According to the definition of multimedia, it is referring to more than one medium of expression or communication by combining text, graphics, audio, and video with links and tools that let the user navigate, interact, create, and communicate to the material. In this case, I created a video of a previous presentation I did. The presentation was presented in person hence there was no actual recording but I decided to improve the slides following the different multimedia skills we learned in class. To start, I used QuickTime Player to record what the slides looked like before the I made any changes.

After looking after the original slides it quickly came to my attention that I was not doing a good job with many of the Mayer’s principles. I think I did a good job in choosing different images for media but the problem was that I really needed to follow the Redundancy Principle which suggests that humans learn best with narration and graphics, as opposed to narration, graphics, and text. Many of the slides were completely flooded with text which could instead just be simplified and delivered without having any text at all and just a picture with audio in the background. Another one of the principles that stood out to me was the Spatial Contiguity Principle which could also be applied to the slides as I would be getting rid of some text and would really have to focus on how the slides looked and if they would be enjoyable for the listener. Lastly by having a recording and not just the slides I would be able to improve and use the Modality, Temporal Contiguity, and Segmenting principles. To summarize, these three principles state that humans learn best when using audio compared to text and when the information is given to them by more than one source in a digestible section. I think the slides already segmented each part very well but they could still be cleaned up a little bit. To make it super accessible to everyone I decided to make the slides quite simple and mainly visual as my audio recording will make up for the lack of text. Too much text or complex imagery can be distracting according to the modality principle.

While recording the video I tried my best to follow the Voice and Personalization Principle’s by presenting in a more informal, conversational voice than an overly formal voice. Basically I was trying my best to sound like a human and not a robot. However I found this quite tough as I have anxiety when presenting and it was hard to be super fluent while being under pressure. I also decided not to have a picture of myself in my presentation as the image principle states, people do not necessarily learn better when the speaker’s image is added to the screen. Thus I thought my voice and the slides was perfect.

Aside from the Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia, I tried to use the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines to make my video as accessible as possible. This is seen by having audio, imagery, and closed capturing. By using these methods I believe I improved the overall accessibility and was able to make the material more accessible, enjoyable and effective for all types of learners.

The whole goal for this assignment was to deliver the information about ancient chinese painting in a more accessible form and although my approach was quite simple I believe that a huge part of accessibility and effective teaching is to keep it simple.

References:

Mayer, R., & Fiorella, L. (2014). Principles for Reducing Extraneous Processing in Multimedia Learning: Coherence, Signaling, Redundancy, Spatial Contiguity, and Temporal Contiguity Principles. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 279-315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139547369.015

Principles of Multimedia Learning – Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services. (2016, July 19). Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services. https://ctl.wiley.com/principles-of-multimedia-learning/