Sascha Schneider

University of Zurich | UZH · Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft

Learning materials are often enriched with interesting facts that are only superficially related to the learning topic to increase student motivation. However, research suggests that such seductive details rather impair learning. Seductive details can convey a positive or negative valence, for example, when explaining advantages or disadvantages of...

The voice principle states that people learn better when the instructor speaks with a standard rather than a foreign accent. Thus, native American students learn better when the instructor speaks with a standard American accent than when the instructor speaks with a foreign accent. This learning benefit for a standard accent can be explained by a h...

In formal educational settings, such as online university lectures, instructional videos often consist of PowerPoint slides accompanied by a video or audio explanation from the instructor. It has been assumed that the social cues provided by the instructor’s video may facilitate affective processes and affect learning outcomes. Research on instruct...

360 videos raised the attention of educators, as they can mediate complex environments in educational settings. However, learning irrelevant cognitive strains might be imposed because it is necessary to navigate through spherical material. These down-sides could be compensated by using signalling techniques. In a two (macro-level vs. no signalling)...

Color has been investigated as a signaling cue in multimedia learning environments, guiding the learner’s attention and as an emotional design element, increasing the learner’s motivation and, thus, improving learning outcomes. Retrieval cues (e.g., visual cues, odor, sound) facilitating memory retrieval have been primarily investigated in learning...

Researchers disagree on the extent to which social cues in instructional videos influence learning and learning-relevant outcomes and processes. The instructor presence effect states that visible instructors in instructional videos lead to increased social presence and higher scores in subjective ratings like motivation, social presence, or affect,...

Based on the assumptions of cognitive load theory and the derived split-attention effect, previous research on instructional material investigated the effect of signaling to support processing and integration of information. Although a large body of research on signaling targets multimedia materials (see the meta-analysis from Richter et al., 2016)...

Teachers’ behavior is a key factor that influences students’ motivation. Many theoretical models have tried to explain this influence, with one of the most thoroughly researched being self-determination theory (SDT). We used a Delphi method to create a classification of teacher behaviors consistent with SDT. This is useful because SDT-based interve...

Pedagogical agents were found to enhance learning but studies on the emotional effects of such agents are still missing. While first results show that pedagogical agents with an emotionally positive design might especially foster learning, these findings might depend on the gender of the agent and the learner. This study investigated whether emotio...

Although whiteboard animations are increasingly used for educational purposes, there is little empirical evidence as to why such animations can enhance learning. To specify essential elements, their dynamic visual presentation, as well as their narrative embedding, were found to be theortically important. In a first Experiment (N = 133) with a 2 (p...

According to cognitive load theory, learning can only be successful when instructional materials and procedures are designed in accordance with human cognitive architecture. In this context, one of the biggest challenges is the accurate measurement of the different cognitive load types as these are associated with various activities during learning...

Whiteboard animations encounter increasing popularity among learners. However, due to their transient nature, such animations can quickly exceed learners’ working memory capacities. To compensate for this transience, the segmentation principle (i.e., separating the animation into smaller, “digestible” segments) can be used to give learners more tim...

The application of 360° videos raised the attention of educators and researchers, as it appears to be an approachable option to mediate complete environments in educational settings. However, challenges emerge from the perspective of educational psychology. Learning irrelevant cognitive strains might be imposed because it is necessary to navigate t...

Several studies highlight the importance of the order of different instructional methods when designing learning environments. Correct but also erroneous worked examples are frequently used methods to foster students’ learning performance, especially in problem-solving. However, so far no study examined how the order of these example types affects...

For more than three decades, cognitive load theory has been addressing learning from a cognitive perspective. Based on this instructional theory, design recommendations and principles have been derived to manage the load on working memory while learning. The increasing attention paid to cognitive load theory in educational science quickly culminate...

Lernen mit digitalen Medien ist ein zwar junges aber weit erforschtes Feld der psychologischen Forschung. Ein Großteil der Forschung widmete sich dabei der Erforschung kognitiver Prozesse bei der Selektion und Verarbeitung sowie der Speicherung und dem Abruf von Informationen. Erst in den letzten 20 Jahren wurden verstärkt begleitende psychische Pr...

For a long time, research on individuals learning in digital environments was primarily based on cognitive-oriented theories. This paper aims at providing evidence that social processes affect individual learning with digital materials. Based on these theories and empirical results, a social-processes-augmented theory is suggested: the Cognitive-Af...

