When designing instructive animations, weigh the trade-off between learner control and increased time-on-task¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (2 for, 2 mixed, 2 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend that designers of instructive animations seriously consider the trade-off between giving learners control and the subsequent increase in time-on-task, since "a price has to be paid in terms of time-on-task" for a small transfer gain. They propose an alternative research strategy: give learners more time without control, for example by slowing the presentation rate or adding longer pauses between segments, which might yield equal transfer improvement without the cognitive costs of deciding what to study and when.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Designers need log data or equivalent process measures on how learners actually use interactive features.

Constraints¶

• Findings come from a short, linear procedural instruction; the authors caution generalization, noting non-linear presentation of the lightning slides hindered learning in Moreno and Valdez (2005).
• The navigation menu labels contained only relative position ('slide 5'), not content, which may have made navigating inefficient.

Target Learners¶

• University students studying animated multimedia instructions

Target Learning Goals¶

• Efficient design of animated multimedia instructions that support transfer understanding

Claims¶

• Intensity of learner control use relates to retention gains but not to transfer performance [~W]
• Learner control over pace and order of an animated multimedia instruction improves transfer performance compared with system control [+W]
• Learner control substantially increases time-on-task in animated multimedia instruction [+W]
• Learner control does not increase self-reported cognitive involvement with the learning materials [-W]
• Learner control does not improve retention of the main steps in an animated multimedia instruction [-W]
• Prior knowledge, but not interest or estimated prior knowledge, predicts use of learner control options [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• When scripting collaborative tasks, decide on the learner-agency versus pre-defined-goals trade-off position deliberately

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Huib K. Tabbers, Bastiaan de Koeijer. (2010). Learner control in animated multimedia instructions. Instructional Science, 38, 441–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-009-9119-4