Multimedia and Immersive Training Materials Influence Impressions of Learning But Not Learning Outcomes

TL;DR

This study shows that multimedia and immersive VR training materials influence learners' perceptions of their learning but do not necessarily improve actual learning outcomes, highlighting potential misconceptions about technology's effectiveness.

Contribution

It demonstrates that immersive VR and multimedia formats increase perceived learning without enhancing actual memory performance, revealing a disconnect between impression and reality.

Findings

VR and multimedia increase perceived learning

No significant improvement in memory performance

Learners' confidence may be inflated by immersive cues

Abstract

Although the use of technologies like multimedia and virtual reality (VR) in training offer the promise of improved learning, these richer and potentially more engaging materials do not consistently produce superior learning outcomes. Default approaches to such training may inadvertently mimic concepts like naive realism in display design, and desirable difficulties in the science of learning - fostering an impression of greater learning dissociated from actual gains in memory. This research examined the influence of format of instructions in learning to assemble items from components. Participants in two experiments were trained on the steps to assemble a series of bars, that resembled Meccano pieces, into eight different shapes. After training on pairs of shapes, participants rated the likelihood they would remember the shapes and then were administered a recognition test. Relative to viewing a static diagram, viewing videos of shapes being constructed in a VR environment (Experiment 1) or viewing within an immersive VR system (Experiment 2) elevated participants' assessments of their learning but without enhancing learning outcomes. Overall, these findings illustrate how future workers might mistakenly come to believe that technologically advanced support improves learning and prefer instructional designs that integrate similarly complex cues into training.