Oldal 26 [26]
2.3 TECHNOLOGICALLY ENHANCED MULTI-SENSORY LEARNING 25
while non-verbal input by a subsystem specialized in images or sensations.
These images can be visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. During data transferring
(Írom sensation to long-term memory), the two subsystems interact. Researches
revealed that memories of images are more easily recalled, while verbal mem¬
ories are more easily applied, synthesized, and transferred (SDSU-ET, 2008).
Memory and learning also depend on types of sensation. If one subsystem
must attend to two sensory types, information can be lost, causing inefficient
memorization. If each subsystem attends to information from different sensory
types, the inverse phenomenon takes place, namely, attention and memory are
reinforced (SDSU-ET, 2008).
2.3 Technologically enhanced multi-sensory learning
Montessori initiated the multi-sensory learning movement about 90 years
ago. In recent decades, technology integration in education has opened up new
vistas for researchers and teachers who are interested in multi-sensory teach¬
ing-learning methods. Reflecting on terms like multimedia and multi-sensory,
we understand that the nearly one-hundred-year-old multi-sensory movement
has entered a new dynamic era.
2.3.1 Hybrid/blended learning
Digital elements have moved multi-sensory learning closer to other modern
educational concepts such as hybrid and blended learning. Hybrid education
combines traditional face-to-face instruction with online technologies (Swenson
& Evans, 2003). While most of the research failed to find statistically significant
differences between the efficacy of the online and face-to-face learning (Coates,
Humphreys, Kane, & Vachris, 2004; Shen, Chung, Challis, & Cheung, 2007),
most researchers agree (O'Toole & Absalom, 2003) that hybrid courses, when
designed carefully, combine the best features of in-class teaching with the best
features of e-learning to promote active student learning (Riffell & Sibley, 2005).
Researchers found that technology can promote deeper exploration and inte¬
gration of information and high-level thinking by allowing students to design,
explore, experiment, and model complex and abstract phenomena (American
Council on Education [ACE], 1999). According to Fjermestad, Hiltz, and Zhang
(2005), students who connected abstract science to real-world problems through
simulations, microcomputer-based laboratories, and videos obtained better
results than students who experienced only traditional instructional methods.
On the other hand, the traditional elements of hybrid learning preserve the
non-fungible human touch of education. Furthermore, since hybrid learning
treats students as individuals with different learning habits, learning styles and