Multimedia Product Critique #1: BrainPOP Jr.
Overview
The multimedia product I am critiquing is BrainPOP Jr. It can be accessed at https://jr.brainpop.com/. This is a curriculum-based website that provides small mini-videos, interactive quizzes, games, and educational resources for the lower elementary grades. A school must subscribe to BrainPOP Jr. to access all of the features. The content is widespread and includes curricular resources in math, science, social studies, health, writing, and reading. Please click HERE to get an idea of what BrainPOP Jr. is all about. Please note that this is a YouTube video of a BrainPop Jr. lesson and is not interactive. When you subscribe, you can pause the video and access the addition educational resources.
I use BrainPOP Jr. in my 2nd grade classroom, usually as an introduction to a unit or concept. The segments are very short and the students find them interesting. This multimedia product effectively uses the multimedia principles and learning theories, as explained below.
I use BrainPOP Jr. in my 2nd grade classroom, usually as an introduction to a unit or concept. The segments are very short and the students find them interesting. This multimedia product effectively uses the multimedia principles and learning theories, as explained below.
Multimedia Principles and Learning Theories
I use BrainPOP Jr. in my 2nd grade classroom, usually as an introduction to a unit or concept. The segments are very short and the students find them interesting. This multimedia product effectively uses the multimedia principles and learning theories. According to Richard Mayer, there are multimedia principles that instructional designers can use to make a product effective. In his HILT presentation on May 5, 2014 at Harvard, Mayer categorized the principles into groups: principles to reduce extraneous processing, principles to manage essential processing, and principles to foster generative processing. BrainPOP Jr. adheres to all of these principles.
BrainPOP Jr. adheres to the 5 principles to reduce extraneous processing: the Coherence Principle, Signaling Principle, Redundancy Principle, Spatial Contiguity Principle, and the Temporal Contiguity Principle. BrainPOP Jr. follows the Coherence Principle. According to Mayer (2014), “people learn more deeply from a multimedia message when extraneous material is excluded rather than included” (p. 279). Extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded, which allows the learners to focus on the instruction and not overload their working memory. Next, BrainPOP Jr. adheres to the Signaling Principle. Visual cues are included to highlight essential information and focus the learners’ attention to it. Third, it obeys the Redundancy Principle. BrainPOP Jr. includes graphics and auditory narration for most of the videos. On-screen text is sometimes included, but all three (graphics, narration, and text) are very rarely on-screen at the same time. Next, it adheres to the Spatial Contiguity Principle. The vocabulary words on-screen are placed close to the images, not far. Learners can quickly associate the words and images. Lastly, BrainPOP Jr. follows the Temporal Contiguity Principle. Words and pictures are presented at the same time. There is no delay, so learners can automatically make the connection between the text and images.
|
Example of the Signaling Principle. The spine is highlighted to emphasize the idea that vertebrates have backbones.
|
Example of the Pre-training Principle. Learners are exposed to concepts prior to the narrated animation.
|
In addition to the principles used to reduce extraneous processing, BrainPOP Jr. also follows the 3 principles to manage essential processing: the Segmenting Principle, the Pre-training Principle, and the Modality Principle. BrainPOP Jr. segments each topic, so it is more user-friendly. For most topics, there is a general overview lesson and then smaller segments in regards to that general topic. Users can pick and choose which clips they want to watch. Next, BrainPOP Jr. follows the Pre-training Principle by exposing learners to the vocabulary and concepts prior to the narrated animation. The concept will come up on the screen with an easy-to-read definition. Learners can view the definition and connect it to prior knowledge before the animation begins. Lastly, BrainPOP Jr. follows the Modality Principle by exposing learners to graphics and narration rather than graphics and on-screen text. When there are both graphics and on-screen texts, learners’ visual channels get overloaded by trying to process too much at once. When learners are exposed to graphics and narration, their eyes can process the graphics through their visual channel and their ears can process the narration through their auditory channel.
|
BrainPOP Jr. also abides by the 2 principles that foster generative processing: the Personalization Principle and the Voice Principle. BrainPOP Jr. personalizes the learning process by making the segments informal. The two main characters, Annie and Moby, are a young girl and a robot. They simply discuss the topics in everyday conversation and then address the audience in a friendly manner. They do not lecture the learners or speak to them in a formal tone, and this allows students to better relate to the characters and the concepts. BrainPOP Jr. also follows the Voice Principle. Even though Annie is an animated character, her voice does not sound robotic. She is soft-spoken, friendly, and a child, so learners at the elementary level find her appealing.
|
In addition to the multimedia principles mentioned above, BrainPOP Jr. follows several learning theories. According to Driscoll (2005), a learning theory “comprises a set of constructs linking observed changes in performance with what is thought to bring about those changes” (p. 9). One theory that BrainPop Jr. follows is Richard Mayer’s Dual-Coding Theory of Multimedia Learning, which is when “students use information presented in two or more formats” (1994, p. 389). This means that students may learn better when presented with material that is both visual and verbal. BrainPOP Jr. presents information in various ways; students view graphics and text, and they hear narration.
BrainPOP Jr. also follows the Schema Theory as explained by Driscoll. In this theory, the learner organizes knowledge in a way that it can solve problems. In order for this theory to effectively work, the instructor must help learners develop models and “use thought-demanding activities to facilitate understanding” (2005, p. 151). The activities in the BrainPOP Jr. segments are thought-demanding. Annie, the main character, asks rhetorical questions for the learners to ponder. There are follow-up questions and activities for the segments. Learners must think about and process the information as they view the segments.
Additionally, BrainPOP Jr. follows the Meaningful Learning Theory, also explained by Driscoll. Meaningful learning occurs when learners relate new information to what they already know. This differs from rote learning, where learners simply memorize information. According to Driscoll, in the Meaningful Learning Theory, “prior knowledge plays an enormous role” (2005, p. 137). In the segments, Annie will ask learners to connect to their prior knowledge. For example, in the YouTube video above, Annie asks, “How do you classify animals?” This allows learners to think about animals, how they are organized, and the process of classifying—all before being exposed to the instruction.
Redesign
If I had to redesign this product, I would keep most things the same. I would change 2 things. The first thing I would do is perhaps split the videos into even smaller segments with questions in between the segments. Although Annie asks questions and the user can pause the video to answer the question, I think it would help if the video actually stopped when the questions were asked. Then, learners could think about the questions, answer, and press “continue” to move on. The second thing I would change is I would have Moby, the robot, actually talk or respond. Annie communicates with Moby, but he just makes beeps and robot sounds. Although it is entertaining for elementary students, it doesn’t really do much to enhance learning.
Summary
Overall, BrainPOP Jr. is an effective multimedia tool. It is a website that provides short online video segments in various subjects. It follows several of Mayer’s multimedia principles and adheres to several learning theories. It is easy to access and holds the students’ attention. It is generally used as an introduction to a topic, so it is a great resource to activate prior knowledge. The segments are short and there are follow-up materials that the instructor can use if he/she chooses to do so. The videos present the content in that the visual and verbal channels are activated, so the possibility for learning is optimal. Additionally, the content is age-appropriate and serves as an effective instructional tool for my 2nd grade students.
References
Driscoll, M. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Mayer, R.E. & Pilegard C. (2014) Principles for managing essential processing in multimedia learning: segmenting, pre-training, and modality principles. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge.
Mayer, R.E., Sims, V.K. (1994). For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 389-401.
Mayer, R.E. & Pilegard C. (2014) Principles for managing essential processing in multimedia learning: segmenting, pre-training, and modality principles. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge.
Mayer, R.E., Sims, V.K. (1994). For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 389-401.