The Effect of Multimedia Components on Learning

Multimedia is composed of various components: text, graphics/animation, and audio. These components can contribute differentially to the learning of material. The Dual Coding Theory, where the learning of material is enhanced by the simultaneous development and activation of modality specific structures (verbal and non-verbal), can be applied to multimedia learning (Mayer & Gallini, 1990). However most empirical work to examine this theory has focused on graphics and text. In addition research in multimedia has assumed that audio components would enhance learning. Therefore, the studies described in this paper focus on all three components of multimedia with the goal of determining the contribution that these components have on learning. Results did not uniformly support the Dual Coding Theory. In addition, the audio component for this multimedia training did not play as large a role in improving learning as the graphics and animations.