Multimedia Learning in Higher Education: Balancing Content Relevance and Cognitive Load in Virtual Classrooms

Abstract

The digital transformation of higher education has led to a new era of virtual classrooms full of multimedia. Multimedia can help students pay attention and understand better, but too much or poorly organised content can overwhelm them, making them tired and increasing their cognitive load. This study looks at how content relevance, cognitive load, and learner satisfaction affect each other in virtual learning environments that use multimedia. We used a mixed-methods approach to survey 300 college students and interview 15 teachers from a range of fields in depth. Likert-scale tools were used to collect quantitative data on perceived content relevance, cognitive load, satisfaction, and fatigue. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was used to get a better understanding of different views on multimedia design. The results show that making multimedia content clear and relevant is very important for getting people to pay attention and not overwhelming their brains. The study gives useful advice on how to make multimedia learning experiences that are both rich in information and easy for the brain to process.