Paleo-porn at the British Museum?

The British Museum’s Ice Age Art is wonderful but makes a gross error. It equates these wonderful objects from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago with ‘art’. The Museum’s accompanying talks; The shock of the old: art in the Ice Age, Art and the arrival of the modern brain and Chauvet Cave’s Ice Age Art, tell you as much about the curators’ prejudices than real research and science. The names of the objects are at times absurdly presumptuous. A tiny ivory figure inscription is called 'The Worshipper’ just because its hands are above its head. One female figure is called the ‘Goddess’. Similarly with the banalities of the exhibit labels, full of words like shamanism, supernatural and spirituality. Even worse are the pieces of modern abstract art that have been parachuted in with all the clumsiness of cultural vandalism. In fact, I saw no one pay much attention to these implants, other than give them puzzled glances.

Even since these cave paintings and artifacts were discovered the prevalent cultural fads have imprinted themselves on the explanations. In the 19^th century, when religion was the dominant culture, people refused to believe that these works were so old and some of the discoverers were accused of faking the paintings. In the sociology soaked sixties and seventies it was all totemism and shamanism, as many of these discoveries were made in France, the home of Levi-Strauss and other structuralist luminaries. The contemporary template is ‘art’, a relatively recent construct, with meanings and connotations that can infect inquiry.

Predators and prey

Much recent work on Cave Art has shown that, far from being the result of worshiping shamans, cave art is eminently practical and utilitarian, overwhelmingly representing predators and prey, for the purposes of instruction. The images are strikingly realistic, naturalistic and shown in poses that aid recognition. The images are also strewn with wounded animals and spears.

Like cave paintings, these objects overwhelmingly exhibit (a good calm word) animals. More specifically, the mammals that early man hunted or was hunted by, they are prey or predators. Lions and bears are common, as they lie at the top of food chain. Then there’s the large larder mammals such as bison, mammoths, deer, aurochs, ibex and horses. We now know that the extinction of the mammoth was accelerated, if not caused, by hunting. These images simply reflect or represent the real world that these people inhabited. These are useful, utilitarian images for communities where the young had to learn what they had to hunt or fear.

Recent publications by Marc Azéma of the University of Toulouse–Le Mirail in France and Florent Rivère have uncovered remarkable new interpretations of the practical, hunting stories, represented by attempts at movement in cave paintings and inscribed objects. Most cave images and inscribed art do show movement that can be brought to light through partial reveals and flickering torches, claim these researchers in Antiquity (June 2012). The Chauvet Cave painting seems to show a 10 metre hunting scene by lions as stalking predators and bison and other animals as prey. The lions later lunge at their prey. Multiple, superimposed heads, limbs and tails suggest running. See here for some brilliant examples of this prehistoric animation.

Spear shafts

To illustrate my point about the practical nature of these objects. There’s a case full of antlers with perfectly engineered round holes in their shafts. It was once thought that these were ‘sacred’ objects used in rituals. It is now recognised that they are used to measure and pare down spear shafts.

Paleolithic pornography

One group of objects is worthy of deeper thought, the plump female figures. Again we have to resist recent cultural debates when dealing with these objects. For example, to see them as representing female goddesses or maternalistic societies or shamanistic worship of the female form is premature. We bring far too much cultural baggage to seeing the objects. In truth there are images similar to the Wallendorf Venus, but there are many more images of slim women. Rather than speculate on ‘art’ or ‘spirituality’ few, for example, take the more obvious route of seeing these as paleolithic pornography, in my view a far more likely explanation, as the sexually organs are exaggerated and other features diminished, a well-known feature of eroticising imagery. These are mostly hand-sized sculptures, like Japanese netsukes. I’m not claiming that this was their purpose, simply pointing out that this is, of course, a contemporary cultural norm that is politically incorrect, therefore not considered.

Conclusion

In line with my analysis of cave paintings in terms of the practical function of learning how to spot predators and prey, mobile art seems to have a similar function. Survival in these harsh environments surely too precedence over art in a world full of beasts that you had to kill or would kill you. This, so called art, has a far more practical and prosaic function in this context. Appealing to our 21^st century gallery-gawping habits dilutes and diminishes the wonder of these objects.

