module Structure:

 

20.0 Learning outcomes

20.1 Introduction

20.1.1 Psychological principles of using ICT in education

20.1.2 Multimedia principle

20.1.3 Coherence principle

20.1.4 Redundancy principle

20.1.5 Personalization principle

20.1.6 Contiguity principle

20.1.7 Spatial contiguity principle

20.1.8 Temporal contiguity principle

20.1.9 Split attention principle

20.1.10 Individual difference principle

20.2  Let us sum up

 

20.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

After going through this module you will be able to:

  • State various principles of using ICT in education.
  • Explain Multimedia principle, Coherence principle,Redundancy principle, personalization principle, Principle of split-attention effect, Principle of spatial contiguity, Principle of Temporal contiguity, Principle of individual difference
  • Apply the above mentioned principles while using ICT in education.

 

20.1 INTRODUCTION

 

While designing Power Point presentations, developing an online course, you may need to reconsider how you will get the students to engage with the material without much traditional face-to-face interaction. When we watch images, presentations, videos or animations, we find some of them are more effective than that of others. Some of the material helps in better retention. You must be curious to know what makes this difference and how to make use of ICT to get better results, to help the students to learn in an effective way and help them to retain the learned material.

 

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning consists of three main assumptions:

  1. There are two separate channels for processing information: auditory and visual.
  2. There is a limited channel capacity.
  3. Learning is an active process of filtering, selecting, organizing, and integrating information.

 

Based on these assumptions, there are different psychological principles of creating any e-content or multimedia which is important aspect of ICT.

 

20.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF USING ICT IN EDUCATION

  • Multimedia principle
  • Coherence principle
  • Redundancy principle
  • Personalization principle
  • Principle of split-attention effect
  • Principle of spatial contiguity
  • Principle of Temporal contiguity
  • Principle of individual difference

 

Let us discuss about these principles works while using ICT.

 

20.3 MULTIMEDIA PRINCIPLE

 

If you want your students to understand the use of hard disk, the following picture would be very helpful to make students understand.

 

 

Words help us to express the message we wish to convey. Verbal messages are efficient and easy to create. Pictures help to make concrete and clear, the message we wish to convey. The multimedia principle suggests including both words and graphics. Students learn better from words and pictures than words alone. Graphics help active learning. Students make mentalconnection between pictures and text. Words alone may cause slow learning process.When words and pictures are both presented, learners have an opportunity to construct verbal and visual mental images and to build connections between the two.

 

Learning occurs by the encoding of new information in permanent memory called long-term memory. According to a theory called Dual Encoding, content communicated with text and graphics sends two codes i.e. a verbal code and a visual code. They have two opportunities for encoding into long-term memory resulting in higher retention and learning.

 

The application

 

Undoubtedly graphics can boost learning. However, it will be important to select the appropriate graphics. It should support to the text and the learning goal.

 

ACTIVITY

 

Check the following websites.

 

http://www.learnabout-electronics.org/bipolar_junction_transistors_04.php

 

http://amasci.com/amateur/trshort.html

  • Which of these two examples do you think gives you the information you need?
  • Which is better for learning?
  • Are they doing the same job?
  • What is the target audience for each?

 

20.4 COHERENCE PRINCIPLE

 

 

In the above two slides, slide B is better to learn as it does not include extra information which may create confusion in the mind of the learners.

 

“People learn better when extraneous material is excluded rather than included.”

 

Extra information of any kind may prove as a distraction. The coherence principle states that all non-essential information in multimedia messages should be avoided to minimize demands on cognitive resources. When the purpose of a text, or text and a graphic, is to instruct someone, the only thing that should be on that page or slide is what is absolutely necessary. This will give the viewer a better understanding of what is being taught. Anything extra would be meaningless and may distract the viewer.

 

This distraction is called “seductive details”. These can be the words, audio, or graphics. They provide interest, givethe additional fact about the topic or make the page more appealing.

 

When we present an explanation with multimedia, it is better to use fewer words and pictures. Studies have found that students are better able to retain information if it is presented as a short summary. They are able to focus on relevant words and pictures. Shorter presentations allow learners to select relevant information and organize it efficiently.

