Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials

The premise in multimedia learning is that the combination of words and pictures enhance understanding and learning, improve retention and impact academic achievement. Therefore, it is noteworthy to integrate multimedia learning into education. It could be a video, PowerPoint presentation or an online course.

In order to maximize learning, Richard Mayer developed a theory of 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning. These principles are seen as a guidance to those who benefit from the multimedia istruction in education. The principles are primarily centered around the idea that minimizing extraneous load impacts studets’ learning in a positive way. In other words, once you take these principles into consideration, you use the real potantial of learners’ brain and foster understanding.

Principles of Multimedia Learning

1. The Coherence Principle

coherence principle

2. The Signaling Principle

  • The signaling principle

3. The Redundancy Principle

  • Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 1 – water bear learning redundancy principle

4. The Spatial Contiguity Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 2 – water bear learning spatial principle

5. The Temporal Contiguity Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 3 – water bear learning temporal principle

6. The Segmenting Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 4 – water bear learning segmenting principle

7. The Pre-Training Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 5 – water bear learning pretraining principle

8. The Modality Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 6 – water bear learning modality principle

9. The Multimedia Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 7 – water bear learning multimedia principle

10. The Personalization Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 8 – water bear learning personalization principle

11. The Voice Principle

Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 9 – water bear learning voice principle

12. The Image Principle

  • Multimedia Learning: 12 Principles in Instructional Materials 10 – water bear learning image principle

The images are taken from WaterBearLearning.