Mayer’s Principles & Screen casting

Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning focuses on how people learn from both words and pictures, and it’s key principles are great tools for teachers to incorporate when teaching.

Dual Coding

Out of all of the principles of cognitive theory of multimedia I looked at, dual coding theory was the one I resonated with the most. This theory suggests that we have two distinct channels through which we can process information at the same time. We have a visual channel used for processing images, diagrams, videos and written text, and we have a auditory chanel that processes spoken words and sounds.

 Personally for me when learning, I find it very useful to be able to connect what I am verbally learning to an image or video. For instance in my art therapy exercise, I explained how to use Pinterest to make your vision board while also using images on the app to show how to do the task. This way the learner will use their visual channel and auditory channel.

Cognitive Load Theory

The principle that surprised me the most was cognitive load theory. This theory proposes that different types of memory have limited capacities. Overloading these capacities leads to inefficient learning. I didn’t realize that this was a legitimate theory, although it does make sense. I have experienced this firsthand when having to read 40 page chapter’s for homework, and retain the information. I feel as if I can barley retain any of the information and feel overwhelmed. Now I realize this is because I am overloading my memory which leads to my ineffective learning. Something to stay away from doing while teaching.

I kept in mine this principle when screencasting because in my art therapy exercise I made sure to talk about the key aspects and reasoning of the exercise without overwhelming the learners to a point it was too much to retain all that was said. 

Screencasting – Zoom

For my art therapy exercise I was screencasting using Zoom. This way my learners could see myself speaking and also visually see how to create a vision board using Pinterest.