Multimedia - multiple media
Hypermedia - linked media

Most multimedia products use hypermedia

Based on cognitive theory of multimedia learning.

Cognitive theory explains how people learn from a combination of words (printed or spoken) and pictures (illustrations, photos, video). It is based on the assumptions that people have separate channels for processing visual and verbal information and can only process a few elements in each channel at any one time. Meaningful learning occurs when learners engage in the process of taking in information, mentally organizing the selection into coherent pictorial and verbal models, and integrating them with each other along with prior knowledge.

Cognitive overload is when too much information is presented that overwhelms the capacity of the learner to process the information.

As a teacher, what do we do with this information? It teaches us HOW to create the hypermedia products. We learn that it is best to :

omit non-essential information on the screen (PP)
highlight essential information
provide narration and animation without extra text
present graphics with spoken explanation rather than printed text.

(ex. reading, looking at picture, and listening)

PowerPoint found that video and PP media increased measures of enjoyment and motivation to learn more than in courses where it was purely verbal.

Audio - podcasts, provide music, recorded sounds
Video - demonstrations of procedures, screencapture homework (document camera)
Photographs - historical events, geographical locations, Google maps
Graphics - animations, attention getting cues
Text - signs, titles, summaries of written procedures or explanations (teacher created posters)

Content
Design
Organization
Appearance
Graphics and sound

...higher order thinking skills