Antrittsvorlesung: Rolle von Text und Bild beim Lernen

Learning from texts and pictures is ubiquitous in nearly all the disciplines and at all educational levels. Texts can be presented in written or spoken forms. Pictures can have various forms, such as drawing, graphics, videos and simulations. The study of how we understand texts can be traced back to 2000 years ago. However, less is known about how we integrate texts and pictures, as research in multimedia learning has been conducted for about 40 years only. This talk presents an overview of theorizing, methods, key findings and revenues for future research on multimedia learning. To further illustrate what and how research in this domain is being done, I will cover some of my work on how we acquire, perceive, and use texts and pictures (e.g., Origami folding, data graphs, videos, interactive simulation, emails). The results suggest that visuospatial sketchpad is involved in processing information in Origami folding (Zhao, Gaschler, Kneschke, et al., 2020). The difficulty of multimedia reading can influence the distance to screen (Zhao, Gaschler, Schnotz, et al., 2020). Graph comprehension can be based on a hierarchical structure of common invariant graph schemas and underlying specific graph schemas (Zhao & Gaschler, 2021, 2022). Segmenting the interview videos by using keywords on slides fosters essential processing (Zhao, 2021). Interactive simulations impose high demands on learns and was not advantageous in learning outcomes but was preferred (Zhao et al., 2022). Sending emails in text-picture form can potentially motivate students in asynchronous e-learning (Zhao & Gaschler, 2024). The talk aims to provide educational implications for instructional designers, e-learning developers and learning and development professionals.