Learning, when filtered through cognitive theory, is about building frameworks to hang knowledge on. It's not enough for the student to rote memorize facts; the goal is for the student to understand the material, be able to recognize extensions of it, and to be able to apply it in new and different locations. This approach is, pedagogically, similar to the original goal of a classic liberal arts education. Cognitive theory lets this process extend to more technical subjects.
Cognitive theory states that working memory is a controller in the brain, called the central executive. This controller directs tasks to three different areas: The visual-spatial sketch pad, the audio-phonological loop and the episodic buffer. Visual effects – animations – are processed by the visual-spatial sketch pad, while text and audio are tracked by the phonological loop. When a given bit of knowledge is processed in the near term, it's handled by the episodic buffer, which can be thought of as a specialized type of short-term memory. The buffers of the visual-spatial sketchpad and the audio-phonological loop can be overloaded. Building frameworks for adding new knowledge depends on keeping those buffers just short of overloading, and facilitating moving newly processed data to the episodic buffer.
A strength of multimedia is the use of both the visual-spatial sketch pad and the audio-phonological loop when presenting information to the student.To maximize this benefit, keep the layout visually appealing and minimize the use use of transitions and animations that don't reinforce the subject matter. Keep your multimedia instructional designs lean and focused. Take moments to pause in the data input to give exercises for students to build frameworks around the newly absorbed knowledge, to move it into the episodic buffer. Because of how the episodic buffer works, those exercises should be exploration-driven rather than goal-driven. In one example in the literature, rather than ask students to determine a specific angle with geometry, the students were asked to determine as many angles as they could in a given time period.
Cognitive theory focuses heavily on reducing redundant information in the visual or audio buffers. Use short chunks of text with clear headers, in conjunction with visual reminders. Another unusual implication is that partially completed examples work better than blank-sheet examples, or an example that's just worked out. To minimize the split-attention effect, don't make your students look up information in different parts of your multimedia training tool. Make sure all the information needed for the current task is readily at hand. If there's information, such as a manual, that needs to be read before the process begins, have students read it before the exercise, not while they're performing the exercise.