Bibliography

M. Azema and F. Rivere. Animation in Paleolithic art: A pre-echo of cinema. Antiquity. Vol. 86, June 2012, p. 316.

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860316.htm

7 ideas on how ‘online technology’ can save the NHS

Spoke at a ‘Future of the NHS’ conference this week with Clare Gerada, Chair of the Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Roy Lilley, broadcaster and commentator on the NHS. Both painted a pretty bleak picture of the future of the NHS, as one that will warp, even suffer partial collapse, under the strain of increasing demand. We saw signs of this today in the North Staffs case.

Gilding by Lilley

As Roy Lilley so eloquently, and wittily, stated – we’re sleepwalking into a financial disaster. The bottom line, literally, is that age and demand are rising but costs are flat-lining. This will lead to a £20 billion gap in funding by 2015 (not that far off). We have no growth, or real prospect of growth in that timescale, so the government cannot and will not come up with the money. His solution is to use the Tesco model – work out exactly where large centres of excellence should be placed then open up lots of NHS Extra shops to cope with GP demand. I agree with this. We have far too many ‘don’t close our A&E’ protesters when what we need is good data and good planning. I also agree with his observation that the private commissioning argument is a bit of a red herring as it doesn’t really deliver the savings. My own view is that this is not enough, and impractical, as many of the sites are already chosen and tied into PFI agreements. It is far too difficult now, practically and politically, to change the geography of the NHS.

Loud and Clare

Clare Gerada had to defend her constituency – GPs, but even she says that the abandonment of out of hours work was a mistake. She also hinted at far more use of texting and Skype with patients, which she does in her London practice. However, when questioned by the audience she had to admit that the costs of training a GP (north of £300,000) and replacing early retirement GPs (x2.2 replacement costs) is high. In the end she had no really strong ideas in terms of closing the funding gap.

Anyway, here were my 7 ideas:

1. Massive investment in NHS Direct

Launched as a nationwide telephone service in 2000, then as a website in 2010 and mobile service in 2011, NHS Direct has been a huge success. Sure, it’s a bit shallow and risk averse, but it is well used and well liked by those who use it, funnelling patients away from expensive Ambulance, A&E or GP visits (see graphic). It’s also available 24/7/365 and serves the population well in the face of the collapse of the GP out of hours service.

First, we need to Napsterise or disintermediate patient advice away from expensive hospital and GP surgeries by increasing the marketing, resources for this service provided over the telephone and more importantly, online, where the transaction costs are minimal. Second, we need to make this service deeper and more sophisticated by adding texting, skype, social networking and flagging other online resources for worried inquirers, possible giving the service access to patient records.

2. GPs must communicate with patients using new media

GPs and their practices are still, largely, stuck in the age of paper and telephone communication and even then it’s the patient who has to do all the running. Their lack of awareness and use of texting, email, social media and services such as Skype is astonishing. Email, in particular, needs to n used more,especiallly for permission-granted distribution of results. I'm tired of having to phone up my practice for 'results'. Smarter communication will reduce the number of necessary visits and transaction costs. However, the easier first target is 'no-shows'. In a service that is free at the point of service you either charge or manage this financial leak. Medical professionals are expensive, so no-shows are expensive. We know that the solution is to nudge patients into remembering or feeling obliged to turn up.

3. GP training online

Far too much GP and other health professional training is appalling Foxes Glacier Mints on the table,  flipchart sessions in awful hotels. I know, I’ve attended a few. This has to stop. They’re of poor quality, inconsistent and far too expensive to run. Health professionals need consistent, high quality online training delivered, not locally, but nationwide.

4. GP networks online

Practices need to start by getting their clusters of GPs and health professionals using online networks for personal development and not relying on flipchart sessions for erratic updates. This is the 21st century, and as medicine has a strong scientific base, that makes real practice change on the frontline, there is no excuse for being slow in doing this quickly, and fast means online.

5. Patient online learning

As we are facing a tsunami of problems with obesity, diabetes, mental health and many other conditions, a real effort must be made to use online media to alleviate the pressure. Obesity, especially in the young must be tackled by going where they hang out and that’s on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Similarly with mental health, where early trials have shown good results for young people through the regular use of texting and other social media. Patients with chronic diseases have already created great networks of mutual support – we must drive harder and faster on this.

