33 ( 3 ) Fall / automne 2007 Video-based multimedia designs : A research study testing learning effectiveness

Abstract: This paper summarizes research conducted on three computer-based video models’ effectiveness for learning based on memory and comprehension. In this quantitative study, a two-minute video presentation was created and played back in three different types of media players, for a sample of eighty-seven college freshman. The three players evaluated include a standard QuickTime video/audio player, a QuickTime player with embedded triggers that launched HTML-based study guide pages, and a Macromedia Flash-based video/audio player with a text field, with user activated links to the study guides as well as other interactive on-line resources. An assumption guiding this study was that the enhanced designs presenting different types of related information would reinforce the material and produce better comprehension and retention. However, findings indicate that This paper summarizes research conducted on three computer-based video models’ effectiveness for learning based on memory and comprehension. In this quantitative study, a two-minute video presentation was created and played back in three different types of media players, for a sample of eighty-seven college freshman. The three players evaluated include a standard QuickTime video/audio player, a QuickTime player with embedded triggers that launched HTML-based study guide pages, and a Macromedia Flash-based video/audio player with a text field, with user activated links to the study guides as well as other interactive on-line resources. An assumption guiding this study was that the enhanced designs presenting different types of related information would reinforce the material and produce better comprehension and retention. However, findings indicate that the standard video player was the most effective overall, which suggests that media designs able to control the focus of a learner’s attention to one specific stream of information, a single-stream focused approach, may be the most effective way to present media-based content. Résumé: Cet article résume une étude vérifiant l’efficacité de l’apprentissage basé sur la mémorisation et la compréhension, conduite à partir de trois modèles basés sur la vidéo informatisée. Dans cette étude quantitative, une vidéo de deux minutes a été créée et lue sur trois types de lecteurs différents, pour un échantillon de 87 étudiants universitaires de première année. Les trois lecteurs évalués comprenaient un lecteur standard audio/vidéo Quicktime, un lecteur Quicktime avec déclencheurs intégrés qui lançait un guide d’étude en HTML, et un lecteur audio/vidéo Flash Macromedia avec un champ texte, comprenant des liens activés par l’usager vers des guides d’étude et d’autres ressources interactives en ligne. Une supposition guidant cette étude était que les designs enrichis présentant différents types d’informations interreliées renforceraient le matériel et produiraient une meilleure compréhension et une meilleure rétention. Cependant, les résultats indiquent que le lecteur vidéo standard était le plus efficace, ce qui suggère que les designs de médias concentrant l’attention de l’apprenant sur une source d’information spécifique seraient la meilleure façon de présenter du contenu médiatisé.


Introduction
As different forms of media converge via newly developed technologies, the development and use of multimedia designs that incorporate video playback as a major component have been adopted by educational multimedia creators.There is a significant body of video-based research that suggests that cognitive processing, both conscious and unconscious, is largely bypassed during the act of screening video (largely based on studies of television viewing).According to visual theorist Fred Barry and others, video and audio playback tap into the emotional part of the brain, and viewers become emotionally, but not logically, involved with the medium (Barry, 1997;Halloran, 1970) .Emotional versus logical involvement may occur because as viewers watch television, their brains move into a hypnotic alpha rhythm stage, much like daydreaming, even after watching television for as little as thirty seconds (Barry, 1997) .As viewers become relaxed, the left side of their brain, which tends to process information and is more analytical, becomes inactive, allowing the right side of their brain to process information both uncritically and emotionally (Dixon, 1981) .In such a state, viewers are susceptible to emotional manipulation just when they are forming ideas and attitudes about the viewed material and content (Barry, 1997) .Krugman (1970) argues that while the brain's response to print is characterized by fast brain waves and mental activity, the brain's response to television can be described as passive and is largely made up of slow brain waves.What can be concluded from this information is that viewers tend to become emotionally involved with television and that images stream into the psyche bypassing the logical part of the brain (Krugman, 1970) .

