A Study Of Richard E. Mayer's Research About Multimedia Learning

Richard E. Mayer is professor of psychology at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He has been a leader over the years in the application of psychological principles to the study of multimedia learning.Mayer's research on multimedia learning began in the late 1980s. Mayer's search for instructional methods that promote meaningful learning and the development of multimedia technology eventually led him to multimedia learning. Mayer thinks a good research should be grounded in a testable theory of learning, so he makes every effort to construct a testable cognitive theory of multimedia learning. On the basis of this theory, Mayer proposed a series of testable prediction about multimedia design. On the past 20years, Mayer and his colleagues have conducted dozens of experimental comparisons to test these predictions. In general, these predictions are based on multiple experimental comparisons.In Mayer' views, multimedia learning occurs when people construct knowledge from words and pictures. The process by which people construct knowledge is the focus of Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning. It is based on three important cognitive mechanisms derived from research from cognitive psychology: (1) Dual channels, that is, people have separate channels for processing visual and verbal material; (2) Limited capacity, that is, people are able to process only a few elements in each channel at any one time; (3) active processing, that is, meaningful learning occurs when learners actively engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning. There are five main cognitive processes in the cognitive theory of multimedia learning: (1) selecting words; (2) selecting images; (3) organizing words; (4) organizing images; (5) integrating. Social agency theory can be seen as an addition to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning explains how social cues affect multimedia learning. Based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and social agency theory, Mayer's research on multimedia design is mainly about four aspects: (1) is multimedia instruction effective? (2) Principles of multimedia design; (3) for who is multimedia more effective? (4) is dynamic-media better than static- media? Mayer's research about multimedia learning has two important features from teaching research. First are learner-centered approaches in multimedia design. Second, the principles of multimedia design are evidence-based. It has brought new insight to the instruction practice: fist, we should take learner-centered approaches rather than technology-centered approaches when applying technologies into instruction. Second, instructional design should be evidence-based rather than intuition-based. Last, Mayer's research on multimedia learning is an example of an application of psychology to instruction.