New research looks at students’ ability to process multiple types of information

Some things just get your attention - and this one got mine! It rang so many bells for me as a teacher who has tried to tackle the challenge of harnessing new technology effectively.

Most Activclassroom users would not be surprised by the fact that the Activclassroom is very engaging for students - but it is also reassuring to know, that if applied effectively, the blend it enables, of traditional classroom debate and discussion supported by rich and dynamic multimedia, signficantly enhances the level of student cognition and higher order thinking.

Cisco is not a company that usually comes to mind when one thinks of education research but in fact the Cisco education programmes and outreach efforts are enormous and impact learners all over the world - particularly in developing nations.

They have recently commisioned a comprehensive research study into how the new multimedia and the visual/text mixtures now available in classrooms facilitate ‘higher order’ learning and the results are in.

The Multi-modal Learning Through Media - What The Research Says study was a comprehensive meta-analysis of educational (cognitive science) and medical (neuroscience) research conducted since 1997 - so it certainly does reflect the modern multimedia classroom.

Using the latest advances in medical scanning, such as MRI scans, researchers can actually ’see’ activity happening in the brain as learners engage with different activities and interactions and this is used as part of the data to help build up a picture of how multimedia rich learning environments function in making learning ’stick’.

The research starts with a fairly robust attack on the belief that “learning by doing” outranks all other forms of learning - which you may find a bit disturbing if you have subscribed to the I Hear- I Forget, I See - I Remember, I Do - I Understand philosophy as I often have.

It claims that this focus on “doing” as paramount is perhaps a ‘myth’ and the result of seeking a magic bullet to avoid having to reflect on the true complexity of the learning process - a process that requires a much wider range of experiences.

So does the report offer its own magic bullet?

Well nothing we do not already know as teachers and reflective practitioners…. that moderation in all things is better than slavish attention to only one facet of instructional design… and that a good dose of personalisation goes a long way.

What it also does do though, is highlight some of the stronger principles of good lesson design that can easily be applied in the Activclassroom.

On the issue of activating student’s prior knowledge:

“Students have preconceptions and prior experiences with many of the areas of study included in the academic standards. These are stored in long-term memory. Often some of those preconceptions turn out to be misconceptions. Student learning is greatly enhanced when each student’s prior knowledge is made visible (that is, cued from long-term memory into working memory). It is at that point the student has the opportunity to correct misconceptions, build on prior knowledge, and create schemas of understanding around a topic. Learning is optimized when students can see where new concepts build on prior knowledge.”

On the issue of meaningful activities:

“Students learn more when the concepts are personally meaningful to them. In order to deeply understand a topic, learners not only need to know relevant facts, theories, and applications, they must also make sense of the topic through organization of those ideas into a framework (schema) of understanding. The development of schema requires that students learn topics in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them.”

And on the issue of “learning to learn”:

“To be metacognitive is to be constantly “thinking about one’s own thinking,” in search of optimizing and deepening learning. Students who are metacognitive are students who approach problems by automatically trying to predict outcomes, explaining ideas to themselves, noting and learning from failures, and activating prior knowledge. Given appropriate scaffolding by educators and other adults, all students can learn metacognitive strategies.”

Student Interaction with Multimedia and each other through web tools such as blogs and messaging gets special attention (not surprising in a study commisioned by Cisco) - The report claims that research (while still smallscale and mixed) indicates that “significant increases in learning can be accomplished through the informed use of visual and verbal multimodal learning.”

The following diagram from the report highlights evidence gained from analysis of multiple studies in multi-modal learning.

What is clear from this synopsis is that there are positive impacts across the board - but that Basic Skills are best taught didactically with supporting multimedia use - but that student interaction is what impact the Higher Order Skills. There are no surprises here but it is good to see the evidence backing it up.

The report’s summary is comprehensive… but I feel it boils down to a few key ideas that are all about teacher skills applied well:

• If you have got the kids attention with the multimedia bells and whistles - Get them involved. Do not get trapped in the Powerpoint world of using the Activboard as a presentation tool - employ it as a “digital groupspace” to share their creativity and ideas - not just your pre-prepared bullet points. The Activpen is your friend. Talking is key. We are evolved to learn through conversation.

• Get the students to contribute to the content - use Activote or Expression to bring their ideas and views into the core of the lesson and use it as a part of the content. They will be engaged and remember better.

• Don’t “overload” students with information in forms that they have not yet learned to process… Continually invite feedback from the students on the impact of your strategies and what is working for them. This makes everyone reflect.

• Separate the multimedia from the pedagogy. Too often we can become obsessed with making a flashier animations or a cleverer trick in the vain hope that it will help focus attention or help the concept be retained longer…. More likely than not - the students will remember the trick - but not what it was meant to be teaching them!

You can download the full report from here:

http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/Multimodal-Learning-Through-Media.pdf