The effect of presentation media and animation on learning a complex decision

This paper reports an experiment that examines the impact of multimedia and instructional mode on learning of a complex decision. An experiment with two types of media (text vs. audio) and three levels of instructional mode (instruction without animation vs. instruction with animation not under subject control vs. instruction with animation under subject control) was conducted with 133 participants. The results show that textual media led to better decision quality than audio media both when learning and after learning was completed. When learning, instruction with animation not under subject control led to better decisions than instruction without animation; however, there was no significant difference after learning was completed. instruction with animation under subject control was not more effective than instruction without animation or instruction with animation not under subject control. There was no significant interaction between media and instructional i-node. Implications of these findings on the design of multimedia-based training programs are discussed. Key words: Multimedia, Animation, Decision Making.
1. INTRODUCTION The popularity of computer-based training programs is partly attributable to the fact that these programs can not only be adapted to individual learner's pace and style, but can [...]