Abstract:

Pedagogy and learning content designers often struggle to sufficiently implement learning science principles that have the potential to make learning more efficient. A few of these principles include managing cognitive load, connecting new information to existing knowledge, and providing timely and explicit feedback. The principles are rarely disputed. The question is not if they should be implemented, but rather how to implement them in learning design and in online learning environments in particular.

In this presentation, we demonstrate how one STEM courseware provider has implemented these principles in an intentional framework to achieve student-focused, minimalistic, and interactive materials that have exceeded expectations for student engagement and satisfaction. We consider established e-learning principles to showcase the efficacy of this innovative pedagogical framework for online digital content. In particular, we evaluate the framework against Clark and Mayers' e-learning principles that show how to optimize learning through the lens of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Our framework makes learning easier and more enjoyable by optimizing cognitive load and cognitive processing demands using the multimedia, coherence, signaling, redundancy, contiguity, segmenting, and pretraining principles. We delineate how these principles are implemented to make an impact on student learning.

Under this framework, we report high engagement in engineering courseware, with > 80% average reading rates across four different Engineering titles assigned in courses. For computer science titles, we report that students read shorter passages (200 words or less) at about 200 words per minute, which is a typical rate, but for longer passages (600+ words), the rate increased to about 800 words per minute, suggesting skimming rather than reading. When using this framework, attrition in one math course was reduced from 17.5 to 4.7%, the fail rate in one CS course reduced from 22% to 9%. Several studies show improvement in student grades as a result of using this courseware.

We expand on these research findings and more within the engineering, math, and computer science disciplines highlighting the positive impact of this framework on student engagement, student attrition, learning outcomes, and student satisfaction. Limitations in the current framework and additional opportunities for improvement are discussed.

Keywords:

Pedagogy, learning science, multimedia learning, higher education, courseware.