e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (Hardcover)

by Ruth Colvin Clark (Author), Richard E. Mayer (Author) "THIS IS A BOOK about what works in e-learning..." (more)
Key Phrases: onscreen agents, information delivery view, media elements principles, Suggested Readings, Chapters Three, Journal of Educational Psychology (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This book clearly points the way to improving learning environments and ensuring that e-learning is accessible, relevant, and effective." -- Technical Communication, August 2003

"is a useful resource for all those who are involved in designing and developing e-learning experiences." -- IACET Review, 4/1/2004

“…is a useful resource for all those who are involved in designing and developing e-learning experiences. (IACET Review, 4/1/2004)

"This book clearly points the way to improving learning environments and ensuring that e-learning is accessible, relevant, and effective." (Technical Communication, August 2003)

Review
"With so much hype in the e-learning industry, Clark and Mayer provide a refreshingly solid foundation for designing and evaluating e-learning."
— Lesley A. Darling, vice president, Chief Learning Officer, Element K

"Richard Mayer is one of the most productive educational psychologist researchers in the world. Ruth Clark is perhaps the premier translator of scientific work and theory to the practical everyday design of effective learning. As a team they produced a most important and practical book that should read and applied by all instructional designers of on-line instructional materials."
— M. David Merrill, professor, Department of Instructional Technology, Utah State University

"For e-learning professionals who want to go beyond seat-of-the-pants design, this book serves up solid research and well-reasoned principles. Delightfully free of educational gobbledygook, it provides the ammunition conscientious designers need to combat meaningless multimedia, mind-numbing page-turners, and the pop-psych theory-of-the-month."
— William Horton, author, Designing Web-Based Training

"Based on their previous work, we expect a lot of both Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer. Those expectations are fully met in this book which manages the rare combination of high readability and sound science."
— John Sweller, School of Education, University of New South Wales, Australia

"Informative, practical, and eye opening! Just the information we need to help us create engaging online content."
— Susan Greenberg, program manager, Microsoft e-Learning Strategy Group

"e-Learning and the Science of Instruction is a great mix of research and practical application. It provides solid research and excellent case studies. It clearly demonstrates what does and doesn't work in multimedia training, removing the passion and opinions that seem to drive many media selection decisions. Every instructional designer, course developer, or e-learning specialist will benefit from this book."
— Chuck Barritt, program manager, Cisco Systems

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787960519
• ISBN-13: 978-0787960513
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,929 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most useful book on this subject, October 5, 2004

By	Michael Penney (Cal State Humboldt) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As someone who has been designing multimedia elearning programs since '95, I found this book simply the most useful book on this subject for anyone serious about getting multimedia learning right.

The book is full of references to well designed studies published in refereed jounals where the principles discussed were meticulously examined by learning researchers.

This is refreshing in a field where most books are anecdotes written by programmers (ala Michael Allen) or website designers. This book actually gives you design principles to follow to increase student learning while debunking many (too)popular theories about good design (such as the usefulness of extra tidbits of information, how to mix pictures and text, when to use audio in an animation, whether a self-playing presentation is better than one where the user clicks through, etc, whether all learners learn best from non-linear presentation, etc.).

I'd highly recomend this book to anyone serious about getting educational multimedia design and elearning right.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the very best, December 3, 2003

By	Jim Formosa (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

I have been developing and teaching online courses for several years and have an extensive library that I have collected over that time. I have found this book to be one of the four or five I return to on a regular basis.

As a person who serves as a reviewer for other faculty work, I lament that this book is not required reading. In addition to discussing how to correctly use technology it also spends significant time looking at how students learn and how we, as faculty, should adress students in an online environment.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent content, okay readability, December 20, 2003

By	Cheryl L Krichbaum (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

Although I agree with the reader from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada that the book reads like a university textbook, I have found it very useful for designing and justifying my designs of online instruction. When someone wants you to change your design, you can respond by saying, "According to Clark and Mayer, people who learn from integrated text and graphics performed 68% better." Stats like that help to justify budgets!