Student Perceptions of Streaming-Media Effectiveness

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate cognitive-load theory as applied to the design of streaming media. In this study, student learning preferences and cognitive style were measured on a visualizer-verbalizer scale to determine the perceived importance of visual and audio components of streaming media used to supplement classroom instruction. Additionally, this study investigated cognitive-load theory by assessing attitudes regarding the importance of learner control when accessing streaming media files. The writer used 4 existing visualizer-verbalizer instruments in combination with 1 original survey that was designed to gather student perceptions and attitudes regarding the effectiveness of streaming media to support instruction. A group of participants was randomly selected to participate in an interview in order to probe more deeply into respondents’ perceptions. An analysis of the data revealed a weak to modest correlation among the existing instruments and the streaming-media items, which did, however, correlate strongly with one another. It is clear that visual and verbal learners perceive control over online instruction to be an important component in their understanding of content. Overall, participants responded positively in regard to the use of streaming media as an aid to understanding.