1) Coherence Principle involves the removal of excluding extraneous information from learning materials. (Clark & Mayer, 2011). Its most important criteria is that no media of any form (sound, graphics, etc) should not be introduce if it does not promote learning.
In my workplace – a vocational training institute, we have a lot of teachers who have developed instructional slides for use in a face-to-face classroom.
2)One unsuccessful attempt to apply the coherence principle
One of the teachers was teaching the topic of turbine gas engine when he placed a loop animation of airplanes flying on the top right hand corner of the slides, while the video on the turbine gas engine in the middle of the slide. I felt that the loop animation of the airplanes is not required, and it definitely distract the learner from focusing on the main video in the middle of the slide. This has violated what Clark and Mayer (2011) have described, “Coherence Principle 2: Avoid e-Lessons with Extraneous Graphics” (p.159).
One successful attempt to apply the coherence principle
Another teacher was teaching the topic on how to use the hairdryer properly in the context of a hair salon. On her instructional slides, she only included a photograph of the hair dryer, with clearly defined labels that help learners to relate to parts and functions of the hair dryer. She did not include any extra media that hinders learning. The slides was clear and contain just enough information for the learners based on the instructional objectives.
3)Relationship of Coherence Principle to other Multimedia Learning Principles
I would describe Mutlimedia Principles, Contiguity Principle, Modality Principle, Redundancy Principle as the key foundational principles to guide the designer to know HOW different forms of media should be included in the learning resource. Whereas for the Coherence Principle, it will guide the designer to know WHAT forms of resources/media are to remove from the learning resource. It is almost liken to the analogy of a gardener, who decides which part of the plant should be pruned away to promote better growth and fruiting of the plant.
4)Relationship of Coherence Principle to Fundamental Theories of Psychology
Based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, Clark and Mayer (2011), explains that extraneous sounds and graphics can caused unnecessary overload in the cognitive system, thus impairing learning. This is basically the coherence principle in which the learning designer should avoid unnecessary sounds and graphics that does not contribute to meeting in instructional goal.
To better understanding the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, we must revisit the assumptions of the theory by Mayer (1998). This theory proposes three main assumptions, one of which is that there are two separate channels (auditory and visual) for processing information. Thus the coherence principle is basically built upon the psychology of how the mind processes information.
5)What do I personally like or dislike about this principle?
First of all, since this principle is based on evidence-based research – I appreciate that the principle is not based on just mere cognitive formulation of ideas by the writers. I felt that it does help the learning designer to consider again what they should exclude.
One of the constraints bought out by the writers is that the research is mainly based on learners who are novices. A further research was carried out by Muller, Lee and Sharma (2008), to study how the coherence principle can be generalized to real learning environments such as students in the university. From the study, “adding approximately 50% extra interesting but irrelevant information to a multimedia treatment did not result in lower achievement on a post-test as would be predicted by the coherence principle.” (p.9). One of the possible reasons specified is that the extra interesting but irrelevant information could have accounted for maintaining learner’s attention in the authentic learning settings employed within in the experiment.
Secondly, Clark and Mayer (2011) also brought out the fact that not adequate research is being done to discuss about the coherence principle in games design.
When I took the Edtech module in Educational Games and Simulation last semester, I learnt about the importance of using Games as an “Emotioneering” Tool. This means we can use the games visuals, music etc to guide the learners into a state of emotions that is usually not possible with non-games resources. I felt the coherence principle was not able to adequately guide game developers to decide what is considered “extraneous”, which is quite an area of subjectivity in terms of opinions from different subject matter experts.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). e-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rd ed.). Pfeiffer.
Mayer, R. E.; R. Moreno (1998). A cognitive theory of multimedia learning: Implications for design principles”. http://www.unm.edu/~moreno/PDFS/chi.pdf
Muller, D. A., Lee, K. J., & Sharma, M. D. (2008). Coherence or interest: Which is most important in online multimedia learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(2), 211–221.
Faith Foo: EDTECH Learning Log 