What are the Personalization Principles?
Personalization Principles: This particular principle addresses that a conversational tone is more effective when instruction is provided. In addition, the use of an agent also seems to provide some familiarity in the presentation of the material. I'm sure that many of us would agree that our learning was enhanced when the instruction had a more informal tone versus a formal one. This has proven to be more effective when providing an online course as well.
Personalization Principle 1: This principle focuses on the importance of using a conversational tone over a formal tone. When creating the text for your multi media tool, the use of a friendly human voice in the 1st or 2nd person achieves the best results. This seems to be especially true for students with a lesser amount of academic experience. When a student experiences social cues that are similar to a conversation, they are more engaged and are more likely to respond positively in instruction. Using words like "You" and "We" can assist in achieving this type of tone. Some are concerned that this approach might detract from the seriousness of the material being presented when that is far from the truth. According to the research of Clarke and Mayer, a student puts forth a greater effort to understand what the author is saying when they feel like they are engaged in a conversation.
Personalization Principle 2: This principle indicates that it is helpful to provide a pedogogical agent or coach. This allows the student a chance to "feel" like they are interacting with someone or something when they are learning the material. This agent can be realistic or imaginary and they can be stationary or mobile, just as long as the student can hear the agent's voice.
Personalization Principle 3: Finally, when the information does have a more formal tone, the reader will have an enhanced level of understanding when the author is present. This can be displayed when the author shares their opinion about the material or shares some personal information about themselves.
Personalization Principles Demonstrated:
Below, I have provided some examples of the Personalization Principle being demonstrated. These two sites choose to use an agent when providing information and instruction for their sites. Both of these websites include a character and/or a person to assist in the presentation of the material. Both of these sites give the illusion that we are speaking with someone and therefore improves the student's ability to gain an understanding of what is being presented.
References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3rd Edition) San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