Teachers’ behaviour is a key factor that influences students’ motivation. Many theoretical models have tried to explain this influence, with one of the most thoroughly researched being self-determination theory (SDT). We used a Delphi method to create a classification of teacher behaviours consistent with SDT. This is useful because SDT-based inter...

Concept maps are assumed to enhance learning as their inherent structure makes relations between information more salient. Nevertheless, research on how to design concept maps as conducive to learning as possible is still rare. In particular, the salience of spatial arrangement of thematically related concepts within the map as well as the complexi...

Cognitive load theory assumes effort may only lead to comprehension if the material-induced load leaves enough resources for learning processes. Therefore, multimedia materials should induce as little non-relevant load as possible. Metacognition research assumes that learners tap into their memory processes to generate a mental representation of th...

The disfluency effect postulates that intentionally inserted desirable difficulties can have a beneficial effect on learning. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing discussion about the emergence of this effect since studies could not replicate this effect or even found opposite effects. To clarify boundary effects of the disfluency effect and to invest...

According to self-determination theory, both provision of choice and reduced task difficulty facilitate learners’ motivation via an increase in 2 basic psychological needs. This study examines the moderating role of the autonomy-changing effect of choice on the competence-altering effect of differences in perceived task difficulty in a multimedia l...

Body movements such as gestures and facial expressions are an essential part of human communication. While first results show that body movements of pedagogical agents in educational videos foster learning when they are learning-related, the impact of unrelated gestures and facial expressions is still not fully examined. This study investigated whe...

Learning from erroneous worked examples could enhance learning in contrast to problem-solving tasks. The type of error was hypothesized to be a moderator and accuracy of error detection and correction a mediator of this effect. This study examines the influence of simple syntactic (the structure of the code) and complex semantic (the logic or conte...

Based on the Self‐Determination Theory, the choice effect states that offering learners choice options independent from their relevance for learning will increase the perception of autonomy and intrinsic motivation as well as the learning performance. However, an increasing number of choice options can also have detrimental effects. This study exam...

Nach der Selbstbestimmungstheorie (Ryan & Deci, 2000) fördern sowohl die Bereitstellung von Wahlmöglichkeiten als auch eine geringere Aufgabenschwierigkeit sowohl die Motivation als auch Lernleistungen von Lernenden über eine Steigerung des Autonomie- und Kompetenzerlebens als psychische Grundbedürfnisse (z.B., Goemaere et al., 2018, Schneider et a...

Concepts maps can be an effective way to present conceptual relationships to learners. However, teachers using concept maps suffer from a lack of evidence-based principles. Highlighting the organization of the information and making its structure more salient might be more helpful for learners, especially as concept maps increase in size and comple...

Concept Maps are assumed to enhance learning as their inherent structure makes relations between information more salient. Nevertheless, research on how to design concept maps as conducive to learning as possible is still rare. In particular, the salience of spatial arrangement of thematically related concepts within the map as well as the complexi...

Learning materials often consist of pictures that do not pursue a learning goal but an aesthetics function. Such decorative pictures were found to hinder learning by an increase of learning-irrelevant cognitive load (i.e., the seductive detail effect). Studies also showed that various details within a learning setting could have a retrieval-enhanci...

Statistical concepts are quite abstract and difficult for students to understand, leading to high examination failure rates. This study investigated whether the use of decorative pictures during online learning could enhance learning performance or reduce cognitive load. Although many multimedia studies showed the negative influences of decorative...

Text-based learning media are often used in primary, secondary and university education. Therefore, text designers can support the learner by highlighting the most relevant information by using visual cues. Despite this signaling effect’s broad empirical basis, the extent to which the effectiveness of educational signals is dependent on moderator v...

Until sufficient practical experience and documented examples are available, emerging technological methods to create educational content typically require in-depth knowledge from different fields in order to apply them in the most beneficial way. The method of creating photorealistic 3D models (PR3DMs) of real-world objects with the methods of pho...

The entity players compete with is an important element of competitive mechanisms. However, this crucial element is barely investigated within educational video games, as educational psychology research focuses mainly on supportive role models (e.g., pedagogical agents, intelligent tutorial systems). Nevertheless, the influence on learning must be...

