Effectiveness of Multimedia Design Principles in Computer Animations

Computer animations are widely used to improve comprehension. They are used in almost all disciplines. However, a poorly designed animation may not improve learning as such animations may increase the cognitive load. As a result, quite a lot of research is being focused on design principles that would be effective with respect to the cognitive load theory and can be integrated into animations to improve comprehension. This research work found the answer through a well-designed experimental study. The present study first identified effective design principles through an extensive literature review. Thereafter, an experimental study was designed in which 50 students of fourth semester of CSE (Computer Science and Engineering) participated willingly. The participants were randomly divided into two groups of 25 students each. The Group-1 was taught using modern animations, which were designed according to the selected design principles, whereas Group-2 was taught with conventional animations with auditory explanation only. A t-test was conducted on the post-test scores and found that the variances between the groups were equal (F=1.144, Sig = 0.290). Further, the two-tailed value was observed and found to be <0.05, which indicated that the performance score of both the groups was significantly different. Thereafter, their means were compared and found that Group-1 (M=7.72, SD=0.93) performed better than Group-2 (M=5.44, SD=1.15). The study statistically proved that segmentation, modality, prediction prompts and cueing could be served together to have a better learning outcome.