6. M-health

Patients must be encouraged to use their mobiles for health. This means exercise checking (apps already exist), self-checking blood pressure, peak flow, heart-rate, glucose etc. It also means behavioural nudges around diet, exercise and self-awareness of medical problems. It is foolish to ignore the one device that is powerful, personal and portable. Smart phones are already packed with sensors such as GPS, accelerators, compasses and so on, it’s only a matter of time before they have cheap and easy to sue medical sensors.

7. Tricorders

My car has over 50m processors, making thousands of decision a second. It knows more about itself than I do about my own body, or my GP. We must get real about data. The X-foundation has offered a$10 million prize, and called it the Tricorder Prize, named after the Star Trek device that was used to scan and diagnose people on the spot. Remember that the Star Trek crew could ask their handheld device any question and it would give them an answer. I never dreamt that that this would happen in my lifetime but it has, with Google. Several companies are working on handheld devices that will read physiological, genetic and body fluid data, with good analytic software that will provide useful and practical advice. Great strides have been made recently with glucometers and other patient devices such as iHealth, which all plug into your iPhone or tablet. This promises to dramatically reduce the cost of tests and diagnosis, as it Napsterises or disintermediates a lot of what is currently done by expensive health professionals.

Conclusion

It’s time for an online revolution in health that Napsterises very expensive services and pushes the load back towards the patients. The current service where you only see your Doctor when something almost catastrophic happens is way past its sell by date. We need to know more about our own bodies and take some responsibility for our own health. Google, Facebook and Amazon know more about me than my GP!

Csikszentmihalyi – don’t go with the ‘flow’!

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee), former Professor of Pyschology at the University of Chicago , has contributed a theory that is oft quoted in learning and hugely influential. His concept of ‘flow’ postulates mental states of optimal performance where we are ‘in the flow’. This, he thinks, applies to many cognitive tasks such as sport, programming, writing and, importantly, learning. He asks us to take the experience of flow into consideration when designing and delivering formal and informal learning. But do his theories really apply to learning?

Flow, in the zone, in the groove

Linked to creativity, happiness and satisfaction, he sees ‘flow’ as ‘being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost.’ It is sometimes described as being in the ‘zone’ or ‘groove’.

But is there a problem with the word ‘flow’? At times, it seems a little vague and used in several different ways – mental state, process, actions. It is also difficult to relate the concept to hard, scientific evidence and data. Indeed, much of his work draws from anecdote and unusual cases.

Dubious data

Intimately linked to positive psychology, he has explored many aspects of flow in practice. For example, his examination of 90 creative people across a wide range of disciplines was explored in in 'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention' (HarperCollins, 1996). He has also applied his ideas to business and sport. Indeed, his more recent work, with Howard Gardner, has been in in the application of these ideas to work and business.

Csikszentmihalyi gathered huge amounts of data on mental states through spontaneous surveys. A randomly beeping watch triggers people into reporting how they feel, data that fuelled his research into optimal experiences and ultimately to his core concept ‘flow’. This approach worries many professional psychologists as it assumes the reliable self-reporting and in terms of retention and learning, doesn’t give us much useful data, as self-testimony is notoriously unreliable in learning.

Flow and learning

In his essay ‘Thoughts About Education’ he points to the huge gap in education between the ‘dismal reality and expectations’. He sees most research as being misplaced, lacking a focus on motivation. The main problem is not that people can’t learn, it’s that they don’t want to. His focus on intrinsic motivation searches for ways to make learning more enjoyable and satisfying. So far so good but what do his theories really add?

Features of his ‘flow’ theory do correspond to good pedagogy:

1. Challenging but not too challenging tasks. Similar to Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Optimal Proximity’ this sounds good. But the problem is how this is achieved, as most learning experiences force the flow of the teacher not the learner. Interestingly, online learning, especially when personalised and adaptive, is much more aligned with his theory.

2. Concentration. True but we’ve long known that psychological attention is a necessary condition for learning, so nothing really new here.

