Essay Beginnings (601)

green text = simon notes

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WHAT IS MY QUESTION?

How can publication design influence audience learning and information retention? - Feel like I've focused more on information retention, brings to focus inward.

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What questions do I want to answer? - Allow this to create a structure.  

1. How do adults learn?

'Adults tend to be more self-directed, internally motivated, and ready to learn. Adults have an array of past experiences they can draw on these when learning new things.' (esthermsmth, 2017)

Andragogy makes the following assumptions about the design of learning: (1) Adults need to know why they need to learn something (2) Adults need to learn experientially, (3) Adults approach learning as problem-solving, and (4) Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value. (https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/andragogy/)

2. How do adults learn from publications? (discuss usability)

- Sentence to introduce section, drawing on aspects of usability but in relation to publication rather than web design. 

‘We treat individual letters as physical objects when reading, but also the human brain may also perceive a text in its entirety as a physical landscape. When we read, we construct a mental representation of the text in which meaning is anchored to structure. The exact nature of this remains unclear, but they are likely similar to the mental maps we create of terrain and man-made physical spaces.’ (Jabr, 2020)

'...paper gives spatio-temporal markers while you read. Touching paper and turning pages aids the memory, making it easier to remember where you read something.' (Mangen, Walgermo, and Brønnick, 2013)

The presence of graphics have a moderate positive effect on reading comprehension... We did not, however, find a significant difference among pictures, pictorial diagrams, and flow diagrams, indicating no benefit from either realism or simplicity of form. (Guo, Zhang, Wright, and McTigue, 2020) Contradictory point: CTML emphasizes the coherence principle (Mayer, 2009) in which extraneous information is removed, thus focusing learners’ attention on the essential information. This work promotes designs such as flow charts, which focus on the essential components of a system and the relations within. In contrast, detailed and realistic portrayals (e.g., photographs) contain extraneous information that may distract learners. (Guo, Zhang, Wright, and McTigue, 2020)

As predicted by the multimedia principle, those receiving text and graphics consistently outperformed those who received textual materials only. (Lai, and Newby, 2012)

Navigation of text has a large impact on retention, 'The main finding of the study shows that students who read in print scored significantly better than those who studied digitally.' 'the difference in comprehension performance between the print and the computer group could be related to issues of navigation within the document.' (Mangen, Walgermo, and Brønnick, 2013) ‘When reading on screen, scrolling is inevitable unless the text is within the screen size. Scrolling is known to hamper the process of reading, by imposing a spatial instability which may negatively affect the reader’s mental representation of the text and, by implication, comprehension (Baccino, 2004; Eklundh, 1992; Piolat, Roussey, & Thunin, 1997).’

3. In what ways can publication design impact this? 

'Information presented with clear and logically set out titles, subtitles, texts, illustrations and captions will not only be read more quickly and easily but the information will also be better understood and retained in the memory.' (Muller-Brockmann, 2019)

Anything that unnecessarily interrupts this process is likely to be annoying to the reader. (unknown) ‘The design of everyday things is often invisible. Until the look of something becomes radically different from what we expect, we rarely think about its appearance.’(Hendel, 1998)

'The grid divides a two-dimensional plane into smaller fields' pg 11 (Muller-Brockmann, 2019). This could lead to "chunking" techniques being adopted to further assist retention (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian, 2013) (Whitleyacademy.com, 2020) 
> Visual example of Haig Kouyoudjiman's publication using "chunking" technique. 'This modular, visual approach to the fundamentals of psychology--the pioneer of the "visual" or "magazine" style approach--makes even the toughest concepts engaging and entertaining. Each and every page is individually planned, written, and formatted to effectively incorporate the use of Visual Cues, which help you to better remember information. Extensively updated, the text also utilizes "chunking," a method of breaking concepts down into small, easily digested sections that help you learn at your own pace.'

"Chunking" theory in action - Haig Kouyoudjiman

- Aesthetics are still important, he's not thinking about page in terms of design, just in terms of information. Doesn't take into account design usability, and design principles. Can draw on readability, text size, research can be brought in here.

- Research about attention span.

- Leads to justifications for how to arrange books, allows you to renew attention span.

paper treatment is learner controlled because the learner can determine the pacing and order of the presentation simply through eye movements, (Mayer, Hegarty, Mayer, and Campbell, 2005)

Readers in the paper condition had immediate access to the text in its entirety. This access is, moreover, built on both visual and tactile cues: the reader can see as well as tactilely feel the spatial extension and physical dimensions of the text, as the material substrate of paper provides physical,tactile, spatiotemporally fixed cues to the length of the text (Mangen, Walgermo, and Brønnick, 2013)

4. Can these changes improve information retention or hinder it? (propose arguments here)