 

‘A seductive detail from a quality lesson’ – From Clark and Mayer, 2002

 

The application

 

The understandable idea of coherence principle is‘less is more’. It suggests that images or text that is not essential to the instructional explanation be avoided.

 

While making use of ICT, extraneous words, pictures, and sounds should be excluded from the presentations. Presentations should be clear and concise. Text bullet points should be used. Only keywords should be used in PPT slides instead of paragraphs or sentences.

 

20.5 REDUNDANCY PRINCIPLE

 

Some e-Lessons provide words in text and even in audio that reads the text. Thisseemslike a good way to present information. Research however, points out that learning is actually depressed when a graphic is explained by a combination of text and narration that reads the text.Working memory is burdened if an on-screen graphic is explained by both text and narration.

 

 

The application

 

It is advisable to avoid narration of text when there is a demanding visual illustration on the screen. This is especially important when working memory is subject to overload. For e.g.duringan animation in which learners haslimited control over the pacing or during the presentation of complex new information. In contrast, when there is no graphical information on the screen, then research to date would suggest that presenting words in the text and auditory format would help in learning.

 

Click here to see the example of redundancy principle

 

 

20.6 PERSONALIZATION PRINCIPLE:

 

Use of conversational tone and pedagogical agents to increase learning:

 

While in a conversation with someone you are expected to listen and respond in a meaningful way. This requires you to concentrate your attention on what the person is saying. Then you process it and generate a meaningful response.

 

The application

 

While you write the script for your e-Lessons, use first and second person constructions. For example, dialogue such as, “Hello friends! Are you ready to learn about legal and ethical issues in using ICT?”

 

One example is shown in the Figure below. In this program designed to teach reading comprehension at fourth to sixth grade level, the agent Jim is introduced and appears throughout the program to show readers comprehension strategies that have worked for him.

 

 

20.7 CONTIGUITY PRINCIPLE

 

Principle of Contiguity refers to the alignment of graphics and text on the screen. In e-Learning when a scrolling screen is used, the words are placed at the top and the illustration is placed under the words so that when you see the text you can’t see the graphic and vice versa. This is a common violation of the contiguity principle that states that graphics and text related to the graphics should be always placed close to each other on the screen for better retention.

 

Learning occurs in humans by way of working memory which is an active part of our memory system. Working memory is not very efficient. It can only hold seven facts or items at a time.

 

Working memory capacity is needed for learning to occur. When working memory becomes overloaded, learning is low. If words and the visuals they describe are separate from each other, the learner needs to expend extra cognitive resources to integrate them.

 

As against in materials in which the words and graphics are placed continuously, the integration is done for the learner.

 

20.8 SPATIAL CONTIGUITY PRINCIPLE

 

 

From the above slides, it is better to learn as the corresponding words are presented near corresponding graphics.

 

Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

  • Text should be close to or embedded within the images in the presentation.
  • Try to make text and graphics as integrated as possible for effective learning.
  • Placing text under an image is sufficient, but placing the text within the image is more effective way of presentation.
  • Descriptive words should be positioned inside graphic element. The contiguity principle is followed when the labels for the parts of the brain are placed physically near the parts of the brain to which they correspond.

 

Principle of spatial contiguity is violated in the following examples.

  • Captions are placed at the bottom of full screen.
  • While learning programming, the learner had to use both a manual and a computer.
  • Students view a screen with a diagram and text. Students read one or two sentences of text, and then inspected the portion of the diagram that was described, and then inspected a new portion of the diagram that was described, on so on.
  • Separating visuals and text may lead to lack of coordination.
  • Obscuring connection with scrolling text.
  • Feedback on a separate screen from practice question.
  • A second browser window covers related information on the main screen.
  • Directions for exercise on separate screen from exercise itself.

 

Psychology of contiguity

  • When words and images are separate, people must use scarce cognitive resources just to match them up. They might lead to overloading of working memory.
  • Fewer resourcesare available to organize and integrate material in memory.
  • Contiguity reduces load on working memory and thus increases learning. Learning process than become effective.

 

It would be difficult for the students to understand the concept of pitcher plant with the help of these two slides as pictures and related information is it is presented on two different slides.

 

Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.

 

Simultaneous presentation increases the chances that a learner will be able to hold corresponding visual and verbal representations of the same event in working memory at the same time.

