Underpinning Principles of Presentations

An introduction

• When it comes to presentations most of the underpinning principles which are used stem from standard design theory. This in turn is supported by good practice in Human Computer Interaction (HCI).

• This involves reference to ‘learning theories’ (e.g. Human Information Processing, Cognitive Loading etc.)

• For instance, text and graphics should be easy to see, slides should have generous amounts of space, and the audience should understand the relationship of each slide to the entire presentation.

• We will limited our introduction to the work of Richard E. Mayers to give ourselves a basic start:

The promise of multimedia learning is that, by combining pictures with words, we will be able to foster deeper learning in students.

First, multimedia instruction messages can be designed in ways that are consistent with how people learn, and thus can serve as aids to human

Second, a growing research base showing that students learn more deeply from well designed multimedia presentations than from traditional verbal-only messages, including improved performance on testsof problem-solving transfer

The promise of multimedia learning is that teachers can tap the power of visual and verbal forms of expression in the service of promoting student understanding. (Mayer 2003)

Mayer's design principles

Mayer's research clearly demonstrated that under some conditions learners learn better when they are able to hold corresponding visual and verbal representations in working memory at the same time.

Therefore Mayer formulatesdo's and dont's for instructionaldesigners

Multimedia Effect

• “ The multimedia effect refers to the finding that students learn more deeply from a multimedia explanation presented in words and pictures than in words alone” (Mayer, 2003).

• Multimedia Design Principle: Add pictures to words

• A message created with words and corresponding images is better retained than a message created with words alone

Contiguity Effect

“ The spatial contiguity effect is that students learn more deeply from multimedia explanations when corresponding words and pictures are presented near to rather than far from each other on the page or screen.” (Mayer, 2003) Contiguity Design Principle: Place words near correspondingpictures

• Spatial contiguity principle:Learning is improved when images andcorresponding words are spatiallyintegrated. For example, legends shouldbe close to the correspondingpicture elements

• Temporal contiguity principle: Learning is improved when visual and verbal elements are presented together

Design Principle

Personalization:“ The personalization effect is that students learn more deeply from a multimedia explanation when the words are presented in conversational style rather than formal style.” (Mayer, 2003)

Use conversational style for words.

Coherence Effect

• “ The coherence effect refers to the finding that students learn more deeply from a multimedia explanation when extraneous material is excluded rather than included.” (Mayer, 2003)

• Coherence Design Principle: Eliminate extraneous words and pictures

• Learning is better when words, images and sounds not directly useful for comprehension are removed. Anecdotes, illustrations and ambient music are example of often unnecessary elements.

Modality Design

• Modality Students learn better when their visual/pictorial channel is not overloaded (i.e. when they must process words and graphics simultaneously at rapid pace) (Clark and Mayer, 2003)

• Modality design principle: Present Words as speech rather than onscreen text

• Animated pictures presented with an audio commentary are better understood than accompanied with on screen text.

Redundancy Design

• Redundancy Similar as above

• Redundancy design principle Presenting words in bothtext and audio narration canhurt learning

• Learning is better when presenting an animation with an audio commentary than an animation, its commentary and the corresponding text.

Use spatial relationships to present information clearly.

The design concept of proximity holds that items next to each other appear related to each other. Items distant from each other appear unrelated.

Use alignment to create a visual focus

Place text and graphics on the page so that they line up to create a unified whole. Alignment creates a visual focus that ties the different elements together.

Use repetition to establish patterns

Graphics and headers should appear in the same place on each slide, and they should have the same design features. Footers should also be consistent on every slide.

Use contrast

Make your text stand out against the background. Use graphics or colours to signal important information.

Use moderation

Using too many colours will confuse your audience. Filling every inch of the screen with information will overwhelm your audience. Including meaningless graphics or sounds will annoy your audience.