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46 - Principles for Educational Assessment with Multimedia

from Part VIII - Multimedia Learning with Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

Richard E. Mayer
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Logan Fiorella
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

This chapter gives an overview of the main findings regarding the multimedia principle in testing, which states that testing material that combines text and adequate pictures is more comprehensible and more efficient to process for test takers than text alone. Even though learning and testing with multimedia have much in common, substantial differences exist that are discussed in this chapter. Overall, the findings indicate that adding pictures to verbal test material is mainly associated with facilitative effects. However, the findings differ with respect to different outcome measures and depending on the investigated picture type (i.e., decorative, representational, organizational, and informational). Furthermore, effects also appear to be moderated by item and test-taker characteristics that need to be subjected to future research.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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