Facilitating personal design to appeal to the learner's emotion

Richard E. Mayer suggests that optimal learning occurs when visual and verbal materials are presented purposefully and this is how he defines multimedia instruction (R. E. Mayer, 2009). 

After having been through many sessions both as a learner and facilitator, I have noticed that often the materials we use are trying to be too “fun”.  This brings me to think about cognitive overload and how as educators we can be making it more difficult for learners when we think we are showing them something not necessarily linked to the topic at hand.

Another piece of information I found interesting is when educating through the use of multimedia, the effect of using words such as “your” and personalizing the content brings higher retention and level of understanding (R. E. F. Mayer, Sherry ; Farmer, Lindsay ; Campbell, Julie, 2004). Using words catered and involving the leaner may appeal to their emotions and this increases learning outcomes especially if involving positive emotions (Um, 2012).

I believe some learning material in my workplace could be presented and written following the positive emotion principle. Perhaps VLE could be more personalized. If all learning is conducted via multimedia (including web2.0) are there ways of making sure that students who fit within a certain behaviour/profile have access to information designed specifically for them? This is just a thought as this would not be efficient for Instructional Design teams and would require a vast amount of information to be collated before even beginning implementation. 

I as a learner currently have access to Moodle and Blackboard, now that I am used to it these  systems could be the future of managing workplace learning for a specific role and group of employees who have the level of experience. This is a possibility for the workplace but I am sure something similar to wikispaces could benefit creativity, communication and be in a clear format as well to be used as a central learning "hub" of sorts.

Mayer, Richard E. (2009). Multimedia Learning   Retrieved from http://MONASH.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=424624

Mayer, Richard E. (2009). Multimedia Learning   Retrieved from http://MONASH.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=424624

Mayer, Richard E. ; Fennell, Sherry ; Farmer, Lindsay ; Campbell, Julie. (2004). A Personalization Effect in Multimedia Learning: students learn better when words are in conversational style rather than formal style.(Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol.96(2)(June), p.389-395. http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/sp-3.8.1a/ovidweb.cgi?QS2=434f4e1a73d37e8c9c245f63f5b4d54dd66bee24c3aa5232c5a46b85cca93c004e60742ebc024b16b230f4d8798137367d3c313aa81a5ae3275880a1620e1d9cb4b3d49e8dc6756af0216f756e24a5c5e67513253191eec150b8b0256bc6084ed4a77fa388941f7b46d444d57ffba8d77c1e694b0f0cd4c32e6f34628bd715f90ec81e41e7c52bae3484e568c2c48498d50b0378b34ffaf9cf86fa3e386f8a1852867cd0bd34227cad19595cf0833d34ebdc8ce5502f524309dc4de07045b6f5b596a86837436390029259617599b8933f1e811a9101493953

Um, Eunjoon “Rachel” ; Plass, Jan L ; Hayward, Elizabeth O ; Homer, Bruce D. (2012). Emotional Design in Multimedia Learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 104(2), p.485-498. http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/sp-3.8.1a/ovidweb.cgi?QS2=434f4e1a73d37e8c9c245f63f5b4d54dab320afc8d58a51fd9e398a964d3d725ffb0a213e5472215ebf1d8dbf8cec3bb61a45cbccb70c209e3e9622eb77fb90943d77e3fb8a21639eb65e3350683562ffcdfef5e392e324388639e661cbae6f9fb996e469fc694cbc630c944bcc3964fc2aab3334bfff4d6fad4a85e99a4d036273389b1ebfd33282ec5aa5d89caca6cacc2708f0e465c142f5aad2a3363f57d4738274c864cb51353ecf04b12049ed53aec05e637e8f5899daf6fb8441327fea88e6f1553b45b4848d7bb46f1bafa829aef1e941b4ae2d57b doi:10.1037/a0026609