Designing Calm in Digital Textbooks: Applying Multimedia Principles to Reduce Online Learner Anxiety
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18357/otessaj.2025.5.2.108Keywords:
online anxiety, multimedia principles, course material design, instructional design, digital textbooksAbstract
Mental well-being has become a central priority in online education as students encounter emotional challenges that can undermine engagement, persistence, and success. Although anxiety is widespread and disruptive, designers frequently overlook it when creating courses and materials. Findings from a qualitative survey indicate that applying multimedia principles, particularly segmenting, may help reduce anxiety and support learners’ focus, confidence, and sense of control. In the study, fifty online college students interacted with scenarios designed both with and without four multimedia principles (segmenting, generative activities, feedback, and emotional design) in an open digital textbook that used HTML5 package (H5P) and images, then reflected on their emotional responses. Collectively, the results support making mental well-being central to the design of instruction. This paper outlines the artifact, how participants encountered it, and translates practitioner-relevant implications into concrete applications for digital textbooks, contributing to work that positions learner well-being as a grand challenge for the field of instructional design and technology.
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