Teaching and the Web

Principles from e-Learning and the Science of Instruction

The principles here are from Ruth Colvin Clark & Richard E. Mayer, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction (San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2003). See also Mary Hinkle's forthcoming review in Teaching Theology and Religion. 

Principles for Including Media Elements

  1. Multimedia: use words and graphics rather than words alone.
  2. Contiguity: place corresponding words and graphics near each other.
  3. Modality: present words as audio narration rather than onscreen text.
  4. Redundancy: present words in both text and audio narration can hurt learning.
  5. Coherence: adding interesting material can hurt learning. (Avoid extraneous material and verbosity.)
  6. Personalization: use conversational style and virtual coaches.

Principles for Creating Online Practice Exercises

  1. Interactions should mirror the job.
  2. Critical tasks require more practice.
  3. Apply the Media Elements Principles to exercises.
  4. Train learners to self-question during receptive e-lessons.

Principles for Leveraging Examples in e-Learning

  1. Replace some practice problems with worked examples.
  2. Apply the Media Elements Principles to examples.
  3. Use job-realistic or varied worked examples.
  4. Teach learners to self-explain examples.

Principles (Clark and Mayer call these guidelines) for Online Collaboration

  1. Make assignments that require collaboration among learners.
  2. Assign learners to groups in ways that optimize interaction.
  3. Structure group assignments around products or processes.
  4. Models for structured collaboration: jigsaw, structured controversy, problem-based learning, peer tutoring.

Principles for Learner Control in e-Learning

  1. Use learner control for learners with high prior knowledge or high metacognitive skills.
  2. Make important instructional events the default navigation option.
  3. Add advisement to learner control.

Principles for Building Problem Solving Skills through e-Learning

  1. Use job contexts to teach problem solving processes.
  2. Focus training on thinking processes versus job knowledge.
  3. Make learners aware of their problem-solving processes.
  4. Incorporate job-specific problem-solving processes