ID 553 - Module 6: Creating Instruction: Planning and Designing the Intervention

Designing E-Learning: Multimedia, UDL, and Accessibility

Estimated reading time: 30 minutes. Browse the UDL Guidelines and the WCAG at-a-glance page (linked in this module) alongside this page.

Video: Designing E-Learning: Multimedia, UDL, and Accessibility. Lecture: Mayer's principles applied to a screen before and after, Universal Design for Learning, the four WCAG principles and a practical checklist, and tool choice. (Instructor: build with make_videos.py or record and embed your own.)

Multimedia learning: Mayer's principles

Richard Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning rests on three assumptions: people process words and pictures in separate channels; each channel has limited capacity; and learning requires active processing (selecting, organizing, integrating). From decades of experiments Mayer derived principles for designing instruction that combines words and pictures. The most useful for practice:

Principle	Guidance	Design implication
Multimedia	People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone	Add a relevant diagram, not a decorative photo
Coherence	Exclude extraneous words, pictures, and sounds	Cut background music, tangential anecdotes, decorative clip art
Signaling	Highlight the organization of essential material	Headings, arrows, bold key terms, an outline that persists
Redundancy	Do not present the same words as on-screen text and narration	Narrate a diagram; do not narrate a slide of text
Spatial contiguity	Place words near the pictures they describe	Labels on the diagram, not in a legend across the page
Temporal contiguity	Present corresponding words and pictures at the same time	Narration synchronized with animation, not before or after
Segmenting	Present in learner-paced segments rather than a continuous unit	Short chunks with a "continue" control
Pre-training	Teach the names and characteristics of key components first	A short glossary or component tour before the process animation
Modality	Present words as narration rather than on-screen text when paired with graphics	Narrated animation beats captioned animation for novices (with a caption option for accessibility)
Personalization	Use conversational rather than formal style	"You will see..." rather than "The learner will observe..."
Voice	Use a human voice rather than a machine voice	Applies to narration; test synthetic voices before using them

These principles reduce extraneous cognitive load and direct attention. They apply to slides, videos, e-learning modules, job aids, and web pages. They apply with more force for novices; experts can tolerate, and sometimes prefer, denser presentations.

Universal Design for Learning

UDL (CAST) is a framework for designing instruction that works for the widest range of learners from the start, instead of retrofitting accommodations. Its three principles map onto the affective, recognition, and strategic networks of the brain:

Multiple means of engagement (the "why"): options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort, and self-regulation. Examples: choice of topic within a task, relevance made explicit, clear goals and progress feedback.
Multiple means of representation (the "what"): options for perception, language, and comprehension. Examples: captions and transcripts, text alternatives for images, glossaries, multiple examples, background knowledge supports.
Multiple means of action and expression (the "how"): options for physical action, expression, and executive function. Examples: alternatives to mouse-only interaction, choice of product format where the objective allows, planning templates, checklists.

UDL is not "make three versions of everything." It is a set of checkpoints to consult during design so that the most common barriers are removed before anyone hits them. In your instructional plan you will pick two or three checkpoints and show how the design addresses them.

Accessibility: WCAG

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define what makes digital content usable by people with disabilities. Version 2.2 is current; conformance at level AA is the standard in most institutional policies and in United States law for public entities. The four principles:

Perceivable. Text alternatives for images; captions and transcripts for audio and video; content that can be presented in different ways without losing meaning; sufficient color contrast (4.5:1 for normal text); no information conveyed by color alone.
Operable. Everything works with a keyboard; users have enough time; nothing flashes in ways that cause seizures; navigation is consistent and headings are meaningful.
Understandable. Language is identified; behavior is predictable; input errors are identified and explained.
Robust. Content works with current and future assistive technologies; use real headings, lists, and form labels rather than visual imitations.

Practical checklist for every e-learning asset:

Every meaningful image has alt text; decorative images are marked decorative.
Every video has accurate captions; every audio file has a transcript.
Headings are real headings in a logical order.
Color contrast passes; links are distinguishable without color.
All interactions work with keyboard alone; focus is visible.
Documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint) are tagged and pass the built-in accessibility checker.
Any drag-and-drop, timed, or motion-based interaction has an alternative.

Accessibility and Mayer's principles reinforce each other more often than they conflict. Where they seem to (modality says narrate, accessibility says caption), provide both: narration with captions the learner can toggle.

Tools for e-learning development

Category	Examples	Use
Authoring tools	Articulate Storyline 360, Articulate Rise, Adobe Captivate, iSpring	Interactive modules exported as SCORM or xAPI for an LMS
Open interactive content	H5P	Interactive video, branching scenarios, quizzes; free and embeds in most LMSs
Video	Camtasia, OBS Studio, Loom, Panopto	Screencasts and lectures; add captions
Graphics and layout	Canva, Figma, PowerPoint	Diagrams, job aids, storyboards
Simulation and branching	Storyline, Twine, H5P Branching Scenario	Decision practice with consequences
Generative AI	Text, image, and voice models	Drafting scripts, alt text, scenario variants, and synthetic narration; verify everything and disclose use

Tool choice follows strategy and media decisions. Storyline is powerful and expensive; Rise is fast and constrained; H5P is free and good enough for most interactions. Match the tool to the interaction the strategy requires, the skills of your team, and the budget.

Standards for packaging

Modules built in authoring tools are delivered to an LMS as SCORM packages (older, widely supported, tracks completion and score) or xAPI statements (newer, tracks richer activity, needs a learning record store). Course-level content is exchanged among LMSs as IMS Common Cartridge. Knowing these names lets you talk to LMS administrators and vendors.

Preparing for the instructional plan

For the lesson you will storyboard, list the media assets you need and, for each, note which Mayer principles govern its design and which accessibility requirements apply. This list becomes part of Assignment 7, Part 1.

References

CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. https://udlguidelines.cast.org

Mayer, R. E. (2021). Multimedia learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/