Kenneth Freeman
Boise State University
Edtech 513
Coherence Analysis
April 2014
The coherence principle states that any material used in the lesson should be supporting the instructional goal. The most important criteria for the coherence principle would be to avoid extraneous sounds, images, and text in multimedia presentations and to make sure all material is focused on the goal.
I remember watching a young instructor conduct a PowerPoint presentation long ago on the Civil War and they included a combination of extraneous audio (sounds that went off every time a click or transition was made, according to what topic was on the slide at the time), imagery (some targeted to the standard, some not), text on the slides (paragraphs really), and verbal narration (reading off the slides almost verbatim). It was quite an experience. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had experienced cognitive overload. There was too much extraneous processing. All I really remembered is how annoying those sounds were. It seemed as though the instructor was really reaching to get our attention. What the instructor had really done was violate multiple principles of multimedia learning. The extraneous audio may have been somewhat related to the presentation in a roundabout way, but it was unnecessary and distracting. Excess imagery was also used. The extraneous audio and excess imagery violated the coherence principle. The text and narration together with the pictures violated cognitive theory of multimedia and the redundancy principle as cognitive theory states that adding redundant on screen text to a multimedia presentation could overload the visual channel. (Clark & Mayer, 2003, pg. 138)
I also remember one successful experience with the coherence principle being applied and that was watching an instructor give a presentation on Renaissance art. Rather than text, the slides simply had the piece of art and the artist’s name and date. The learning took place as the instructor led us through the meaning of the piece of art and connections one could draw from it to the events of the time. No bullets, no background audio, no special clicking effects; just an image and a detailed explanation of what it entailed. Simple, but gratifying. I hardly had to take notes as the narration coupled with the images was so intriguing that I was completely focused on learning and the next time I saw those works of art, I remembered all the little details inside the paintings and the connections that I had made during the lesson. The coherence principle was applied successfully in that all the images and supporting narration were supporting the instructional goal. The modality principle was also applied as words were presented as audio narration rather than text alone. This is important because “median effect sizes as large as .97 were reported in twenty-one experimental comparisons of learning, with the larger median effect coming from those students who received narration and graphics rather than those students who received on-screen text and graphics.” (Clark & Mayer, pg. 127) Also supporting these findings is a group of eight studies that found that “the median gain in problem solving transfer of a concise group (all material relevant to the topic) was 97% versus that of an embellished group (containing many extraneous words/illustrations).” (Mayer, 1999, pg. 620)
The coherence principle is related to other principles in that it is the way to apply all if the previously discussed principles to facilitate a clear and coherent lesson. The coherence principle is about applying the multimedia, contiguity, modality, and redundancy principles; but not to overdo things to the point where the processing channels are overloaded. Everything in the lesson should have a specific purpose for meeting the instructional goal. Less is more.
The coherence principle relates to the principles and processes of learning such as the dual-channels principle, limited capacity principle, and the active processing principle. The coherence principle relates to dual-channels and limited capacity in that it recognizes that because people only have two channels and can only process a few pieces of information at a time in each, that it is important not to overload them with irrelevant information and multiple elements in the instructional design. Coherence relates to active processing because the active processing principle states that “learning occurs when people engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning, such as attending to relevant material, organizing the material into a coherent structure, and integrating it with what they already know” (prior knowledge). (Clark & Mayer, 2003, pg. 35) A study that supports the coherence principle was conducted which suggested that “auditory overload can be created by adding auditory material that does not contribute to making the lesson intelligible. The results of this auditory overload are that fewer of the relevant words and sounds may enter the learner's cognitive system and fewer cognitive resources can be allocated to building connections among words, images, and sounds.” (Moreno & Mayer, 2000)
I appreciate the coherence principle in that it makes sense in regards to the processes of learning. I do think research on signaling would be an interesting task to undertake. I have used signaling in my classroom many times in the past and have found it to work well, especially in the color coding aspect. For example in my Early Cold War presentation I use colors to cue students as to the nature of a concept that is related to either democracy or communism using blue (democracy) or red (communism). For example, when discussing the Marshall Plan, the slide header would be in blue denoting that the Marshall Plan would fall under the blue side or democracy. The next day I wrote “Democracy” in blue and “Communism” in red on the whiteboard. The students proceeded to fill in each side with concepts that matched either democracy or communism. Only one student mismatched a concept. As a teacher, that is the kind of retention I hope for with every lesson.
I would also like for coherence studies to be conducted in an authentic atmosphere such as a high school environment. The data conducted in an environment that is true to the environment in which I work would be the one I would be very interested in reading about. I realize the difficulties that would be presented in such a task; however that is the real-life situation that I must deal with on a daily basis. Would the authors agree that students in high schools suffer from cognitive overload in many classes due to covert/overt socializing? For example, a pair of students is socializing, even quietly, next to students who are content on learning. Would the audio channel be overloaded from the competition between the audio from the lesson and the audio from the sidebar conversation? Could the visual channel be overloaded by the multimedia lesson having to compete with students with distracting outfits? The processes of learning could be taught in a classroom management respect to students in order to really make them understand how disrupting even the quietest sidebar conversations can be to others.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2003) E-learning and the science of instruction. Pfeiffer: San Francisco, CA.
Mayer, R. E. (1999). Multimedia aids to problem-solving transfer. International Journal of Educational Research, 31(7), 611-623.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. E. (2000). A learner-centered approach to multimedia explanations: Deriving instructional design principles from cognitive theory. Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning, 2(2), 2004-07. Retrieved April 7, 2014 from http://imej.wfu.edu/articles/2000/2/05/index.asp.