The emotional design hypothesis states that features in digital learning materials can elicit emotional reactions. Voice-related cues, such as enthusiastic accentuations are getting more into the focus of research. These emotion-related cues have to be additionally processed to the relevant instructions while learning, so that the overall amount of...

Lecturers in educational videos often use gestures to emphasize what has been said or highlight learning relevant information, which is visible on the screen. However, differences in types of lecturer gestures, such as rhythmic (beat) gestures and signaling (deictic) gestures, have not been investigated thoroughly yet concerning human lecturers in...

Many (digital) learning materials are often based on a combination of text and pictures, whereby pictures often only serve a decorative (learning-irrelevant) function. Such decorative pictures were proven as detrimental for learning success. In contrast, research on retrieval cues (also known as memory cues) showed that a visual-semantic connection...

Text-based learning environments are often used in primary, secondary, university, and online education. Two prominent design recommendations for improving learning instructional texts are the signaling principle (i.e., highlighting the most important information) and the disfluency principle (i.e. impairing the ease of identifying words). Despite...

Concept Maps sind Diagramme, die Beziehungen zwischen Konzepten und Ideen visuell wiedergeben (Novak & Cañas, 2006) und häufig Anwendung beim Lernen finden. Sie gelten grundsätzlich als lernförderlich, da Lernende weniger kognitive Verarbeitungsstrukturen benötigen, um relevante Informationen zu extrahieren (Schroeder, Nesbit, Anguiano & Adesope, 2...

Die Implementation von affektiven Gestaltungsprinzipien in multimedialen Lernumgebungen brachte bisher gegensätzliche Ergebnisse hervor. Während in einigen Lernsituationen Emotionen als zusätzliche kognitive Belastung wirkten und die Lernergebnisse negativ beeinflussten (Cognitive Load Perspektive), wurde in anderen Untersuchungen festgestellt, pos...

The split-attention effect refers to learning with related representations in multimedia. Spatial proximity and integration of these representations are crucial for learning processes. The influence of varying amounts of proximity between related and unrelated information has not yet been specified. In two experiments (N1 = 98; N2 = 85), spatial pr...

The motivation for students to keep working with online materials can fade quite rapidly. Reasons for it might lay in the limited perceived autonomy while reading and solving tasks on computers. Based on previous school setting experiments and the self-determination theory, a provision of choice might help to improve learners’ perception of autonom...

The segmenting effect states that people learn better when multimedia instructions are presented in (meaningful and coherent) learner-paced segments, rather than as continuous units. This meta-analysis contains 56 investigations including 88 pairwise comparisons and reveals a significant segmenting effect with small to medium effects for retention...

According to the Self-Determination Theory, the autonomy-supporting feature of choice leads to an increase in intrinsically motivated behavior. Although this effect was replicated multiple times, instructional designers often dread to include choice options in single tasks because of the high effort in designing additional materials or a higher cog...

Social entities are implemented within educational videos in order to create a stimulating learning environment that will serve for social identification and knowledge transfer. In two experiments performed for this study, university students watched an instructional video about multiple sclerosis (experiment 1) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ex...

Arousal has been found to increase learners' attentional resources. In contrast, seductive details (interesting but learning‐irrelevant information) are considered to distract attention away from relevant information and thus, hinder learning. However, a possibly moderating role of arousal on the seductive detail effect has not been examined yet. I...

In the educational context, the influences of the emotional charge of audiovisual media are rarely investigated. Additionally, the mood of the learner influences learning with multimedia. This study aims to investigate the influence of both variables on learning with videos. Therefore, 162 school students watched educational videos which were manip...

Die Forschung zu digitalen Lernmaterialien wurde lange Zeit durch rein kognitiv ausgerichtete Theorien dominiert. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Fragestellung, inwieweit der individuelle Umgang mit digital präsentierten Lernmaterialien auch sozialen Prozessen unterliegt. Dafür werden Theorien herangezogen, die soziale Einflüsse auf Lernprozesse pro...

The inclusion of human-like shapes like arms or faces in rather abstract pictures triggers the tendency of anthropomorphism, which is defined as the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman objects. Anthropomorphism-triggering features in digital learning materials were found to enhance the performance of students. However, the probability...

Share Link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1W7ZA,dlbROvvb The signaling effect states that learners profit from cues that highlight the organization of specific relevant information within materials. This meta-analysis includes 103 studies and N = 12,201 participants. 139 retention and 70 transfer performance measures were used to determine separat...

