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Ashford 4: - Week 3 - Discussion 1

Redundancy, Coherence, and Personalization Jigsaw

Depending on the first letter of your last name, examine the principle you are assigned, using the
textbook as a guide. Describe the principle and any challenges associated with implementing it
principle in a JIT training/learning activity. Describe at least one example to illustrate how this
principle could be applied in a JIT training/learning activity.
Coherence Principle
When in doubt leave it out may have been inadvertently advanced by educational research on
essay writing into the theorem known as the coherency principle . The coherency principle is
concerned with clutter in media presentations designed for instructional purposes that is a
detriment to the objective of the learning activity. It is pertinent since it is easy to apply, often
violated and can enhance learning (Clark and Mayer, 2011). Thus, if one is in doubt that the
extra text, graphics and/or audio is not beneficial to the learning process one should omit the
extraneous elements per page and holistically in the presentation.
Challenges to the validity/value of the coherency principle may be evident in the lack of
knowledge of the scope of the coherency principle regarding instruction design. Signaling
involves the use of space, color, letter sizes, bold, etc. in order to direct readers interest to a
certain part of a page or document ; initial research supports the use of signaling but further
research is necessary. Also there is not enough evidence to support the proficiency of
instructional game designs and the relation between individual learning and the coherency
principles (Clark and Mayer, 2011). Thus, challenges lie in the promotion of further research
on the unknown implications/applications of the coherency principle while maintaining what we
do know which is too much clutter in learning active create noise that prohibits the message
from the learning from being comprehended/understood by learners. The video, The Coherence
Principle, supports the notion that clutter is detrimental which is the premise of the coherency
principle.
An example of the coherency principle in a JIT Learning activity could be instruction
designed to teach how to tune up a car. If in Power point presentation there would be need for
illustrations/video in order to describe the process. Though it may be tempting to put logos of
automobile makers and or solicitations for auto repair work, the instructional purpose would be
better served by sticking to graphics that illustrate the tune-up process, text/audio that explains
the process and save the decorative/marketing graph text/audio for the end of the video like a
credits page. This would apply also in instructional video which may contain images/activity
in the background that distract from the lesson/message. Thus, clutter would be alleviated
through application of the coherency principle to the document/video describing how to tune-up
an automobile.

References
Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the science of instruction (3rd ed). San
Francisco. Pfeiffer.
The Coherence Principle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfu3FKpSJY0

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