1. Characteristics of an effective instructional message
1.1. Accessibility - when instruction is accessible, the learner can access it technically, physically, and cognitively.
1.2. Support of overall design plan - considering the design of a message so that it supports all relevant characteristics, target audiences, intstructional and performance contexts, and instructional goals.
1.3. Four theories that can enhance ability to design effective messages:
1.3.1. Gestalt - German for "form", "essence", or "shape." The brain is holistic, and has self organizing tendencies that enable it to understand external stimuli as a whole form rather than as parts
1.3.2. Cognitive load theory - working memory is limited in how much information it can process. Three types of load (instrinsic, estraneous, and germane).
1.3.2.1. Intrinsic Load - type and amount of mental processing required by a learning task
1.3.2.2. Extraneous Load - unnecessary, increased demand on mental processing that results from the way in which the content is presented
1.3.2.3. Germane Load - processing that relates directly to the content and helps the learner to perceive and process the information more easily
1.3.3. Dual Coding Theory - the brain processes visual and verbal information separately using two distinct mental channels, procucing separate mental representations for the two types of information.
1.3.4. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning - uses cognitive theory to support ten design principles that facilitate learning processing of content conveyed through multimedia
2. Design delivery and flow of instruction
2.1. Three steps for designing and effective message and flow:
2.1.1. Design the presentation of the message, based on best practices, principles of good message design, and learner needs and characteristics.
2.1.2. Design the flow and feel fo the instructional message, based on best practices for the use of technology to support the strategies chosen, usability and universal design principles, and learner needs and characteristics
2.1.3. Test your design formatively with stakeholders and representatives of the target population
2.2. Message presentation - involves determining the form of instructional information and the manner in which it is organized and presented to the learner
2.2.1. Elements to consider when designing instructional message:
2.2.1.1. Delivery media to be used
2.2.1.2. Logistics
2.2.1.3. Available resources
2.2.2. Answer the following questions to make decisions on message presentation:
2.2.2.1. What kind of information should be used int the presentation of the instructional message?
2.2.2.2. How should one organize and deliver the instructional message? Refer to Table 10.1 for visual message design principles. Refer to Table 10.2 for visual message design strategies
2.2.2.3. What will the learner do with the instructional information?
2.3. Message flow - refers to how the learner will access and progress through the instruction.
2.3.1. Factors to consider when designing flow:
2.3.1.1. Orientation - Does the design indicate to learners where they are in the program?
2.3.1.2. Tracking - Does the design indicate to learners what instruction they have begun and what units they have completed?
2.3.1.3. Navigation - Does the design allow the learner to easily start, exit, move forward, move backward, save, and return to top level of the course as they wish?
2.3.1.4. Optional navigation devices - Does the design permit learners to access additional information or to mark their location within a program?
2.3.1.5. Operational support - Does the design provide easy access to technical assistance?
2.3.2. Plan flow from a macro perspective, how the program or learning event will be accessed and delivered in a general sense and how its message design features may impact learner participation and program scalability.
3. Guidelines for designing effective instructional messages
3.1. Principles for reducing extraneous load:
3.1.1. Coherence principle - Facilitate learning by reducing nice to know information and concentrating on essential information
3.1.2. Signaling principle - Facilitate learning by highlighting essential information
3.1.3. Redundancy principle - Facilitate learning by using appropriate reduncdancy to support one mediated form of content with another form, being careful not to use multiple forms that cause a conflict between the learner's processing channels
3.1.4. Spacial Contiguity principle - Place the descriptive text for a visual close to the visual element it describes rather than far away, to facilitate learning
3.1.5. Temporal Contiguity principle - Facilitate learning from video and animation by ensuring that the descriptive audio narration corresponds to what is displayed on the screen
3.2. Principles to manage instrinsic load:
3.2.1. Segmenting principle - Chunk instruction and present it in segments that are paced to match the learner's mental processing capabilities
3.2.2. Pre-training principle - Present foundational terms and essential characteristics prior to presenting a narrated multimedia presentation that features those terms and characteristics to facilitate learning
3.2.3. Modality principle - to avoid conflicts in mental processing, present graphics with aural narration rather than graphics with printed text
3.2.4. Multimedia principle - facilitate learner connections between their verbal and pictorial models of content by using both words and pictures
3.2.5. Personalization principle - facilitate learning by using a more informal, conersational style of communication