The effectiveness of multimedia for teaching drug mechanisms of action to undergraduate health students

Educators are increasingly turning to multimedia presentations as a means to convey complex information. Pharmacological mechanisms of action are dynamic processes that may be effectively represented as animations. Drug mechanisms of action were described in four different presentation formats: text only; text and static images; animation and text; or animation with narration. A comparison of these presentation modes found no significant difference on performance on a best answer multiple choice quiz. In addition, there was no significant effect of individual learning style. When learning about material related to their discipline of study, students may possess the ability to construct mental models that obviate the need for multimedia. Resources currently invested in the development of multimedia materials may be better diverted elsewhere. Furthermore, the results from this study do not support the routine assessment of individual learning styles in education.