Can multimedia help people learn faster?

Abstract

Interactive multimedia has opened up a new research dimension in the theory of learning by introducing an innovative interface where users can navigate for information in various mode of representation such as text, graphics, animation, sound and video. The development of optical storage and compression/decompression technologies means that millions of pieces of multimedia information can be readily diffused and transmitted to people who intend to acquire those information to become their knowledge. But does this type of computer-supported learning system necessarily improve the effectiveness of learning? The paper proposes a theoretical framework which can be used to study the value of multimedia knowledge diffusion, i.e. where knowledge is transmitted from a sender through communication channels for a receiver to internalize and retain these information. We also discuss the findings of an experiment in evaluating the effectiveness of multimedia in enhancing people's learning ability.