Investigating How Multimedia and Modality Design Principles Influence Student Learning Performance, Satisfaction, Mental Effort, and Visual Attention

This study investigated the effects of multimedia and modality design principles using a learning intervention about Australia with a sample of college students and employing measures of learning outcomes, visual attention, satisfaction, and mental effort. Seventy-five college students were systematically assigned to one of four conditions: a) text with pictures, b) text without pictures, c) narration with pictures, or d) narration without pictures. No significant differences were found among the four groups in learning performance, satisfaction, or self-reported mental effort, and participants rarely focused their visual attention on the representational pictures provided in the intervention. Neither the multimedia nor the modality principles held true in this study. However, participants in narration environments focused significantly more visual attention on the “Next” button, a navigational aid included on all slides. This study contributes to the research on visual attention and navigational aids in multimedia learning, and it suggests such features may cause distractions, particularly when spoken text is provided without on-screen text. The paper also offers implications for the design of multimedia learning resources so as to improve learning for all students.