3. Clear goals. True but nothing new,

4. Immediate feedback. Now this is where it gets interesting, as detailed feedback may interrupt flow. Realtime feedback is fine in flight simulators and immersive games but useful feedback in learning involves stopping the ‘flow’ to make the learner reflect and adjust their thinking. In fact, saying in the ‘flow’ may not result in the deeper processing in memory needed for retention, it may result in surface learning, the appearance of learning, with low retention.

5. Deep, effortless involvement. Another interesting feature that suggests abandoning classroom and lecture based models, where the activity is rarely deep, effortless and involved. But really only a symptom.

6. Sense of control over actions. Really a symptom.

7. Concern for self disappears. Really a symptom.

8. Sense of time is altered. Really a symptom.

There are two main conclusions to draw from this. First is that his first four main, practical recommendations (challenge, attention, feedback & goals) are really only bits of existing theory from the psychology of learning, useful but not novel. So the idea of ‘flow’ seems like an unnecessary abstraction, especially if some types of feedback are more episodic and break the spell. Second, his last four criteria are really just symptoms of attentive states.

Flow, teachers and media

Csikszentmihalyi doe see his ‘flow’ theory being at odds with most teaching in classrooms and lectures. It implies the removal, as far as possible, of the teacher from the equation as this is the learner being forced to adapt to the flow of the teacher or lecturer, not their own attentive learning.. One could argue that it strongly suggests online learning, especially sophisticated task-based online situations such as simulations and games.

To be fair, he also attacks the illusion of learning through television. Its long-form formats produce not ‘flow’ but a suspension of disbelief that results in little learning or retention. The flow of learning is not the flow of movies and TV.

Group learning disrupts flow

At the other end of the spectrum he also notes that a major constraint on people enjoying what they are doing is being conscious of a fear of how they appear to others and what these others might think. This mitigates against theory which pushes group learning or contexts in which the learner may be exposed to the judgements of others, an interesting, important but rarely aired argument.

Is ‘Flow’ always good?

One could argue that ‘flow’ is merely a synonym for ’psychological attention’ and that this is an umbrella term for a cluster of different attentive states. In fact, as he recognises, the flow one experiences in watching TV or a movie (largely suspension of disbelief) may result in shallow processing and poor memory and retention, precisely because one is in flow of a medium that takes you forward at its pace.

Deeper processing in learning seems to require interruption, activity and reflection. These are very different types of conscious states and just because we’re absorbed, doesn’t mean that there’s one definitive state, called ‘flow. Spaced practice theory also suggests that flow needs to be disrupted and made episodic if retention is to be increased.

So although, at first, flow theory seems to identify something that is intuitively right, it may do no more than over-simplify different cognitive states and fly in the face of many solid pieces of learning theory. Flow may, when unpacked sometimes be the enemy not the friend of learning.

Conclusion

Csikszentmihalyi is one of the few psychologists who have a concrete motivational theory, based on large samples of empirical data, that points towards states of mind that optimise learning. These seem to be far more individualistic and solipsistic than most contemporary theory. However, he may have pushed his theory too far in ignoring the problems it poses for actual learning, in terms of feedback and spaced practice. Although it may, on first sight, have a certain allure, when unpacked it has it weaknesses and contradictions. Like the word ‘happiness’, ‘flow’ is a simple abstraction, not a watertight theory.

Bibliography

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1998). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life. Basic Books.

Cool research: happy sheets hopeless, training failed…..failure-led, spaced practice worked

This astonishing piece of research by Daniel Bilton & Charles Gluck sums up almost everything I believe about good and bad training.

Over nine months, 500 people in Booz Allen were initially given three types of training:

1.       Placebo
2.       Page-turning
3.       Interactive

All three groups were then given surprise:

Three simulated phishing emails with remedial help if they failed i.e. spaced practice, learn through failure exercises.

Results

Both trained groups seemed to know what to do if they received ‘phishing’ emails:

·         87.8% of static trained

·         95.6% of interactively trained

Happy sheet evaluations for both were through the roof.

However….

Based on actual simulated attacks, they discovered no significant difference between training and no training!

WTF!

They then implemented ‘Failure-Triggered Training’, like the “Secret Shoppers” used by the retailers. Phishing emails simply dropped into your in-box, three different phishing emails on spaced intervals. Each user’s response/action was tracked. What they found was that these simulated emails resulted in a huge learning effect as error rates plummeted. The authors concluded that two main factors were at work:

1. Spaced practice

The researchers attributes their success to the spaced practice approach where the simulated emails put them to the test and with each of the three iterations more and more trainees became competent at dealing with these dangerous, fiscal requests.

