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ABSTRACT: Do multimedia presentations influence learning? Anecdotal reports suggest that multimedia presentations can improve students' understanding, enthusiasm, class attendance and satisfaction. Little empirical evidence is available to evaluate these claims, however. This study examines the impact of a multimedia presentation on recall in a controlled setting. Relying on Dual Coding Theory, we hypothesize that multiple, sensorial stimuli in a multimedia presentation improve recall, particularly among students who prefer to represent information graphically.
The results indicate that multimedia does not uniformly lead to higher recall, but that students who prefer to represent information graphically (as did the majority of participants in this study), benefit from the multimedia presentation. Students who prefer verbal representation may actually be hindered by multimedia. More positive attitudes toward the presentation and presenter are associated with multimedia, regardless of preferred representation style. These findings should be helpful to instructors in evaluating costs and benefits associated with implementing multimedia in the classroom.
DO multimedia presentations influence learning? While proponents of multimedia in the classroom assert a variety of benefits, including improved test performance, increased attendance and higher motivation (Kaufman 1993), the pedagogical benefits of multimedia materials remain uncertain. The available evidence on multimedia is largely anecdotal, and the broader empirical literature dealing with the effects of different technologies (i.e., television, audio tapes and non-multimedia computer presentations) on learning has yielded mixed results. Clark's (1983, 445) meta-analysis of this literature leads him to conclude that these technologies "do not influence learning under any conditions." In contrast, Kozma (1991, 179) asserts that the characteristics and capabilities of a particular technology "interact with and influence the ways learners represent and process information and may result in more or different learning.... "
This paper reports a study which begins to explore the pedagogical effectiveness of multimedia technologies in a controlled setting. The research focuses on one use of multimedia technology, multimedia presentation aids, in examining the following questions:
Do multimedia presentation aids improve recall of accounting materials?
Do individuals' preferred means of representing information (verbal vs. imagery) interact with the effects of presentation materials? If so, does one representation style predominate among systems students?
Do multimedia presentation aids affect learners' satisfaction with accounting classroom presentations?
These questions were addressed through a laboratory experiment designed to test recall...