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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 memories 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 teaching-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 integration 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
