Multimedia enhanced educational products as a tool to promote critical thinking in adult students

The promise of multimedia as a tool for enhancing learning is indeed intoxicating. The prospect of actively engaging learners through multiple communication channels is, intuitively, very compelling as a means of facilitating learning for a larger percentage of our students. This enthusiasm must, however, be tempered by two sobering facts: there is little scientific evidence in support of the value of multimedia as an enhancement to a learning environment; the cost of multimedia production is so very great that, should it not prove effective, our educational system could be seriously impacted. This article describes a controlled experimental study that examined the difference in one very specific aspect of learning--development of critical thinking skills--that can be affected for adult students when presented with an educational product that features animation and interactivity. The results of this experiment do in fact lend support to the value of multimedia-enhanced educational products as a method of facilitating greater depth of learning. PROBLEM STATEMENT Adult learners have different needs than children and young adult students. Zemke and Zemke (1995) and Boucouvalas and Krupp (1989) studied the unique needs of adult students. Among the conclusions presented in these studies was that mature learners need flexibility in time, relevance of material, and control over the educational process. Computer-based, multimedia learning environments offer the potential to meet these needs. Although multimedia is being widely hailed as the next great innovation in education, adequate support for its effectiveness in enhancing the educational process is scant. There is considerable anecdotal evidence for the benefits attendant with inclusion of multimedia features in the educational process. Perry and Perry (1998), Peterson and Orde (1995), and Wise and Groom (1996), cited case studies in which improvements in intangibles such as student attitude, student and teacher enthusiasm, and improved teamwork were noted in test cases using multimedia enhancements. There is, however, little quantifiable, measurable data supporting this position. Lookatch (1997), reviewed numerous studies that purported to establish the value of multimedia in the learning environment and concluded that those studies were rife with Type I errors. In more tightly controlled studies evidence is not compelling. For example, Pruisner (1995) tested the impact of color-cueing on learning and discovered no significant correlations . Incorporation of multimedia into the educational process entails the commitment of significant financial, personnel and time resources (Mackensie & Jansen, 1998; Hall, 1996; Solomon, 1994). It is incumbent on educators to do a cost-benefit analysis to ensure these expenditures can be justified by improved performance. The potential of multimedia in education does have a theoretical foundation. Bagui (1998) and Daniels (1995) summarized the theory of multi-channel communication in support of the potential for multimedia. According to this theory, humans have several channels by which data is communicated. If information is presented by way of two or more of these channels, there will be additional reinforcement and consequently greater retention, thereby improving learning. Further support for the potential benefits of multimedia is offered by research in learning styles. Curie (1995) reported that posttraining reports from adult learners in a wide variety of training sessions indicated that learning was most likely to take place when the training matched the students learning style. McCarthy (1997) further explored learning styles and identified four distinct approaches to learning: (a) the feeler, (b) the analyzer, (c) the doer, and (d) the creator. A multimedia approach presents the potential to address these different approaches to learning, as was suggested by the research of Riding and Grimley (1999). …