2. Learn by doing

The researchers also saw gains from learning at the point of realisation, by doing something relevant at that moment, not on some disassociated training course. It was the failure-triggered training, delivered on teh back of unannounced, blind exercises, combined with immediate tailored remedial training, provided only to the users that “fail” the exercises, that did the trick.

Conclusion

So happy sheets were hopeless, straight text based and interactive e-learning was not significantly better than a placebo BUT spaced practice delivered as learn by doing worked magnificently well. This testimony from a learner about sums it up:

“I learned about the CIRT team through the phishing training email sent out a couple months back. It really stuck with me, since I ‘failed the test.’ ”

Krug Don’t make online learners think

Steve Krug has a background in writing computer manuals. He saw that this was not the solution to most problems and moved on into usability design. He has had a huge influence on web design through his best-selling book Don’t Make Me Think (2000). He also provided a method for quick and effective testing in his second book Rocket Surgery Made Easy (2009). The huge success of these books meant that user interface design was taken more seriously in terms of good practice and the need for testing with real users. Interface design, or UX design, has gained importance as part of general online learning design.

Interface design

Krug asks a simple question, ‘How do we really use the web?’ We glance, scan and muddle through. We don’t read pages, we scan them, choose the first reasonable option, and because we’re lazy, we meander through content. This is important and, if excesses in design are to be avoided, it has to be understood when designing web sites and online learning. His theory is based on real practice and positive results on real web sites. Krug’s first law of usability is to strive to make things self-evident or self-explanatory, hence the title ‘Don’t Make Me Think’.

Users and learners want the interface to be an unthinking act, easy and unobtrusive. The more they think, the more likely they are to stop and go elsewhere. Forget instructions. People don’t read them and don’t want them. He recommends that we design out the need for a tutorial or instructions.

Design recommendations

Sensitive to the needs of the internet as a medium in itself, he emphasises the importance of the Home page. This leads to reflection on the importance of the ‘Big Picture’, namely the essential purpose of the site or online learning programme. He recommends tag lines that capture the essence of a site or web experience. Mission statements he hates, as they rarely tell you the real story and usually miss the Big Picture. 

Navigation hierarchies

Taking his lead from newspapers, always an interesting source for screen design, he recommends carefully designed hierarchies. He hates navigation that breaks down when you get past the second level. The solution, he thinks, is persistent global navigation at the same position on every page with a home button and tracking. He loves fixed menus. He also makes the useful distinction between navigation, utilities (print, search and so on) and content. It is always a payoff between ‘wide and deep’ hierarchies. 

Be conventional

Following on from Norman and Nielsen, he stresses conventions. Don’t play fast and loose, make things easy and consistent. Use conventions, such as shopping carts, standard video controls and icons. This is sound advice. Conventions are more than just objects of convenience, they are part of the grammar of interface design. Designers often refuse to use conventions as they crave creativity and innovation – this, in his view, is rarely useful. Pages should also be broken up into carefully defined areas, clickable areas should be obvious and every attempt made to minimise ‘noise’, again a Mayer and Clark principle in online learning.

Half the number of words and half again

True to his belief that screen readers are different from readers of print, he has strong views on writing for the screen. Less is more and so he exhorts designers and writers to omit needless words. In his own words, “Half the number of words and half again”. 

Search

Krug was among the earliest evangelists for search on websites. Search is a window into the collective mind of your users. It tells you what people really want, look for and what is most likely missing.

Interface design in online learning

In interface design, as Steve Krug says in the title, the point is NOT to make people think. In learning, the whole point is to make people think. Yet many of his recommendations are applicable across learning experiences. His advice on drastically reducing text has been confirmed in research by Mayer and others in online learning design. The importance of search has also come to the fore in Learning Experience Platforms used for learning in the workflow.

