Coherence Principle

The central idea of the Coherence Principle is that when designing instruction, we should be careful to exclude extraneous information and unrelated sensory stimulation. Clark and Mayer (2011) expand this principle intro three main ideas. First, we should be careful to avoid extraneous audio such as sound effects and background music. Secondly, we should avoid including non-essential graphics along with desired learning objective materials. Lastly, instructional designers should be careful not to include extraneous words that are unrelated to key material. It can be tempting as instructional designers to want to include superfluous material in an attempt to pique the learners’ interest and attention. However, several studies have shown that doing so has negative effects on learning.

It is important to consider the ideas of the Coherence Principle in relationship to fundamental psychological learning theory, in particular, cognitive learning theory. In cognitive learning theory, Paivio (1986) proposes that learners process new information through separate verbal and visual systems (as cited in Mayer, 1999, p. 612). The Coherence Principle is sound when you consider the fact that learners are limited in how much information they are able to process within these two channels. Including extraneous information just “muddies the water” and makes the learning process more difficult.

It is equally important to consider how the ideas of the Coherence Principle align with other instructional principles. For example, the Multimedia Principle asserts that learners benefit from connecting words with pictures (Mayer, 2011). If the words and pictures are not related to one another and to the learning objective, they violate the Coherence Principle and cause the Multimedia Principle to fail as well. The Contiguity Principle asserts that related content should be close to each other or presented in a synchronous manner. Once again, this only works if the content is related to the learning objective.

Personally, I find the Coherence Principle to be very sound and really like the ideas and concepts laid out by Mayer in chapter 8. As instructional designers, we should always ask ourselves, “Is this related to the learning objective?” or “Is this something I have added unnecessarily for effect or entertainment?” The ideas of this principle can make it seem as if there is no room for creativity or entertainment value. I don’t think this is the case. Instructional designers can be creative and still make sure all of the content is related to learning objectives.

I have experienced successful use of the Coherence Principle, as well as many violations of its ideas, in my time as a student. One successful use in instruction could be starting the lesson or material with an entertaining video or interesting fact to draw in the learner. This approach seems effective because it generates interest without forcing the learner to sift or sort through what is important in the middle of the learning content. An example that violates the principles that I have experienced is a slide presentation that is full of appendices or boxes filled with “interesting facts.” These boxes often contain engaging images that make it hard to focus on the main content. While providing interest and entertainment, they usually do not pertain to the learning objective and make it harder to remember the “important stuff.” A fitting slogan could be: “leave out the fluff, include the important stuff.”

References

Clark, R., & Mayer, R. (2011). E-learning and the science of instruction proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning, third edition (3rd ed.). San Francisco, Calif.: Pfeiffer.

Mayer, M. (1999). Multimedia aids to problem-solving transfer. International Journal of Educational Research, 31(7), 611-623.

Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.