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of the existing research on multimedia learning-which may include the use of text, spoken word, video, audio, animation, and graphics-appears to be performed only on a few specific types of media designs, such as the combination of the spoken word and animation.The author anticipated some interesting and insightful results from a comparative study of three different multimedia designs that shared the same content, focused on video playback, Spoken narration combined with an onscreen visual guide that does not split the attention of the learner, but in fact can enhance the experience in certain instances.• Sudden onset of pictures and animation is more effective for learning than static pictures alone, presumably by directing the learner's attention and focus to specific elements in the visual display.• The sudden onset of having visual elements appear produces the same learning enhancements as an animated presentation.Thus, the procedure of flashing appropriate parts of the pictorial information as they are described in the spoken narrative is as effective as a full animation.(Craig, Gholson, & Driscoll, 2002) Researchers have focused on how various design features relate to human information processing, such as comparing and testing designs that place a light load versus a heavy load on a learner's visual processing channel.Allan Pavio (1986), f or example, developed a human cognitive theory termed "dual coding", in which he makes a case that the human brain is divided into two cognitive subsystems, one for processing nonverbal objects and information, and one for processing language.The research done by both Mayer and Pavio provide a theoretical base for the design of the present study in which the same video content is presented using three different models and tested for learning effectiveness.Purpose of Study Video and other media forms in multimedia environments can be effective for learning, especially in designs aimed at a constructivist notion of effective learning.Research has been done using specific designs and components and comparing multimedia to traditional learning approaches.More studies that test specific variables and components of similar designs that are conceived based on the same video/audio playback component, but presented in different forms to teach the same subject matter, are needed.The present study was designed to help address this specific knowledge gap.This type of research is important as different forms of computer media, like streaming QuickTime video, now offers designers the ability to quickly create multimedia environments within these specific formats (by embedding triggers in the video stream itself).This technology enables the content creator, such as a video editor, to create a multimedia playback environment, which is a fundamental shift.Typically the process of post production where content is created through video and audio editing has been limited to a single screen, but these creators can now include other media components such as pop-up windows in their work.While designing the multimedia models for this study, the author ensured that one model would utilize steaming QuickTime video with embedded triggers that launched pop-up study guide windows during the presentation.questions for this study are: "How well do each of the three multimedia designs perform as learning tools?", and "How do these three different designs compare to each other when presenting the same content?"The goal is to study the effectiveness of specific types of multimedia elements and designs by testing subjects for both retention and comprehension from the presentation.The researcher's first hypothesis is that the video model with a single screen of video playback (Model B) would emerge as the most effective overall.The researcher's second hypothesis is that Model B, that combined single screen video playback with the embedded triggers in an enhanced version, would provide a significant increase in retention and comprehension.This second hypothesis is based on the assumption that the learner's connection with a traditional video segment is largely emotional / affective, and would improve when combined with the carefully placed pop-up study guides that reinforce the material being presented.Research Design The research project used quantitative methods to evaluate the three different multimedia models in a series of controlled study sessions in a computer lab environment.In each session, only one of the three models was presented to a group of university undergraduate communication students.These participants all shared similar academic achievement scores, a high level of computer literacy, and a declared major in communications, as well as belonging to the same early-twenties age group.The controlled environment included headphones for each student so as not to be distracted by other participants, and teaching assistants who guided each participant to their workstation and closely monitored the lab (Figure 1).Each model's design and effectiveness was tested and measured by a single common method based on a written test, measuring each learner's retention and understanding of the material presented during a session of one of the three models.This test was evaluated and refined during the pre-study, and the final version had ten questions that measured retention, and four of the questions also measured comprehension of basic concepts presented in the material.Each participant's model was pre-selected based on the study's need to create sample groups of the same size for each model.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Study session in computer lab

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Traditional Linear Video Stream Model A: The QuickTime movie was played back in the viewer on the desktop sized to 320 X 240 pixels.The video screen could enlarge to twice its normal size before suffering from pixilated video.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Non-Linear User-Controlled Video Model C: This screen shows several of the additional browser windows open.The user had the ability to open and place the linked browser windows in any configuration they chose .

Figure 5
Figure 5 shows the overall scores for each computer-based video model, with Q1 through Q10 denoting the ten questions used to determine each model's effectiveness.In seven of the ten study questions, Model A either tied or surpassed the scores of the other two models overall.The exceptions to this trend were Model B in question 5, with a slight lead over the other models, and Model B in question 9 with a significant lead over the other models.It is also interesting to note at this point, the interactive multimedia Model C lagged behind in eight out of the ten questions.

Figure 5 .Figure
Figure 5. Models A, B and C overall scores