Studying a musical instrument with the help of a multimedia study material is different from studying any theoretical discipline because there is an extra source of information: the additional visual and audio information that the learner creates by playing the instrument.

As the learner’s cognitive resources are limited (CLT), there is a higer risk of cognitive overload. But before starting to optimize the study material we should see what else can use learner’s cognitive resources.

250+ beginners studied guitar with the help of the www.guitarschool.ee multimedia course and recorded 4 test exercises. The study process took place in a natural environment (75% home, 20% office, 5% elsewhere) and was not controlled (most common case when studying a musical instrument). The study material was the same for everyone so it is possible to measure the effect of the study environment on study results. If the effect is significant then it is important to reduce it in order to improve study results. Otherwise whatever improvements we make to the study material to use of the learner’s cognitive recourses more efficiently, the overall effect may be not big enough.

It is not possible to change the actual environment, we only can change the study material. There are two ways to neutralize the effect of the study environment by the study material:

a) reducing the cognitive load caused by the study material. This means putting through less information and causing the study process to slow down.
b) reducing the effect of an environment by demanding more engagement from the learner (gamification, more interaction)

I will need 3 bits of information:

1) Facts about the environment (What was it like? from questionnaire)
2) Cognitive effects of the environment (How did it feel? from questionnaire)
3) Study results (recordings, achieved level of total 8 levels of the course)

The first set of questions asks the respondents to describe the actual characteristics of an environment, the second set wants to know how did it feel. For example, if there were potentially annoying factors in the room but the learner didn’t notice them, then we cannot consider them as extraneous load (CLT).