LE3 .A278 2012

2012

Major, Sonya

Acadia University

Master of Science

Masters

Clinical Psychology

Psychology

The current study examined whether interactivity affected learning from digital multimedia materials and the ability to monitor learning. Students completed an interactive animation, watched a video, or read a PDF document of the same lesson on plant transpiration. Learning was measured by assessing accuracy on comprehension, recall, and transfer questions. It was hypothesized that the current study would replicate and extend the results of Major, Cunningham, Valley, and Wilkings (2011), in that interactivity would be detrimental to learning and the ability to monitor learning, in part because the interactive animation increased extraneous cognitive load. Contrary to prediction, individuals in the interactive animation condition had similar learning outcomes to, and invested significantly less mental effort than, other groups. The results suggest that the relationships among interactivity, cognitive load, and learning are complex, and that interactivity may not interfere with learning if the amount of extraneous processing in the to-be learned content is minimized.

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