An investigation of the situated learnability effects of single- and dual-modal systems in education: a report of music-oriented learning environment and science computer-assisted teaching studies

The evolution of the World Wide Web has encouraged a huge surfacing of e-learning technologies over recent years. Often, such technology is rolled out devoid of consideration towards the way in which students process and assimilate information. To date, there exists inconclusive and contradictory evidence concerning learnability effects of single- and dual-model systems in education. To overcome this, we advocate that the design of e-learning systems requires a managed mix of elements grounded in cognitive psychology. In this paper, we report the results of a study concerned with determining an effective mix of multimedia elements. This is with regard to the situated learnability effects of single- and dual-modal systems tested via ‘text only’ and ‘text and auditory–verbal’ conditions. We report on these experiments using science computer-assisted teaching and music-oriented learning environment, elearning environments developed to act as test platforms for this research. The results indicated that simultaneous presentation of identical information via text and narration was associated with enhanced learnability.