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What are interactive multimodal learning environments and how should they be designed to promote students' learning? In this paper, we offer a cognitive-affective theory of learning with media from which instructional design principles are derived. Then, we review a set of experimental studies in which we found empirical support for five design principles: guided activity, reflection, feedback, control, and pretraining. Finally, we offer directions for future instructional technology research.

Students viewed a computer-generated animation depicting the process of lightning formation (Experiment 1) or the operation of a car's braking system (Experiment 2). In each experiment, students received either concurrent narration describing the major steps (Group AN) or concurrent on-screen text involving the same words and presentation timing (Group AT). Across both experiments, students in Group AN outperformed students in Group AT in recalling the steps in the process on a retention test, in finding named elements in an illustration on a matching test, and in generating correct solutions to problems on a transfer test. Multimedia learners can integrate words and pictures more easily when the words are presented auditorily rather than visually. This split-attention effect is consistent with a dual-processing model of working memory consisting of separate visual and auditory channels.

Students viewed a computer animation depicting the process of lightning. In Experiment 1, they concurrently viewed on-screen text presented near the animation or far from the animation, or concurrently listened to a narration. In Experiment 2, they concurrently viewed on-screen text or listened to a narration, viewed on-screen text following or preceding the animation, or listened to a narration following or preceding the animation. Learning was measured by retention, transfer, and matching tests. Experiment 1 revealed a spatial-contiguity effect in which students learned better when visual and verbal materials were physically close. Both experiments revealed a modality effect in which students learned better when verbal input was presented auditorily as speech rather than visually as text. The results support 2 cognitive principles of multimedia learning.Roxana Moreno created the multimedia materials used in Experiments 1 and 2.

College students (in Experiment 1) and 7th-grade students (in Experiment 2) learned how to design the roots, stem, and leaves of plants to survive in 8 different environments through a computer-based multimedia lesson. They learned by interacting with an animated pedagogical agent who spoke to them (Group PA) or received identical graphics and explanations as on-screen text without a pedagogical agent (Group No PA). Group PA outperformed Group No PA on transfer tests and interest ratings but not on retention tests. To investigate further the basis for this personal agent effect, we varied the interactivity of the agent-based lesson (Experiment 3) and found an