Course Content

The intent of this lesson is not to provide you with all the answers. In fact, it might even more questions… so, perhaps the first question to ask is:

is that necessarily a bad idea?

Hopefully not. What we hope to accomplish is to get you to think about message design in different ways…

Symbol Systems

In order to understand how media affects learning, and communicating, you need to gain an understanding of the concept of symbolism.

• Here is a link to a great site that studies visual perception from multiple points of view.. Take some time reviewing these materials and try to outline what you knew before and what new ideas these readings have added to your personal knowledge of the topic
  Here are some of the major points:

  • Confronted by a visual image, we seem to need to separate a dominant shape (a ‘figure’ with a definite contour) from a ‘background’ (or ‘ground’).
  • Gestalt psychologists outlined several fundamental and universal principles (sometimes even called ‘laws’) of perceptual organization. The main ones are as follows (some of the terms vary a little): proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure, smallness, ‘surroundedness’, symmetry and pragnanz.
  • Categorization is a ‘top-down’ process involved with perception. In this view particularity and uniqueness is gained with regards to perception and recall. For Romantics, it is also regarded as inducing a sense of distance from the world. For realists, the way we categorize phenomena is a ‘natural’ ‘reflection of reality’.
  • The three dimensions in a printed or viewed image on a screen is an artificial construct. Linear perspective is only one kind of depth cue in a static two-dimensional image such as a painting, drawing or photograph. Relative size is another depth cue. Where an image features several objects of similar shape, the tendency is to assume that the smaller objects are further away. Height in field (or plane) is another cue to judging depth.
  • We seem as a species to be driven by a desire to make meanings: above all, we are surely Homo significans – meaning-makers. Distinctively, we make meanings through our creation and interpretation of ‘signs’.
  • Reading an image, like the reception of any other message, is dependent on prior knowledge of possibilities; i.e., we can only recognize what we know.

• Once you have explored this site and reviewed the above, perhaps additional questions come to mind: The following is a general discussion of Solomon’s Ideas on Symbol Systems

• Take a look at this short description of symbol systems…under the definition of symbol systems above, does text fit in as a ‘symbol system’?

how can you be sure your words are being understood? what about the icons you may be using? are they UNIVERSALLY understood?

what about fidelity (how true to reality — clarity, resolution)?

• What are the effects of using highlighting/using icons to focus attention?. Can we focus attention using highlighted text? Does it actually enhance learning? can it actually get in the way of those who are literate in the topics?

Here is an interesting discussion about preferences and effects of purchasing used textbooks with highlighting already in it

Here is one that delves into effects of highlighting hyperlinks on Web pages

Which is more effective, text warning messages or icons?

Instructional Media & Instructional Design Theory

Instructional design is a process. it is very prescriptive in nature and helps decide how the end product should look like. There should be no question as to what comes first.. but many look at the media and then try to deign instruction around it.. should e the other way around.. you look at the needed instruction and THEN decide on the best media to use. Take Second Life for example. When you think of it, do you first say to yourself “boy there’s GOT to be something I can teach with this.”

or do you think:


I need a certain way to get students to create artifacts that demonstrate their understanding of what I am trying to teach them. What is the best digital sandbox that I can provide for the to do this?

(this is a concept ‘borrowed’ from business and industry by your instructor to describe a ‘fail safe’ classroom environment in which students can design and share without the fear of making mistakes)

The Design Process (Shön 1990):

• Design is the process by which things are made.
• In your design thinking perhaps you can create media that does not need a teacher. In others, their being present as guides might make a difference. What about video games? are they best used as standalone or are they better at helping to reinforce what you are teaching? These are important distinctions and must be made before media is selected. And also influences message design.
• history has shown that instructional media has a greater influence on helping teachers teach than on directly teaching students learn on their own. In other words, media designers usually exert more direct influence over materials and tools used by teachers than over interactions between learners and students. Again, take video games as an example…. can you name more than a handful of titles that have actually been shown by the research to be great standalone teaching devices? The more successful ones are those that are implemented by teachers as a part of an overall strategy.
• These decisions have consequences. Anything you do will create a result of some type. It is up to you to decide what kind of result you are looking for and to learn through research, experimentation, or trial and error to find out whether your decisions are affecting the results you anticipate. Feedback is an important concept

We generally pay attention to stimulus design (including message and interface) because we have no choice when we encounter it (i.e., it is psychologically and emotionally based and inescapable). On the other hand, certain aspects of the instructional system lie somewhat within our power to influence. Therefore, we need more grounding in learning theory & more flexibility with regards to design heuristics to deal with problems & short-comings.

