The impact of multiple representations of content using multimedia on learning outcomes

Innovative educational technologies provide valuable opportunities for educators to design an enhanced, interactive, more inclusive and engaging curriculum. Key pedagogical motivations for utilising educational technologies include the desire to improve learning performance and engagement. Educational technology and access to multimedia have provided opportunities to present multiple representations of key content areas using multimedia (text-based, video, aural, interactive elements) to cater more effectively to different learning styles and model preferences. This paper presents the findings of an experiment to measure the impact of multiple representations of content on learning outcomes including learning performance and engagement. While, in this study, multiple representations of content did not lead to actual improvements in learning performance, students reported favourably on multimodal learning elements and perceived that they had assisted comprehension and retention of the material. Implications for educators, limitations of the experimental methodology and directions for future research are presented.