Chapter 8, “Applying the Coherence Principle”

This chapter in Clark and Mayer’s textbook focuses on three things we need to avoid when designing an online lesson: extraneous audio, extraneous graphics, and extraneous words. Based on a growing amount of research, we now know that simpler is better in terms of e-learning lessons. The “Coherence Principle” essentially says that we should only focus on the primary objectives when designing a lesson. When background music or sound effects are added, student retention of the material goes down, even if the student was given the option of whether or not to have added audio. When extraneous graphics are added to spark interest or give sidelights of interesting material, learning again goes down. Even when diagrams are necessary to explain the material, the simpler designs promote better learning than a more realistic but more complex diagram. Designers should also be aware of how many words they are using to explain the new concepts. The more direct the content (using fewer words), the better the students will learn. 

The Coherence Principle makes sense to me. I prefer to study in quiet, even though I block out background noises fairly easily. When I play an online game with background audio, I usually turn the sound off on my laptop so I can concentrate better. Since I am a math teacher, I probably use fewer extraneous graphics than, say, a science teacher or a history teacher, since I want my students to concentrate on the operations being performed. From my own experience, though, I know that when there are lots of sidebars on a text page I tend to want to read all of them and I sometimes lose my train of thought. The third principle was the hardest for me to grasp. I have heard over and over again, “You cannot over communicate.” To me, that implies using more words. I tend to be an audio learner, and we “audios” tend to talk more to help explain in great detail. In a classroom, I often tried to explain a concept several different ways to help all my students understand the new material. According to Clark and Mayer, in an e-lesson it is better to go through the concept once as simply as possible with as few extraneous words as possible. Technical depth is rarely necessary in an e-lesson. If a student is interested and wants to learn more, he can research the topic. However, many of the students will get lost in the extra words and miss the main objectives.

As far as our ISD project is concerned, to me this chapter encourages me to compare the actual prepared class with the learning objectives. Being ruthless, we will need to weed out all that doesn’t directly pertain to our learning objectives. This will narrow the focus of the lesson making it more likely that our students actually learn the things we want them to learn. Even though there are lots of fun things we can do to make our lesson more appealing, if it doesn’t directly relate to the lesson, it shouldn’t be included. Designing an e-lesson is not about how many new technologies we can showcase. It is about teaching a lesson in the best way research has shown to be effective.

Reference:

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.