Multimedia Resources in an Online Course: Access and Usage with Respect to Sensory Modality

In this paper we present research on students ’ perceptual modes and their learning activity with respect to use of multimedia learning resources in a virtual learning environment within an online course. The course content is offered in the form of lessons designed in the Moodle course management system. Lessons contain three different types of resources: textual, pictorial resources accompanied by text, and video resources. Considering the results of the VARK questionnaire, which labels the students ’ learning styles, i.e. perceptual modes, as visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic, we investigate the relation between the students ’ perceptual modes and their learning activity regarding different types of resources. The results show that two out of three students are multimodal regarding their perceptual modality, and that students prefer pictorial resources accompanied by text. The research findings on learners ’ preferences lead to more effective instructional design in an online learning environment. Key words: multimedia learning; perceptual modality; VARK