[REFLECT] Make connections: Multimedia explanations.

As the Mapping Memory Web site shows, visuals and interactive features can help clarify complex concepts and processes. Think of examples such as Web sites, videos, televised science programs, and smartphone applications that have used visuals, sound, or interactive features (instead of or in addition to text) to explain a difficult concept. Then consider what is gained or lost with multimedia explanations. Your instructor may ask you to post your thoughts on a class discussion board or to discuss them with other students in class. Use these questions to get started:

• What can multimedia explanations achieve that purely textual ones can’t? Give specific examples from what you’ve explored here to support your answer. Conversely, are there ever cases in which visuals, videos, graphics, and the like cannot easily replace textual explanations?
• Considering the specific examples that you came up with, were any parts of the multimedia explanations unclear? If so, which parts and why? What might have been done to improve the explanations?