Multimedia and technology have become something we can’t live without on a daily basis. When was the last time you got out of bed and didn’t check your phone? Or the last time you left the house without some device that connected you to some type of multimedia? With all of the different devices we use, media is there in an instant. Complimenting multimedia with learning is a no-brainer. If you take learning to the tool people are most comfortable with (in day-to-day functions), the learner will embrace it…if used correctly. When designing learning, the use of media and how it applies to the learning environment needs to be evaluated carefully before it is incorporated.
As a leader of an instructional design department, we use media for learning every day in what we create and deliver for learning. Whether it is through our Learning Management System (LMS), Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, etc. we are constantly using media to develop and distribute our learning material. Learning through media is critical in our organization because we have over 530 medical centers across the United States and must deliver new learning on processes and systems to remain current with regulations and system updates. With this type of dispersed workforce, it is very expensive to conduct classroom training to reach all of our colleagues. Using media is very effective in our line of business and the way our infrastructure is set up, as we have to reach thousands of employees, in a short time, during most training rollouts.
We must be careful in not using new media just because it’s the latest and greatest tool. A multimedia tool might not be the appropriate delivery selection to meet certain learning objectives. Multimedia instruction should be used to augment existing cognitive theory and instructional design principles. When we develop new material in an eLearning tool or create a video on YouTube, we still need to consider our objectives and the tasks we want the learner to accomplish. We need to develop ways to evaluate the success of our multimedia training the same way we would assess other forms of instruction. The educator needs to have the underlying knowledge foundation in learning and instructional design to succeed in reaching the learner (McCombs, 1986).
Designing instruction from a multimedia perspective makes creating instruction easier if laid out strategically with a sound instructional design method. When using a single medium for instruction, it can be more complex for the instructor as they have to carefully plan what they want to convey to the learner and, simultaneously, be creative. While the instruction must be intentional to get the message across with fewer media, it can keep cognitive overload to a minimum if designed correctly. Using single media can also take less time and use fewer resources if additional resources are needed for each media.
Whether or not a media’s capabilities make a difference in learning depends on how they correspond to the particular learning situation, the tasks and learners involved, and the way the medium’s capabilities are used by the instructional design (Kozma, 1991, p 181). Instructional design should not be based on the media, but rather the media choice should be made based on the design and the audience.
Amy Kidder 