What Makes Interactive Multimedia Effective?
Although IMC seems to have great promise, it is necessary to critically evaluate what factors in particular make IMC successful and to investigate how it can be used most effectively with Extension audiences. To date, preliminary research on the use of interactive multimedia curricula has revealed some important clues. The following are some research-based suggestions for the design and use of interactive multimedia curricula. One Medium at a Time for Explanations When a new concept is presented in IMC, a single medium should explain the new concept. Studies have found repeatedly that text and auditory explanations presented simultaneously promoted significantly less learning than either text or auditory explanations alone (Kalyuga, Chandler, & Sweller, 1999; Moreno & Mayer, 1999). The message here is that presenting multiple media all at once can be confusing to a learner. So, it is important to keep it simple, providing visual-based text and auditory explanations at different points
