Multimedia Materials Are More Effective in Feedback Than in Main Instruction (Poster 9)

• In Event: Thursday Poster Session 2:30 pm
  In Poster Session: Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Learning Environments

Abstract

While it is well established that multimedia materials presented during instruction often increase learning, prior research has mostly incorporated only text in the feedback. The current experiment tests whether multimedia in feedback benefits students' learning. We randomly assigned undergraduate students (n = 132) to one of four conditions using a 2 (Main Instruction Modality: only text vs multimedia) x 2 (Feedback Modality: only text vs multimedia) design and tested their learning of conditional probability problems. The results suggest that multimedia feedback is more beneficial than only text feedback, and more surprisingly, the benefits of multimedia are larger in feedback than in main instruction. Moreover, students’ self-ratings suggest a mismatch between their perception of benefits versus realized benefits of the materials.

Authors

• Sebahat Gok, Northwestern University

• Tongyao Zhang, Indiana University

• Robert Goldstone, Indiana University

• Emily R. Fyfe, Indiana University