Krug’s prescriptions are even more important in online learning than in web design, as learning’s great enemy is cognitive overload and dissonance. If learners have to work hard to understand, navigate and read online learning, they have less sustained attention for retentive learning. Most online learning, like most offline learning, is too long winded and needs to be seriously edited to avoid cognitive overload. Keep navigation simple and consistent, use de facto conventions, avoid deep hierarchies and write for the screen not the page. And don’t forget to test – a few iterations with experts.

Usability testing

His second book Rocket Surgery Made Easy, shows how to do modest, low budget testing. His starting point is that designers can’t see the mistakes they make as they get too close to the design and as the navigation has come from their own heads, they lack objectivity. You need other fingers and eyeballs, guided by experts, using voiced testimonies. 

Krug, like Norman and Nielsen, is a strong believer in a specific form of usability testing. Following Nielsen and Landauer he takes the view that a few good, experienced testers and a few iterations are all you need. Forget the large-scale focus groups and massive testing, which suffer from the law of diminishing returns. His practical experience shows that just one, or a few testers early on are more effective than a large number at the end. 

He recommends evidence gathering with a camcorder and facilitator who asks questions and gives tasks, especially ‘Get it’ tasks where you probe the user for their understanding of the point of the experience, how it works and how it is organised. The point of the facilitator is to probe and ask them not only what they’re looking at but what they’re thinking. Listen, keep an open mind and take lots of notes.

An underlying point, made many years before by Dewey and Heidegger is that technologies work best when they hide themselves in things and tasks. Technology is at its best when it is invisible. This is the consistent theme in all good usability theorists and practitioners. The task of the designer, to make the delivery mechanism as invisible as possible.

Krug understands the different roles of specialists in design teams and the tensions that arise between them. His solution is to objectify the debate through testing, not with the mythical average user, but with real users. His is a useful, practical and prescriptive approach to good usability through good design.

Influence

Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think has sold over 600,000 copies. Rather than depend on academic literature, this popular book, in a sense he practices what he preaches. It is readable and does exactly what the user expects, give concrete advice on design and testing. As user design has grown as a practice Krug’s work is still relevant for its lasting recommendations.

Bibliography

Krug, S., 2009. Rocket surgery made easy: The do-it-yourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems. New Riders.

Krug, S., 2000. Don't make me think!: a common sense approach to Web usability. New Riders.

Mayer & Clark – 10 brilliant design rules for e-learning

Richard Mayer and Ruth Clark are among the foremost researchers in the empirical testing of media and media mix hypotheses in online learning. Their e-Learning and the Science of Instruction (2003) covers seven design principles; multimedia, contiguity, modality, redundancy, coherence, personalisation, and practice opportunities. Clear explanations are given about the risks of ignoring these principles - with support from worked examples and case study challenges. It should be a compulsory text for online learning designers.

Media mix is not mind rich

Their precise studies have confirmed that our media mix (text, graphics, audio, animation, video) in online learning is often flawed, resulting in cognitive overload and dissonance. Perhaps their greatest contribution has been in identifying redundancy as a serious problem in screen-based learning but they are known for research that produces clear practical recommendations that do not pander to those who think that media rich automatically means mind rich.

Less is more

If you were asked to sum up the psychology of learning in three words, it would be ‘less is more’, that’s also Mayer and Clark’s mantra. In one study, Mayer, et al (1996) presented 600 pieces of scientific learning and found that briefer versions, which were concise, coherent and co-ordinated, resulted in far more effective learning. They are precise in their recommendations, ‘There is a clear pattern in which the more words added to the core verbal explanation, the more poorly the student does in producing the core explanative idea units. These results are consistent with the idea that the additional words overload verbal working memory, drawing limited attentional and comprehension resources away from the core verbal explanation.’ The lesson with text is to cut it ‘til it bleeds! Bullet points, simple writing, highlighted keywords and short paragraphs are all useful screen writing techniques.

Avoid eye candy

They are critical of gratuitous graphics which are added to simply fill slots on pages of text. This is not uncommon in e-learning where designers simply take a noun within the text and slam in an associated image. This does nothing, according to Mayer and Clark, than add cognitive load and slow up learning.

Avoid ear candy

Background music and environmental sounds create unnecessary cognitive load and distract from, rather than increase, learning. Indeed, music, over longer periods of time can be incredibly annoying. Note that this also applies to sounds, such as beeps or applause, that reinforce right and wrong answers. This may be appropriate in a games, but not for most online learning. Ear candy is as bad as eye candy.

