Abstract

This chapter describes five commonly held principles about multimedia learning that are not supported by research and suggests alternative generalizations that are more firmly based on existing studies. The questionable beliefs include the expectations that multimedia instruction: (1) yields more learning than live instruction or older media; (2) is more motivating than other instructional delivery options; (3) provides animated pedagogical agents that aid learning; (4) accommodates different learning styles and so maximizes learning for more students; and (5) facilitates student-managed constructivist and discovery approaches that are beneficial to learning.

Introduction

Multimedia instruction is one of the current examples of a new area of instructional research and practice that has generated a considerable amount of excitement. Like other new areas, its early advocates begin with a set of assumptions about the learning and access problems it will solve and the opportunities it affords (see, e.g., a report by the American Society for Training and Development, 2001). The goal of this chapter is to examine the early expectations about multimedia benefits that seem so intuitively correct that advocates may not have carefully examined research evidence for them. If these implicit assumptions are incorrect we may unintentionally be using them as the basis for designing multimedia instruction that does not support learning or enhance motivation.