The Impact of Emotional Design on the Effectiveness of Instructional Materials A dissertation presented to the faculty of The Patton College of Education of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Dana C. Simionescu May 2020 © 2020 Dana C. Simionescu. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled The Impact of Emotional Design on the Effectiveness of Instructional Materials by DANA C. SIMIONESCU has been approved for the Department of Educational Studies and The Patton College of Education by Greg Kessler Professor of Educational Studies Renée A. Middleton Dean, The Patton College of Education 3 Abstract SIMIONESCU, DANA, C., Ph.D., May 2020, Instructional Technology The Impact of Emotional Design on the Effectiveness of Instructional Materials Director of Dissertation: Greg Kessler Emotional design refers to those features of design that do not have any specific informational or pedagogical function, but are aimed at stimulating the affective dimension of learning. In this study, I investigated the effect of two types of emotional design of learning materials on undergraduate students’ learning outcomes and perceptions, within the theoretical framework of the Cognitive Affective Theory of Learning with Multimedia (Moreno, 2007; Moreno & Mayer, 2007). The research design was experimental, with participants randomly assigned to each condition. The independent variable was the type of design of the learning materials (a short biology lesson). The materials were designed in four versions: plain lesson consisting of text with simple black and white graphics; text with images that were designed based on emotional design principles for visual design (using warm colors and anthropomorphisms); text with simple black and white graphics plus basic storytelling elements (a character, a very simple plot, and narrative tenses); lesson with both enhanced graphics and storytelling elements. After studying the lesson, the students were tested on retention and transfer, once immediately after the lesson and once after one week. The students were also asked to rate the effectiveness of the instructional content and the visual design of the content. 4 The dependent variables were the scores on the retention and transfer tests, immediate and delayed, and the student ratings for content effectiveness and for visual design. Both the immediate and delayed retention scores were based on the answer to an open question asking students to recall the process in detail. The immediate transfer score was based on the answers to five open questions, and the delayed transfer score was based on the answers to five multiple-choice questions. The number of valid cases was 220 for the initial task and 143 for the delayed task. The results showed that graphical emotional design and storytelling may contribute to improved learning outcomes by promoting positive affect. Recommendations were made for future research to further investigate these effects, and for practitioners to try and incorporate emotional design in their learning materials. 5 Dedication To my parents. 6 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my committee members Drs. Greg Kessler, Gordon Brooks, David Moore, and Sam Girton for their ideas, resources, and guidance. I would also like to thank Dr. Mark Slayton for checking the accuracy of my materials and helping me develop test questions. Special thanks to Dr. Dawn Bikowski who listened patiently to my whining and shared valuable writing tips. Finally, I’m thankful to my classmates for being great company on this journey, especially Sarah McCorkle who helped with writing motivation and test rating. 7 Table of Contents Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables .................................................................................................................... 11 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 13 Background of the Study ............................................................................................ 13 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................... 19 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 20 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 21 Definitions of Terms ................................................................................................... 21 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 27 The Psychology of Learning ....................................................................................... 27 The Role of Memory ................................................................................................... 27 The Role of Attention and Working Memory............................................................. 30 The Role of Motivation ............................................................................................... 31 The Role of Emotions ................................................................................................. 33 Theories of Learning ................................................................................................... 37 The Cognitive Load Theory .................................................................................. 38 Multimedia learning .............................................................................................. 39 The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.................................................... 43 The Cognitive Affective Theory of Learning with Multimedia ........................... 52 Visual Design and Learning........................................................................................ 55 Effective design .................................................................................................... 55 The concept of emotional design .......................................................................... 62 Aesthetics and learning ......................................................................................... 65 Storytelling as an Instructional Design Technique ..................................................... 69 Emotional Design in Learning Materials .................................................................... 73 Emotional design research. ................................................................................... 74 8 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 3: Method ............................................................................................................ 93 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 93 Research Design.......................................................................................................... 94 Variables ..................................................................................................................... 94 Participants .................................................................................................................. 95 Instruments .................................................................................................................. 96 Pilot Study ................................................................................................................. 101 Procedure .................................................................................................................. 102 Inter-Rater Reliability ............................................................................................... 103 Group Equivalency ................................................................................................... 105 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 105 Procedure ............................................................................................................ 105 Assumptions. ....................................................................................................... 107 Summary ................................................................................................................... 109 Chapter 4: Results ........................................................................................................... 110 Summary of Demographic Data ............................................................................... 110 Research Question 1 ................................................................................................. 111 Research