  • Keep the text and visual material together in the slide.
  • Keep the presentation of words and pictures in a synchronized manner.
  • Not to have a slide of text and then a slide of a graphic illustrating the text on the previous slide as it might lead to confirm.
  • Think of each PowerPoint slide as an entity in itself. It should have an integrated image and text.

 

Principle of temporal contiguity is violated in the following examples:

 

  •  If students process the entire narration before they see an animation, they will not learn much as compare to when they hear the narration while they watch the animation.
  • A separation of text and graphics because of the need to scroll from one to the other on a computer screen.
  • Separation of quiz questions from feedback.
  • Separation of a main lesson page and linked windows that pop up.
  • The presentation of exercise directions.
  • Using a graphic legend to show the parts of the graphics.
  • A temporal separation of graphics and narration.

 

Advantages of using temporal contiguity principle:

 

The dual-channel capabilities of humans channels narration to the ears and animation to the eyes.The capacity of each channel is not limited and does not require that learners hold a lot of material in either channel. The need for active cognitive processing encourages learners to make connections between corresponding visual and verbal representations.

 

20.10 SPLIT ATTENTION PRINCIPLE:

 

This principle states that students learn better when the instructional material does not require them to split their attention between multiple sources of mutually referring information.

 

Instructional split-attention occurs when learners are required to split their attention. Attention is divided and they mentally integrate several scattered sources where each source of information is essential for understanding the material. Cognitive load is thus increased by the need to mentally integrate multiple sources of information. This increase in extraneous cognitive load will result in having a negative impact on learning.

 

The application:

 

  •  When use a Multimedia in an explanation, present words as auditory narration, rather than visually as on-screen text.
  • Information presented orally with animation can be split between the visual and verbal systems and processed with greater ease.

 

E.g. Students who viewed an animation depicting the formation of lightning while also listening to a corresponding narration learn better than students who viewed the same animation with corresponding on-screen text consisting of the same words as the narration.

 

20.11 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE PRINCIPLE:

 

Every human is unique in nature; each person experiences a different response to an exercise program. Some of these differences may be related to body size and shape, genetics, past experience, chronic conditions, injuries and gender.

 

Multimedia effects, contiguity effects, and split-attention effects depend on individual differences in the learner. Each learner is likely to have different learning experiences.

 

The aforementioned three principles are more important for low-knowledge learners than high-knowledge learners and for high-spatial, rather than low-spatial learners. Students who lack prior knowledge had stronger multimedia and contiguity effects than learners with higher prior knowledge.

 

The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning states that learners with high spatial ability can more easily hold visual images in working memory. They can benefit from the simultaneous presentation of words and pictures.

 

20.12 LET US SUM UP

 

While designing any type of e-content it is very essential to consider various principles. Even while selecting online material for students, one should do the selection based on

 

the principles. The main principles of using ICT are Multimedia principle, Coherence principle, Redundancy principle, Personalization principle, Principle of split-attention effect, Principle of spatial contiguity, Principle of Temporal contiguity, Principle of individual difference.

 

These principles should give you the basics since all e-Learning programs must rely on some combination of graphics, text, and audio to deliver their content in an effective manner. The research that has been done, the psychological foundations of why the principles work and some examples of how the principles are applied, should make one feel more confident in using them and give learners a better learning experience.

 

REFERENCES

 

  • Clark, R.C. (1999). Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-Based Instructional Materials. Silver Spring, MD: International Society for Performance Improvement.
  • Clark, R.C. and Mayer, R.E. (2002). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.
  • Clark, Ruth and Chopeta Lyons (2004). Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials. Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer
  • Harp, S.F. and Mayer, R.E. (1998). How seductive details do their damage: A theory of cognitive interest in science learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90 (3), 414-434.
  • Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., and Sweller, J. (2000). Journal of Educational Psychology, 92 (1), 126- 136.
  • Moreno, R. & Mayer, R.E. (2002). Verbal redundancy in multimedia learning: When reading helps listening. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94 (1), 156-163.
  • Reeves, B., &Nass, C. (1996). The Media Equation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Richard Mayer (2001). Multi-Media Learning. Cambridge University Press
  • http://www.cognitivedesignsolutions.com/Media/MediaPrinciples.htm