Text and graphics good

They argue that ‘text and simple relevant graphics’ can improve learning as they use separate cognitive channels. They are not absolutist on these rules, as text within graphics can be useful when explaining a process or in labeling.

Beware of text and animation

‘Text and animation’ which both use the visual channel, cause cognitive dissonance and often confuse rather than achieve learning. Animation, like video, should use audio narration, rather than accompanying text.

Beware of text and audio

They claim that words in both text and accompanying audio narration can hurt learning. This is interesting as it is often assumed that one needs both to cover accessibility issues. In other words, they argue for using ‘audio and graphics’ without screen text. According to Clark and Mayer (2003), ‘audio or text on their own’ are better than ‘text and audio together’. This is confirmed by another study by Kalyuga, Chandler and Sweller (1999) where the group with audio scored 64% better than the group with both text and audio. They claim that one or other is redundant and will overload the visual and aural channels.

Redundancy

A review of studies around this concept, known as the redundancy effect, by Sweller et al (1998) cites a list of research studies that all point to the damage done to learning when redundant material interferes with the efficacy of the learning. For example; they illustrate a point about leaving out extraneous or distracting graphics in media with an experiment, conducted by Harp and Mayer (1997), in which students were given a text to read on lightning strikes. Students who read the passage accompanied by elaborate colour photos with additional captions - as opposed to the text with simple graphics - showed 73% less retention of knowledge and 52% fewer solutions on a transfer test.

Keep it close

Mayer (1989), Mayer Steinhoff Bower (1995) and Moreno and Mayer (1999) in five separate studies compared graphics with text close to the graphics, and graphics with text below the graphics, at the foot of the screen. In all five studies, learners who used the co-located text and graphics improved their problem solving by between 43-89%. Similar results have been found by Chandler and Sweller (1991), Pass and Van Merrienboer, (1994). Making the learner’s eye jump from one part of the screen to another is disruptive and reduces the effectiveness of the learning. E-learning has also introduced heavy doses of rollover text which is displaced away from the item over which the cursor rolls so that the pop-up text appears elsewhere on the screen at a distance from the item in question. The research confirms that this is to be avoided in learning programmes.

Personalise

Backed up by the work of Nass and Reeves at Stanford (subject of my next post), they recommend a more conversational style, using first and second person language. This is not to say that it should be over-friendly or condescending. It should feel like a dialogue, not a lecture. They also recommend the use of an on-screen coach or agent. Note that they absolutely recommend self-paced user control, as well as frequent practice and context setting through interactions.

Lessons for production

Their research explains why broadcast TV and web design companies often fail to produce good online learning. They are drawn to techniques that entertain rather than educate, often adding media that unintentionally degrades the learning experience. This is why Nielsen and others were so critical of Flash, as it encouraged, the unnecessary addition of animation. On the other hand it confirms the use of short video lessons, with images and audio, as a form of instruction.

Conclusion

Clark and Mayer were among the first to seriously research the use of media in e-learning and have come up with empirically tested conclusions, often repeated by others, which suggest that many common practices in e-learning design are, in fact, wrong. They actually result in harming rather than helping the learning process. They call for simpler, less gimmicky use of media. Animation and audio do NOT necessarily lead to better learning and may, in fact, degrade the learning experience.

Bibliography

Clark, Ruth and Chopeta Lyons (2004).Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials. Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer

Mayer R E and Clark R, E-learning and the Science of Instruction (see p61 for multiple references), Pfeiffer, 2003

Richard Mayer (2001). Multi-Media Learning. Cambridge University Press

Clark, Ruth (1999). Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-based Instructional Materials. ISPI

Mayer R E, Systematic Thinking Fostered by Illustrations in Scientific Text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 240-246.  1989

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Student cliff – 7 reasons for plummeting student numbers