Relationship Between Learning Theory and Media Message Design

When looking at the following list of concepts, note how old the citations are.. While we generally look at more recent adaptations etc of learning theory. However, the one thing that should become apparent is that there are certain truths that transcend digital innovation..The fact that Marshall McLuhan never saw the Internet or PC does not deprecate the truths that he espoused.
• Salomon (1979): perceptions (i.e., what a message’s content means to a person) is determined by that person’s internal representation of the content & and is matched to what the person already knows. This should have come out in your reading in the links that started out this lesson.
• Marr (1982): discussed what he called computational psychology – transforming a message as it passes the stages of perceptual processing – perceptual organization. There exists a strong relationship between the amount of mental effort required & achievement regarding receiving messages. (Look at Attribution Theory in the Learning Theory Lesson). This seems to tie to Nicholls’ (1984) ideas that success is attributable to outside forces (in this case, mediated forces).
• Burbank & Pett (1986) Motivation = attitudes beliefs & expectations, value motives. The effective use of media implies an increased motivation to learn; achievement. In terms of research, motivation is NOT motivation the dependent variable (i.e., it is necessary but insufficient by itself). Motivation is a means not an end. According to Gagne, motivation is only one part of a process. If media’s role is at best, a motivator, then media, too is only a means to an end. Does this start to feel and look like the ARCS model?
• Kelly (1983) proposed that there be a relationship between the instructional objectives and students’ goals.
• Cronbach & Snow (1976) described an aptitude – treatment interaction. I their research, they found no strong correlation strong enough to support generalizations about the universal effectiveness of media except for those that best match one’s learning styles.
• Yerkes & Dodson (1908) Espoused a theory that low motivation equated to low performance. They also first described conditions where too too high arousal relates to low motivation (stress). Look at the date here? (do you think things might have changed in the last 100 years is their thinking too old fashioned?)
• Reigeluth (1983) provides insight to Elaboration Theory that states that the use of existing knowledge is important concept when considering the condition/outcome/method and connects all three. Media design plays an important role .
• Bruner (1966) differentiates between active vs passive learners: what we know and what we do with what we know. What role does media message design play in this process?
• Rollo (1975) stated that creativity actually arises out of the tension between spontaneity & limitations. So if, according to a constructivist, it is true that all knowledge is constructed by learners (which makes constructivism more of a more of a philosophy than a strategy), then what is the role of media in this environment? The answer is pretty simple. From your reading above regarding visual processing, you should realize that reality, knowledge,and the sciences are all filled with individual biases & filters & shared meanings. (If you are looking for an example, take the concept of Global Warming and all the disparate theories that exist and shroud these truths). A mediate instructional strategy that imposes structure may actually help learners make the constructions that are needed for learning, and to do what Scriver (1973) proposed almost thirty years ago.. to establish what he referred to as goal-free program evaluation – a process to take biases out of one’s discovery.
• Tom Gilbert long ago (1962) proposed a mastery model of design for media (.i.e., one that results in major outcomes) to apply probing diagnostic questions that permits the instructional designer to define the problem exactly. His model for media proposed a progression of learning… fundamentals –> preliminary skills –> essentials –> mastery. Today’s media can help enforce this progression.
• We cannot leave any discussion about media message design without mentioning Paivio (1971; 1983). His discussions on dual coding of text & pictures are seminal.
• Larkin & Simon (1987) are two more that showed up in the message design discussions about information processing. They suggested that learning occurred through the satisfaction/accomplishment of a series of ordered conditions that are prerequisite to the achievement of a specific goal. In other words… task analysis leads to a solution. Pretty orderly…. but to take this down to the classroom level, what they had to say about graphs is revealing…. graphs must show relationships, not just quantities.

• So, what about text? In earlier studies, Levin (1989) found that the simple act of adding illustrations to text did not help children to learn to read. NOW THAT IS INTERESTING AND COUNTER-INTUITIVE FOR YOU I BET… So what were the conditions that occurred that would make this true?
• So what about sequencing of instruction? The implications have been discussed in detail by Bruner, Reigeluth, Scandura, and Gagne.
Message Design Principles

Now that we have some of the theory behind us, let’s go ahead and cover some specifics about message design . Here are a couple of some great links:
• Principles of Visual Communication This is a practical guide for instructional designers on how to actually put your principles into action.
• Instructional Instructional Message Design

But perhaps the seminal book on the topic is Instructional Message Design edited by Fleming & Levie. The book is out of print now but is occasionally available on Amazon. Here is a link to a place where you can get a sense of what the books is about.

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Self Reflection




Having looked at all of this material, you may have more questions than answers.. so to change course a little here, you need to outline the answers in your head to the three questions below as they relate to instructional design so you can get ready for the self-check activity:

1. How will visual message design considerations modify the ultimate design of your final project?
2. Which of the design theories are you most uncomfortable with (i.e., symbolism, gestalt, dual coding, elaboration, etc.), why?
3. What role does media design play in motivating students?

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