CDLA · Module 2 — Learning science for digital media
Mayer’s multimedia principle: people learn better from words and graphics than from words alone — when the graphics do instructional work.
About 16 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
Mayer (2017) reviews twelve principles for computer-based multimedia. The first: people learn better from instruction with words and graphics than from words alone. Median effect size d = 1.67, from five experimental comparisons. Decorative stock photos of smiling teams do not count as the graphics in those experiments.
02
These are median ds from Mayer’s 2017 review — not a promise that your course will move by the same amount. Use them to prioritize design effort, and remember boundary conditions (often stronger for low-knowledge learners).
Source: Mayer, JCAL 2017. Multimedia 1.67; temporal contiguity 1.30; redundancy 0.87; spatial contiguity 0.79; personalization 0.79; modality 0.72; coherence 0.70; segmenting 0.70; signalling 0.46; pre-training 0.46.
Multimedia: 1.67
Temporal contiguity: 1.3
Redundancy: 0.87
Spatial contiguity: 0.79
Personalization: 0.79
Modality: 0.72
Coherence: 0.7
Segmenting: 0.7
Signalling: 0.46
Pre-training: 0.46
03
Earns the pixel: A labeled schematic of the machine the technician will open. · A before/after of a correctly vs incorrectly completed form. · A timeline of the decision the learner must make.
Spends the pixel: A stock photo of a headset beside “call center module.” · A 3D logo spin that does not show the interface. · An unrelated city skyline used as a “modern” background.