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Multimedia Builds Learner Confidence
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 10:34 AM by Jason Barker
Building on a point I made in my previous post, I earlier wrote regarding the effectiveness of multimedia educational applications in building learner confidence of success:
There are legitimate concerns regarding motivational differences between the genders. Studies have determined that males engage in substantially greater computer usage at both home and school, are more likely to participate in extracurricular computer organizations, and engage in far more elective programming activities than females. At the same time, Astrid M. Sølvberg has found that, after nine months of computer use and computer-based learning in school, females’ confidence in success and contingency beliefs reached the same level as that of males.
The issue in gender differences in motivation is not necessarily control beliefs regarding computer skills - Betty J. Young reports that there are no significant differences between males and females in self-perception of ability, with slightly more than half of both genders rating themselves as “great” or “pretty good” - but instead is with learning style preferences: a successful computer-based learning application for females offers many ways to learn and multiple format representations; supports methods of knowledge acquisition that are connected, relational and holistic; permits participation in which emotions and experiences contribute to learning; and design offers learner control. As we shall see, these are not simply ways in which to increase female involvement in computer-based learning: they are solid principles for multimedia design that will increase user success and satisfaction between both genders.
What are the elements of multimedia programs that properly motivate adolescents to learn? Thomas Malone and Mark Lepper maintain that four elements enhance intrinsic motivation: challenge, curiosity, control, and fantasy. A particularly useful theory of motivation that has much in common with Malone and Lepper’s theory is John M. Keller’s ARCS theory, which considers four elements:
- Attention - Attention must be captured early in the lesson, and maintained through perceptual and content variety (thereby maintaining curiosity)
- Relevance - Showing learners that what they are learning will be useful to them. Malone and Lepper’s concept of fantasy, in which the user is encouraged to imagine him- or herself in specific contexts using realistic imagery, can be particularly useful in demonstrating relevance
- Confidence - Three practices build learner confidence: making learning expectations clear to the learner; building the expectation for success, then providing opportunities in which the learner can be successful; and giving the learner personal control (which is essential to cognitive flexibility theory)
- Satisfaction - Several activities increase user satisfaction by enabling learners to apply knowledge in real contexts. Such activities can include providing extrinsic rewards; giving encouragement to maintain or boost morale; and by maintaining equity, which involves lesson consistency (particularly to the stated objectives and expectations).
While computer-based learning can be very effective in motivating learning, it must be remembered that motivation cannot be imposed by the multimedia developer or the instructor: the individual learner must ultimately be open and responsive to motivating elements.
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