Multimedia design principles were applied to an online geography slideshow on
geographic information systems (GIS) intended for college students taking an introductory
course. In a 2 (segment vs. non-segmented) 9 2 (redundant vs. non-redundant) betweensubjects
design, the base lesson (non-segmented condition) provided a worked example of
how to solve an extended GIS problem, consisting of 12 slides with each showing graphics
on the left side with corresponding text in the right side. Students progressed through the
lesson by pressing the right arrow key to move to the next slide. The segmented lesson
(segmented condition) consisted of the same slides, but the material on each slide was
presented sequentially in which pressing the right arrow key added a single graphic and/or
corresponding text explaining each of 3 or 4 major steps. For both versions, some students
received additional narration that was identical to the printed text (redundant condition) or
no additional narration (non-redundant condition). On a subsequent transfer test, the results
showed a segmenting effect in which students performed significantly better with segmented
than non-segmented versions of the lesson (d = 0.34), and this pattern was the
same whether narration was added or not, yielding no interaction between segmenting and
redundancy and no significant effect for redundancy. This work extends the segmenting
principle to a new medium, domain, and segment size.

EB00000002219K

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• Applying the segmenting principle to online geography slideshow lessons