The Effects Of Emotional Design On Multimedia Learning Of College Students

With the development of technology,multimedia has become a widely used teaching method in the classroom.Previous research into multimedia learning has mainly focused on cognitive factors.Emotional factors have so far been widely neglected.In the past years,research on multimedia learning has begun to consider the influence of affective processes,such as emotions.Even though there is a consensus that emotions do influence learning,there are inconsistent findings on the direction of effects.Thus,two contrasting hypotheses can be derived: The emotions-as-suppressor-of-learning hypothesis postulates that emotions may impair learning,while the emotions-as-facilitator-of-learning hypothesis assumes that emotions lead to better learning outcomes.Taking into consideration that the design multimedia learning environments should be optimized to enhance learning processes,the question emerges whether certain design elements in such a learning environment evoke emotions and influence learning.The present study used eye tracking technology to probe the effect of design elements of color and anthropomorphism on multimedia learning.Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions created by two design factors with two levels each: color(chromatic or achromatic),and text(positive or neutral).An established multimedia instruction about biology,specifically on the structure and function of the ATP synthase molecule,served as learning material.In order to provide sound explanations about how emotional state might impact learning,measures of motivation,cognitive load,and attentional processes(eye tracking)were integrated.The results show that in the multimedia learning environment,emotional design of multimedia learning materials will cause different degrees of damage to the learning process.Learning materials designed with positive texts will distract learners' attention,reduce their intrinsic motivation level,and thus impair their ability to comprehension and transfer.Under the condition of neutral text,the color group pays lessattention to the processing of learning materials,and the degree of integration is shallow,thus damaging the ability of learners to retention and transfer.The findings from the present research provides the following references for multimedia instructional design: First of all,instructional designers and practitioners should be careful in their considerations of using emotional design elements in multimedia.They should be aware of the potential benefits and pitfalls of using emotional design elements in multimedia.Second,students' positive affect should rather be counterbalanced as it could probably distract from focusing on complex tasks.And instructional designers should first give priority to promoting cognitive rather than emotional interest.