Multimedia learning

This is a talk by Richard Mayer, one of the doyens of multimedia learning, at a HILT meeting. I find much of his work thought provoking and, at the very least, he makes me question much of what I do. But I have lots of questions: issues about transference and generalisability of the data; the applicability of the principles to advanced or at least non-novice learners (as he admits); and how this all interacts with Bjork’s desirable difficulty and motivation. A good intro to the topic is the book edited by him, The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, although he has written stuff specifically for a medical audience too . My most insightful moment has been to realise that much as our students complain about lack of feedback, it is the lack of systematic student -> teacher feedback that limits what I do. The ‘curse of knowledge’ looms large, but I am deeply antagonistic to the idea that you cannot substantially improve teaching at both the macro and the micro levels. And without being ‘trendy’.