For this week’s daily creates category of multimedia, I decided to ask AI to give me some prompts to choose from. 

  1. A Walk in Three Emotions: Take three photos during a walk. Caption each photo with one sentence describing your mood. This combines image and text. 

Excited to start the hike.

Curious what kind of mushroom this is.

Joyful to be standing in front of this view.

This post demonstrates multimedia with an image and the corresponding text below. This post especially supports the spacial contiguity principle as each caption is placed directly below its corresponding photo. Readers do not have to search for which captions belong to each photo. This helps viewers to learn better as the words and pictures are presented close together. Another one of Mayer’s principles this demonstrates is the signaling principle. The three emotions highlighted in the text of all three images helps the reader notice how my mood changed throughout the hike. The coherance principle is also demonstrated here as each portion of text is described in a simple sentence. There is no unnecessary information that could distract the viewer.

This prompt is also a great example of active learning. It required me to not only observe, but to also actively participate. Instead of reading about how emotions can change during physical activity, I went on a walk, took photos, and actively reflected on my emotions. This post encouraged me to think about my own experience and create something meaningful with both photos and text.

  1. One Minute of Calm: Record a video of a peaceful outdoor scene. Add a short written reflection about how the scene affects your mood. This combines video and text. 

This peaceful video taken from the top of a hike makes me feel very calm, and relaxed. I remember how I was feeling when this video was taken and I am able to put myself back into the moment.

This prompt is also a great example of active learning because it required me to actively observe my surroundings, record a peaceful video of the outdoors, and reflect on how it affected my mood. By making this video and reflecting on it, I was actively applying what I learned. This made the experience much more meaningful and memorable.

  1. Six-Word Story + Image: Take a photo. Write a six-word story to accompany it. This combines image and text.  

Best way to start my day.

For this prompt I decided to use a picture of a fresh honey bagel with pistachio cream cheese. This is another great example of active learning because it required me to actively create meaning from my own experience. By choosing a photo and summarizing its meaning in encouraged me to reflect what message I wanted to communicate.

  • This image and 6-word statement follows Mayer’s principles by:
    • The image and statement are clear and simple. There is no unecessary information or details to distract away from the concept of the photo and the 6 word story. This supports the coherance principle. 
    • The 6 word story is placed directly below the image to show a clear understanding that the statement refers to the image. The viewers will immediately know that the photo and statement are related. This relates to the contiguity principle.  
    • The very short caption directs viewers toward the intended message of the photo. It can easily be interpreted that I enjoyed the bagel at the beginning of my day, without any unsure interpretation. This relates to the signaling principle.  
    • The caption adds emotion, meaning, and context, rather than just saying “This is a bagel”. The caption adds these components, which one could not know with just the image. This relates to the redundancy principle.