Review by: Hartmann, Werner (2004-06-18)

Although multimedia is widely hailed as a strong improvement in education, there is still no clear evidence whether multimedia really enhances teaching and learning. The paucity of substantial evidence supporting the potential benefits of multimedia learning can at least partially be explained by the lack of common definitions underlying the design of studies. The article addresses the definition of the terms “learning” and “multimedia” and demonstrates that careful attention to the definitions of these two terms is a prerequisite for meaningful results.

Four concrete obstacles in measuring the effectiveness of multimedia learning are identified, and guidelines to prevent these obstacles are given for studies of the effectiveness of multimedia learning. (1) It is difficult to define and measure learning. Any study should therefore specify what it means by learning conformant with an accepted learning theory. (2) Learning depends on the student population and thus any study should state whether its target audience are, for example, children, high school students, or adults in continuing education. (3) Teaching and learning depend on the subject matter. Any study should indicate the subject matter taught. (4) There are many definitions of the term “multimedia” with different types of media and different levels of interactivity. Any study of the effectiveness of multimedia as a tool to enhance learning should describe the type of multimedia used with respect to some commonly used taxonomy.

The article summarizes a study based on the four guidelines high-lightened above. The article first addresses the question whether a study based on narrowly defined terms of learning and multimedia can provide meaningful results. The study described in the article investigates the question whether a tutorial enriched with animations produces greater understanding than a text-only tutorial. The students participating in the study were highly motivated adults, and the subject matter were Boolean queries used for searching the Internet. The study reveals evidence that a carefully planned experimental design can provide insights as to whether multimedia makes a difference or not.

Focussing on some high-level aspects of multimedia learning, the article gives a compact overview of possible benefits and pitfalls of multimedia learning. With its well chosen references the article can be recommended as a good starting point for further reading on multimedia learning. The subject matter itself underlying the tutorial in the study is presented in a text-oriented way that is somewhat old-fashioned. Research on the possible benefits of multimedia in education should make more creative use of a broader range of multimedia.