Investigating Death by PowerPoint: Do Medical School Lecturers Adhere to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning in Their Slide Design?

Background Lecturers in higher education commonly use slide software like Microsoft PowerPoint. Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) describes 15 principles for helping people learn better with words and images and is supported by a large number of empirical studies. Medical school curricula are intensive so teaching should be as effective as possible. Though there is existing research into lectures, this does not specifically determine whether CTML principles are being adopted. This study investigated to what extent lecturers incorporated the principles of CTML into lecture slide design at a single UK medical school. Methods Lectures were observed both live and recorded. Based on CTML principles, this included the time students were exposed to text‐heavy (> 10 words) versus text‐light (≤ 10 words) slides; whether images were used; the use of outlines, highlighting and pointing; extraneous images; and the labelling and timing of images. Word counts for slide sets were also recorded. Results Students were exposed to text‐heavy slides 84.4% of the time. Forty percent of lectures used outlines at the beginning. Slide sets contained a median of 1531 words and a mean of 38.3 words per slide. Conclusion Slide design appeared to consistently violate CTML principles; therefore, lecturers should receive training in adhering to these principles. Future research should examine what barriers exist to adopting CTML principles and how such training for teachers on these principles could be delivered.