Lots of angst has appeared around what is now being dubbed the ‘student cliff’. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Worcester says there will be 10% drop in the proportion of UK students starting degrees this year, the steepest fall in 30 years. To be precise, he predicts a 70,000 drop in applications. We have already seen a 53,000 student shortfall. Then there's the catastrophic statistics on foreign students. UK universities get a third of their tuition fees from foreign students, yet Indian student numbers fell by 23.5% overall with a 28% drop in postgrads and Pakistani students by 13.4%, with a 19% drop in postgrads. Non-EU students coming to Britain for postgraduate courses has dropped for the first time in 16 years. The UK is now relying on Chinese students for growth but even these have dwindled and there’s every sign that China is doing everything it can to build their own capability. For the first time, no one is disagreeing about the falls. What we need to understand are the causes:

Changing demographics

Demographically, the number of UK 18-year-olds will decline over the next ten years by 11%. This will have a long-term effect on University applications. Projections released this week from the US Department of Education show enrolment figures for 2010-2021 falling miles below the 46% growth experienced between 1996-2010. This is already playing out in California, where there is a demographic shift to negative growth, combined with crippling state debt. Overall, a new report has shown that the projected ‘pupil cliff’ will result in the “death of the growth agenda in the US”.

Commoditisation

Scarcity creates value, commoditisation destroys value. Youth and graduate unemployment has gone through the roof in some countries and is still rising across Europe. The spectre of a high-cost degree with a low-salary future is starting to bite. A degree is no longer the goal but THE degree from better brand institutions. Because degrees have become commoditised, employers are also less interested in their value. Music, newspapers, retail in general, have all been commoditised through Napsterisation. The same thing is happening in learning.

Steeply rising costs

We have seen student costs soar in the US, UK and elsewhere, way beyond inflation and house price rises, yet the deliverable remains much the same. Remind you of the property bubble? Student loan costs have risen well above that of credit card debt in the US. When faced with student fees in the UK, many have chosen not to apply. Yet little has been done to lower the cost of HE which is still rooted in a high cost model based on low occupancy buildings, one intake a year, long vacations and inefficient teaching. Cost is pushing more young people to reject HE.

Debt

‘Debt’ is a dagger of a word that now strikes fear into people. It alone almost led to a global meltdown, is tearing apart the European Union, has led to massive youth unemployment and is NOT going away any time soon. To take on debt now, is to take on a massive risk. It will affect your ability to buy a flat or house, have children, sustain a credit rating, with no guarantee of a job with golden prospects. Potential students have wised up to this fact.

Relevance

The medieval model of the University as somewhere that provides a huge breadth of courses, with a focus on research rather than teaching, has led to parking the relevance argument.  We have seen dramatic drops in students applying for Universities in the UK, when they have been asked to pay £9000 a year for that privilege. Foreign student income (one third of all tuition in UK) is not geared towards this breadth but towards business and STEM subjects. Economic relevance is not the only aim of higher education but neither is the abandonment of relevance. We have to face up to the fact that relevance has become a greater factor in student choice,

Groupthink

Universities struggle with rapid, innovative change and governments are still stuck in the mindset of more degrees as an intrinsic good. Peter Thiel identified this as one of the fundamental symptoms of a bubble – groupthink. ‘The nth degree’ problem is the simplistic idea that the more degrees we fund the better. Forget the fact that the world has been brought to its fiscal knees by graduate bankers or that many of the skills we require are not taught, or taught badly, at our Universities, we need to reduce costs through the mass adoption of cheaper solutions, such as online learning. This, especially in the UK, has hindered innovation.

More options

The race is now on. Different models are emerging that lower costs and increase reach and access. This draws students away from traditional HE. MOOCs, with accreditation (Signature Course from Coursera), are now available. Other models are emerging, such as separate online departments within Universities (UDOL – University of Derby Online), outsourcing to online delivery companies that have multiple yearly intakes, low costs and no VISA problems (Interactive Design Institute). These are, at present, modifications to the existing model. But there are other more radical, tectonic shifts at work here. There’s a genuine thirst for shorter, faster courses, that are available when you want them, more relevant apprenticeships and high quality workplace learning, and not just the 18 year old undergraduate meander through a 3 or 4 year degree course.

Conclusion

Unlike the fiscal cliff, there is no sign of any immediate solution to this problem, other than taking the pain. There’s no way politicians can do a 180 degree (sic) turn on this but that’s what’s needed. After decades of expansion, the whole system has ballooned out of control with quality, and now quantity, falling. The danger is in behaving like lemmings heading towards the student cliff without adequate planning.