The essential e-learning design manual, updated with the latest research, design principles, and examples

e-Learning and the Science of Instruction is the ultimate handbook for evidence-based e-learning design. Since the first edition of this book, e-learning has grown to account for at least 40% of all training delivery media. However, digital courses often fail to reach their potential for learning effectiveness and efficiency. This guide provides research-based guidelines on how best to present content with text, graphics, and audio as well as the conditions under which those guidelines are most effective. This updated fourth edition describes the guidelines, psychology, and applications for ways to improve learning through personalization techniques, coherence, animations, and a new chapter on evidence-based game design. The chapter on the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning introduces three forms of cognitive load which are revisited throughout each chapter as the psychological basis for chapter principles. A new chapter on engagement in learning lays the groundwork for in-depth reviews of how to leverage worked examples, practice, online collaboration, and learner control to optimize learning. The updated instructor's materials include a syllabus, assignments, storyboard projects, and test items that you can adapt to your own course schedule and students.

Co-authored by the most productive instructional research scientist in the world, Dr. Richard E. Mayer, this book distills copious e-learning research into a practical manual for improving learning through optimal design and delivery.

* Get up to date on the latest e-learning research

* Adopt best practices for communicating information effectively

* Use evidence-based techniques to engage your learners

* Replace popular instructional ideas, such as learning styles with evidence-based guidelines

* Apply evidence-based design techniques to optimize learning games

e-Learning continues to grow as an alternative or adjunct to the classroom, and correspondingly, has become a focus among researchers in learning-related fields. New findings from research laboratories can inform the design and development of e-learning. However, much of this research published in technical journals is inaccessible to those who actually design e-learning material. By collecting the latest evidence into a single volume and translating the theoretical into the practical, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction has become an essential resource for consumers and designers of multimedia learning.

RUTH COLVIN CLARK has focused on evidence-based practice in design and development of workforce training materials for over three decades. Her recent books include Scenario-Based e-Learning and Evidence-Based Training, Second Edition.

RICHARD E. MAYER is a professor of psychology at the University of California Santa Barbara. He is an internationally recognized researcher in multimedia learning and has authored hundreds of research reports. He is the author of many books including Multimedia Learning, Computer Games for Learning, and editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, Second Edition.

Klappentext

The Best-Selling e-Learning Design Manual, Updated with the Latest Research, Design Principles, and Examples

Fully revised with two new chapters and sixteen updated chapters, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning is your essential reference for evidence-based guidelines for designing, developing and evaluating asynchronous and synchronous e-Learning for workforce training and educational courseware.

There is a great deal of valid experimental research on best methods to use in the design of e-learning lessons that support human learning processes. This scientific research is found in diverse academic journals and presented at research conferences not attended by most practitioners. In this book, Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer have gathered, organized, and illustrated that research to give you a practical guide in one place. In this Fourth Edition new evidence is included on the best use of text, audio, and graphics in e-learning as well as design guidelines for examples, practice exercises, computer-supported collaborative learning, and thinking skills lessons. Two new chapters focus on effective and ineffective forms of engagement in e-learning and the latest evidence on best practices in design of games for learning. You will find research summaries, examples, and checklists that show you:

• The kinds of visuals that best promote learning
• How and when to use instructional animations for optimal learning
• How best to use text and audio to describe visuals
• Techniques to improve learning through personalized language and on-screen agents
• What instructional techniques make learning games effective
• The effects of playing commercial games on basic cognitive skills

You can use the evidence and guidelines in this book to guide your own design decisions as well as to communicate proven practices to your development team, subject matter experts, or e-learning students.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

1. e-Learning: Promise and Pitfalls 7

Chapter Summary 7

What Is e-Learning? 8

Is e-Learning Better? 11

Th e Promises of e?]Learning 14

Th e Pitfalls of e?]Learning 18

Inform and Perform e?]Learning Goals 19

e?-Learning Architectures 20

What Is Effective e-Courseware? 22

Learning in e-Learning 24

2. How Do People Learn from e-Courses? 29

Chapter Summary 29

How Do People Learn? 31

Managing Limited Cognitive Resources During Learning 36

How e-Lessons Affect Human Learning 39

What We Don't Know About Learning 44

3 Evidence?-Based Practice 49

Chapter Summary 49

What Is Evidence-Based Practice? 50

Three Approaches to Research on Instructional Effectiveness 51

What to Look for in Experimental Comparisons 55

How to Interpret Research Statistics 57

How Can You Identify Relevant Research? 59

Boundary Conditions in Experimental Comparisons 60

Practical Versus Theoretical Research 61

What We Don't Know About Evidence-Based Practice 62

4 Applying the Multimedia Principle: Use Words and Graphics Rather Than Words Alone 67

Chapter Summary 67

Do Visuals Make a Difference? 69

Multimedia Principle: Include Both Words and Graphics 70

Some Ways to Use Graphics to Promote Learning 74

Psychological Reasons for the Multimedia Principle 76

Evidence for Using Words and Pictures 77

The Multimedia Principle Works Best for Novices 80

Should You Change Static Illustrations into Animations? 81

What We Don't Know About Visuals 84

5 Applying the Contiguity Principle: Align Words to Corresponding Graphics 89

Chapter Summary 89

Principle 1: Place Printed Words Near Corresponding Graphics 91

Violations of Contiguity Principle 1 94

Psychological Reasons for Contiguity Principle 1 99

Evidence for Contiguity Principle 1 100

Principle 2: Synchronize Spoken Words with Corresponding Graphics 104

Violations of Contiguity Principle 2 105

Psychological Reasons for Contiguity Principle 2 107

Evidence for Contiguity Principle 2 107

What We Don't Know About Contiguity 108

6 Applying the Modality Principle: Present Words as Audio Narration Rather Than On-Screen Text 113

Chapter Summary 113

Modality Principle: Pres…