Anthropomorphisierung bezeichnet im Lernkontext die Tendenz von Personen, menschliche Charakteristiken auf nicht-menschliche Objekte zu übertragen. Dieser Effekt wird in multimedialen Lernmaterialien durch Designelemente wie menschliche Gesichter oder soziale Hinweiszeichen hervorgerufen und kann die Lernleistung erhöhen. Bisher konnten Studien die...

Social entities are often implemented within educational videos in order to create a stimulating learning environment which serves for knowledge transfer and social identification. Recent research revealed that the effect of social entities is linked to several boundary conditions. In order to specify these conditions, this study aimed at investiga...

German Presentation.

Instructional designer use external representations such as pictures in order to represent, organize, explain or decorate a learning material. In the case of decorative pictures (e.g., photographs or illustrations), the aim is to make a learning material aesthetically appealing rather than to provide learning topic-related information. As such, the...

Decorative pictures in multimedia materials were long been regarded as detrimental (seductive) for learning. In contrast, resent research has shown that the impact of these pictures is moderated by a number of variables. In a series of experiments, this presentation examines if the emotional charge of decorative illustrations can be verified as an...

Presentation held at the EARLI 2017

This thesis aimed at examining the impact of decorative pictures, defined as pictures which make an instructional material aesthetically appealing rather than conveying information for learning. In research, the use of decorative pictures was considered to be detrimental for learning for a long time. In contrast, recent research revealed that the i...

The signaling effect states that learners profit from cues that highlight organization or relevant information. This meta-analysis includes 95 studies and N = 11,499 participants. One hundred thirty-one retention, 67 transfer performance and 23 cognitive load measures were used to determine separate mean effect sizes. Additionally, nine possible mo...

Decorative pictures, which make a learning text aesthetically appealing rather than provide information, have been predominantly found to impair learning by an increase of learning-irrelevant cognitive processes. Recent research, however, indicates that this effect is moderated by various factors. On the basis of cognitive–affective theories and st...

Numerous studies were conducted to investigate how recipients are affected by the miscellaneous characters in multimedia. However, there is a lack of research concerning the connection between parasocial processes and learning performances. This study aims to investigate the influence of addressing (as a social encounter of parasocial interaction)...

Although many of the existing educational videogames rely on leaderboard mechanisms, dedicated research on their effectiveness or how they should be implemented is missing. In this study, competitive effort, perceived difficulty and connected gameplay which are revealed to be core concepts of leaderboards, are manipulated to examine how leaderboard...

Pedagogical agents are frequently used in digital learning environments. On the basis of the computers-as-social-actors paradigm (CASA), learners do not differentiate between the interaction with these characters and any other social interaction. Therefore, the appearance of pedagogical agents is vulnerable to stereotyping mechanisms such as ageism...

When people attribute human characteristics to nonhuman objects they are amenable to anthropomorphism. For example, human faces or the insertion of personalized labels are found to trigger anthropomorphism. Two studies examine the effects of these features when included in decorative pictures in multimedia learning materials. In a first experiment,...

Pedagogical agents are used more frequently in digital learning environments. On the basis of the computers-as-social-actors paradigm (CASA), learners do not differentiate between the interaction with these characters and any other human social interaction. Therefore, the appearance of pedagogical agents is vulnerable to stereotyping mechanisms suc...

Research on multimedia learning continues its shift towards a more complex understanding of affective impacts on cognitive processing. For example, arousal has been found to increase learners’ attentional resources. In contrast, interesting but learning-irrelevant information, also called seductive details, are considered to distract attention away...

Hyperlinks as interactive network structures of knowledge have become a gradually inherent part in multimedia learning settings. On the one hand, they are claimed to foster deeper understanding and enhance information acquisition. On the other hand, they are prone to overstrain learners’ cognitive resources and impair the construction of coherent m...

Background: The increased usage of educational video games with their strong graphical and technical potential raises the question of how to optimize the instructional elements of gameplay. In this article, the instructional goal was analyzed with the theoretical background of both motivational psychology (goal-setting theory) and cognitive psychol...

Complex, multimedia software such as educational videogames offer a wide range of elements to modify learner behavior. The adjustment of such software might support learning, especially in complex settings like collaborative or cooperative scenarios. Coming from a theoretical background of educational psychology, our experiment seeks to implement t...