Reflection on Multimedia

With a new school year comes a new set of courses to challenge my thought processes and my ability to organize my life well enough to complete required assignments! Already I’m learning a lot and I’m looking forward to the experiences I’ll have this semester at the University of North Texas.

My first reflection piece is about my experience with multimedia for entertainment and/or learning. My first thought is that as a young person, I was only tangentially aware of multi-media. To be honest, I think my conception of multimedia was limited to class movies (anyone remember “Hammerman’s After You!” or “Cypher in the Snow”?) and overhead projectors.

Now I am a regular consumer of interactive multimedia. I tend to geek out about cool new bits, like the clever Google Doodles, VR apps, new simulations, etc. I often find myself “checking out” after a long day of work and homework where I would rather not have to think or react, and that usually means watching something on Netflix or Hulu. You can’t really say it’s interactive; my whole purpose in immersing myself in a video fantasy is to escape active participation, after all!

I’m more active in interacting with multimedia technology at work. We have very excellent graphic artists and software engineers who develop amazing things. I remember the first time I flew in an F-16 SimuStrike simulator after our BlueBox HD environmental database had been integrated. I flew over the Swiss Alps, admiring the level of detail in the ground texture and water features. I swear I could count the cows in an alpine pasture! It was immersive to the point of suspended disbelief, as we call it. My brain no longer distinguished my virtual experience from a real one. It was pretty cool.

While logically, I know that good instruction doesn’t have to include multimedia. I know that there is “no significant difference” between learning outcomes from a face-to-face class or the learning outcomes from a computer-based training module with all the multimedia bells and whistles. However, I can’t help thinking that if attention and motivation are critical factors in adult learning, then the application of multimedia might be a way to economically and effectively kick it up a notch, and get their attention.

I think the now old wisdom of the academics that “there is no significant difference” is outdated and perhaps ready for a refresh. I know in the complex learning environment that I work in, multimedia is essential when training individuals to perform tasks to a high level of proficiency, and those tasks require manipulation and activation of hardware and software elements. Unless the instructor relied on some form of multimedia, students would have a hard time developing the concepts required for theory of operations let alone understanding the procedural material.

Still, I’m generally a fan of multimedia in my personal as well as my professional life. However, when it really comes down to it, and I have time to do what I choose to do, I’ll read a book, or work with my hands. Multimedia certainly enhances, but could never replace real-life. Not for me.