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Missouri Online’s self-paced mini-course, Sprint 1.C: Creating Effective Instructional Media, equips you with the skills to design impactful instructional media for your online courses. You'll explore key design strategies, integrate active learning techniques and create media that enhances engagement and supports learning. The content here provides a preview of the mini-course. Please self-enroll and start building better instructional media today!
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What is instructional media?
Media often suggests things like a beloved TV show, a go-to podcast or a frequently used social media app. In education, instructional media encompasses various formats, including text, audio, video, social media, and cutting-edge technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
In this sprint, you'll focus on designing effective instructional media that delivers content, engages learners, and supports meaningful learning, as defined by Mayer and Moreno (2010). By applying proven strategies, you'll create media that enhances knowledge retention and fosters active participation.
Strengths and opportunities
Effective instructional media leverages design strategies to enhance learning while keeping students engaged. The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2010) provides a framework for achieving this balance by focusing on the following principles.
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Weeding
Remove unnecessary content to reduce cognitive load and focus attention on the core learning goals.
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Signaling
Highlight key elements using visual cues such as bold text, color changes or underlining to emphasize important information.
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Temporal contiguity
Present related visuals and narration simultaneously to help learners connect auditory and visual information for better retention.
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Segmenting
Break down large chunks of information into smaller, manageable segments to improve comprehension and engagement.
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Personalization
Use a conversational tone to build a sense of connection and keep learners engaged.
Challenges in designing instructional media
Creating effective media comes with its own set of challenges:
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Cognitive overload: Excessive information can overwhelm learners. Effectively managing cognitive load is essential to help students focus on the most important content.
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Engagement: Keeping students actively engaged with media requires thoughtful design and integration of interactive elements.
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Balancing technical and pedagogical aspects: While it is easy to get caught up in technical details like lighting and editing, the focus should be on the student experience and how well the media supports learning.
Active learning through media
To encourage active learning, media should do more than just present information. Consider strategies like
- Adding guiding questions to provoke critical thinking
- Embedding quizzes or interactive elements to reinforce learning
- Offering learner control through video chapters or playback options that allow students to pace their learning
Take action: Enroll in Sprint 1.C
Ready to create media that makes a difference? Enroll in Sprint 1.C: Creating Effective Instructional Media. You’ll gain practical insights and hands-on experience in designing instructional media that engages and educates. Join us and start crafting media that genuinely enhances the learning experience!