Effects of modality principle on learners' cognitive load of students in a Brazilian online undergraduate course

• Grant number: 09/06207-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2009
• End date: August 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Administration of Specific Sectors
• Principal Investigator: José Dutra de Oliveira Neto
• Grantee: José Dutra de Oliveira Neto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEARP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Brazilian government has invested significant resources in developing online education system over the years and, as a result, the enrollment number has increased for more than 600% from 2002 to 2007.In order to assure the desired Instructional quality of online education in higher education in Brazil, informed practices on efficient Instructional design must be made available to all stakeholders. This study hypothesizes that the application of MP in the design of E-Learning materials willsignificantly reduce learners' extraneous cognitive load when using learning style as the covariate. This study will recruit 30 students enrolled in an undergraduate course from a business program offered by Claretiano School in Batatais, Brazil (http://www.claretiano.edu.br). Fifteen participants will be randomly assigned to the control group and the other fifteen to the experimental group. The instrument consisted of pre- and posttest and an instructional module will be developedbased on the topic of "Information System in Business". All tests will be co-developed by participatingresearchers and instructional designers considering different levels of performance (retention andtransfer tests). The experimental treatment will be devised by following Modality Principles. Thecontrol group will receive the pre- and posttests and an instructional module with graphic and text. The experimental group will receive the same pre- and posttests and an instructional module with the experimental treatment. That is, an audio narration will be added to the graphic and text, to activate learners' auditory modality. Online surveys will also be developed based on the latest measurement of cognitive load level (DeLeeuw & Mayer, 2008) to identify participants' extraneous cognitive load level. (AU)