Integrating Modality Theory in Educational Multimedia Design

Multimedia technology is increasingly being used as an alternative way of delivering instruction. According to researchers, the success of multimedia is due to the dualcoding aspect of the information processing theory. In applying dual-coding principles, different information has to be coded in different media in order for people to learn effectively. Designers of interactive multimedia applications are faced with thousands of different combinations of input and/or output modalities of information representation. Each single modality or multimodal combination has its own specific capabilities and limitations for representing or conveying information. It is important to be able to select the right combination of modalities for a given application. This paper describes Modality Theory and how it can be used to guide designers developing interactive multimedia applications. Given any particular set of information which needs to be exchanged between the user and system during task performance in context, it is essential to identify the input/output modalities which constitute an optimal solution to the representation and exchange of that information. This paper shows how Modality Theory can be applied successfully to design interactive multimedia learning applications.