I had to explain to spouse how visual clutter and every little thing in my field of vision that was wrong/undone/broken in this house was subconsciously contributing to my stress. I didn’t know it was related to Cognitive Load Theory, but that makes sense. I described it like Morpheus did about the matrix: “like a splinter in your mind.” 🕶️
#CognitiveLoadTheory #KitchenDesign #InteriorDesign #Remodeling #HouseCleaning #KitchenRemodel
Richard Mayer’s research on multimedia for learning actually proves text works better
Educational technology professionals cite Richard Mayer’s 2008 study more than any other research on multimedia instruction.
They are citing the wrong conclusion.
Mayer did not prove multimedia enhances learning.
He proved multimedia creates cognitive problems requiring ten different workarounds – and accidentally built the case for text-based instruction.
What Richard Mayer actually found
Through hundreds of controlled experiments, Richard Mayer identified ten principles for multimedia design.
The pattern is striking: most principles involve removing elements from presentations.
Five principles focus on reducing “extraneous processing” – cognitive waste that multimedia creates.
Three principles manage “essential processing” when content is complex.
Two principles foster deeper learning.
The hidden message: multimedia instruction is so cognitively demanding that it requires ten specialized principles to avoid harming learning.
Richard Mayer’s split attention revelation
Mayer’s modality principle seems to endorse multimedia: learners perform better with graphics plus spoken text than graphics plus printed text.
Educational technologists celebrate this as proof that multimedia works.
They miss the real insight.
Graphics with printed text create split attention – learners cannot simultaneously look at pictures while reading words.
They must constantly switch between visual elements, wasting cognitive resources on coordination rather than learning.
Richard Mayer’s solution uses different channels: visual graphics with auditory narration.
But this still requires complex mental coordination between multiple input streams while maintaining focus on learning objectives.
Text-based instruction eliminates split attention entirely.
(There are deeply-rooted cultural and historical reasons for the distrust of text.)
Learners process information through one coherent channel that naturally supports sequential, analytical thinking.
The damage control principles in Richard Mayer’s principles
Step back from individual findings and Mayer’s principles reveal themselves as damage control.
The coherence principle removes distractions that multimedia introduces.
The redundancy principle eliminates conflicts between competing inputs.
The segmenting principle provides control that multimedia complexity demands.
The pre-training principle prepares learners for cognitive challenges that simpler instruction avoids.
Each principle represents additional design constraints requiring specialized expertise and extensive testing.
They exist because multimedia instruction is fundamentally problematic.
Text extends Richard Mayer’s logic
At The Geneva Learning Foundation, we work with 70,000 health practitioners using text-based peer learning.
Nigerian practitioners write about extreme heat forcing people to sleep outdoors, increasing malaria exposure.
Colleagues in Brazil, Chad, Ghana, and India read these accounts, analyze climate-health connections, and provide structured feedback through expert-designed rubrics.
No graphics.
No audio coordination.
No split attention problems.
Read our article: Against chocolate-covered broccoli: text-based alternatives to expensive multimedia content
Direct engagement with content that supports rather than complicates learning.
This approach achieves Richard Mayer’s goals through elimination rather than optimization.
Ultimate coherence by presenting only essential information.
Zero redundancy through single-channel processing.
Natural segmenting through text’s inherent reader control.
No pre-training needed because text presents information in logical, sequential structures.
The multimedia principle reconsidered
Mayer’s most famous finding – people learn better from words and pictures than words alone – deserves scrutiny.
This emerged from comparing passive multimedia consumption to passive text reading.
It equates learning with recall.
Neither condition included structured peer interaction, collaborative analysis, or iterative revision that characterize more complex learning.
When learners create knowledge through text-based peer learning, they achieve outcomes that passive consumption of any media cannot match.
The effect size for active text-based learning exceeds Mayer’s multimedia findings while avoiding cognitive coordination problems.
The economic evidence
Mayer’s ten principles exist because multimedia design is expensive and complex.
Each principle represents additional constraints demanding specialized expertise.
Typical multimedia modules are expensive.
Text-based peer learning costs a fraction of this amount while producing superior outcomes.
Resources should flow toward learning infrastructure such as expert rubrics and facilitated dialogue – elements that actually drive learning rather than manage cognitive problems.
The real choice
Educational technology leaders face a fundamental decision: invest in managing multimedia’s problems or adopt approaches that avoid those problems entirely.
Mayer’s research illuminates multimedia’s cognitive costs.
His ten principles represent sophisticated damage control, not learning enhancement.
They minimize harm rather than maximize potential.
Text-based instruction honors Mayer’s deeper insights while rejecting surface implications.
It achieves the cognitive efficiency his principles attempt to restore to multimedia environments.
References
Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025
#cognitiveLoad #CognitiveLoadTheory #eLearning #instruction #learning #multimedia #multimediaLearning #RichardMayer #text
In commerciële publicaties wordt weleens de suggestie gewekt dat microlearning per definitie een leerzame manier van leren is. Of microlearning daadwerkelijk effectief is, hangt echter voornamelijk af van het toepassen van 'evidence-informed' didactische principes. Volgens Christie Vanorsdale vereist effectief microlearning-ontwerp een bewuste toepassing van de Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). Microlearning is een vorm van leren
Picking up a reference from @jeffgreene this article gives a really good overview of the current state of #CognitiveLoadTheory , (#CLT) embedded in a reflection on the process to develop good theory.
Any @edutooters wanting to get a quick, solid grounding, this might be a robust starting point.
I shall be working through the nuances of split-attention and redundancy for a while!
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-023-09817-2#Tab1
Cognitive load theory has been in development since the 1980s. Much of the impetus for that development has come from firstly, replication failures using randomised controlled trials and secondly, from the incorporation of other theories into cognitive load theory. Both have led to theory expansion. The immediate cause of the so-called “replication crisis” in psychology and other disciplines is a failure to replicate previous empirical findings. Using cognitive load theory as an example, I argue that the appearance of contradictory evidence does not necessarily derive from a failure to properly collect data. Rather, it can be caused by initially insufficiently detailed theories, with increasing detail often revealing the reason for a failure to replicate. For cognitive load theory, each failure to replicate, rather than being a negative, contributed to the further development of the theory. In addition, the theory has developed over many years by closely incorporating other theories associated with human cognitive architecture and evolutionary psychology. In this paper, I discuss some of the developmental milestones associated with cognitive load theory and how they were informed by replication failures and theory integration.
I have been reading #CognitiveLoadTheory and, even though it's dense as h*ll, I'm enjoying it.
I'm not sure I would be able to apply that knowledge for https://teamcognitiveload.com, but I'm sure I'm learning about a fascinating topic.
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