Multimedia principles rubric: A new instrument to filter instructional science videos based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning

Abstract

Today’s learners simply resort to the Internet to research and meet their learning needs, especially videos. Most such resources are unsupervised and of poor quality. However, there is a lack of instruments in the literature to measure the instructional quality of such widely available videos. Moreover, cognitive aspects are frequently overlooked when judging such content. In this study, an instrument called multimedia principles rubric (MPR) was developed after consultation with experts and evaluated to fill this gap. MPR consists of 16 principles based on Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) and has been fine-tuned through a literature review. Descriptive items of MPR are organized according to a 5-point Likert scale and produce an overall mean cognitive value score. MPR was tested by multiple raters on 90 sample physics videos that were selected through cluster sampling and found to have good interrater reliability. MPR can assist its users, especially teachers, in filtering videos in light of CTML rather than relying solely on statistical indicators such as video ratings or number of views. MPR is also beneficial for identifying gaps in educational content and recommending solutions for content producers to implement.