Part 6 of 10 in the Creating effective eLearning Modules Series (Redundancy): http://adobe.ly/ekOKz2

The focus of this week’s eSeminar was on application of the Redundancy Principle of Multimedia eLearning Design and Development. We spent more of our time this week examining application of the principle and a bit less on theory. This trend persists from last week as we continue the many part series designed to help put together the best eLearning modules. Each week I describe an element of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia eLearning and give examples of how to implement that principle using Adobe Captivate and Adobe eLearning Suite.

The Redundancy principle in a nutshell suggests that people learn better when printed words and spoken words are not exact duplicates of one another. In other words, people learn less when you say and print text that is the same at the same time. I’ve included a link to the downloadable version of the slides (this one includes my speaking notes) and have given the usual embedded version below for your convenience.

During the session I used a Captivate movie to demonstrate many of the core concepts. That movie is embedded below so you can tinker and see how it works. You can also download the source code for this demo here.

Finally, I made a quick YouTube Demo of another example of this project which displays the avoidance of Redundancy in action. In this case in the form of audio used to coordinate with animation and illustration, but no on screen text that could confuse the learner. Note that this is the same content I used for last week’s youTube video on advanced questions, but the explanation in this case focuses on how to create the animation.

Below are the URL’s to the Multimedia session I did last week, along with links to the others in the series, also included are those which are coming in the next couple of months.

Available Now On Demand:

Part 1:Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules

LINK: http://bit.ly/aPCSxb

Part 2: Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules: Balancing cognitive load in eLearning content with Adobe Captivate 5

LINK: http://bit.ly/boLHVX

Part 3: Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules: Applying Personalization to eLearning with Adobe Captivate 5

LINK: http://bit.ly/bkj7dP

Part 4:Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules: The Multimedia Principle

LINK: http://bit.ly/aCHm2e

Part 5:Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules: The Contiguity Principle

LINK: http://bit.ly/gvbcLP

Part 6:Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules: The Redundancy Principle

LINK: http://adobe.ly/ekOKz2

Upcoming:

January 5 – Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules Part 7: Coherence

http://bit.ly/drzYi4

This one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on creating effective eLearning content. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as Coherence, which suggests that off topic ancillary material can distract from learning. This theory stands in opposition to arousal theory, providing research based evidence that when stimulating animation or any form of non-relevant information is provided, it can actually decrease the efficacy of the instruction. Examples will focus on the use of Templates, Master Slides & Object Styles in Adobe Captivate 5.

January 12 – Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules Part 8: Segmenting

http://bit.ly/dudvJs

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will present a one hour online eSeminar for users of Adobe Captivate and / or Adobe eLearning Suite. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as the Segmenting Principle, which suggests that authors of eLearning content should break content up into small pieces or chunks in order to help avoid cognitive overload for the learners. Examples will focus on the use of Slide Paradigm, Object Styles & PPT Import in Adobe Captivate 5.

January 19 – Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules Part 9: Pre-training

http://bit.ly/dj0uHG

This one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on creating effective eLearning content. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as pre-training, which suggests that elearning content authors should first build up basic information about essential elements which are pre-requisites to understanding the larger concepts. Examples will focus on the use of Quizzes, the Quiz Results Analyzer and the Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate 5.

February 2 – Making Effective Adobe Captivate eLearning Modules Part 10: Individual Differences

http://bit.ly/bvrOO6

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will present a one hour online eSeminar for users of Adobe Captivate and / or Adobe eLearning Suite. The session focuses on the Multimedia eLearning Design Principle known as the Individual Differences Principle, which suggests that design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high knowledge learners, and for high-spatial learners rather than for low-spatial learners. Examples will focus on the use of Advanced Actions, ADA/508 Compliance, Closed Captions, Localization, Video Closed Caption, Branching and User Variables in Adobe Captivate 5.

Want to do more reading? Here’s a brief list of recommended supplemental reading:

Clark & Mayer (2007.) eLearning: and the Science of Instruction http://amzn.to/chkPuw (Links to Amazon – but this book is pretty widely available.)

A short but clear overview of the history of learning theory.