Dr Amael Arguel is a psychological scientist specialised in learning and new technologies. In 2009, Amael completed his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the European University of Brittany, in Rennes, France. His research was focused on use of videos and animations to help learning of complex and dynamic contents, such as first aid techniques. Then, Amael was appointed successively at the Department of Cognitive Sciences, Macquarie University, and at the Centre for Health Informatics, University of New South Wales. From mid-2014, he is a research fellow for the Science of Learning Research Centre, based at Macquarie University and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Title: The multimedia learning of emergency procedures: a study of presentation effects. (Supervisor: Prof. Eric Jamet. Thesis committee: Prof. Mireille Bétrancourt, Prof. Jean-Michel Boucheix, Dr Franck Ganier). Abstract : Emergency procedures such as first-aid are often executed in unexpected situations, with high temporal demand. The use of any procedural support in such situations is consequently impossible. Nevertheless the correct execution of the procedures is often of paramount importance (e.g. a death hazard). The main issue is for the operators of these procedures to have integrated knowledge beforehand, such as is acquired in training sessions. Multimedia editing tools allow the making of instructional supports adapted to complex contents. The aim of this thesis is to adapt multimedia presentation for the learning of emergency procedures. From a synthesis of scientific outcomes in different areas such as multimedia learning and event cognition, we have carried out several experiments so as to identify the most relevant ways for presenting emergency procedures. After having checked that continuous streams of information (e.g. films) lead observers to select some relevant steps (exp. 1), we created a learning support presenting at the same time videos and snapshots corresponding to crucial steps. We have proved the advantages of this kind of presentation (exp. 2). We then manipulated features such as the number of snapshots per video and the form of their apparition form (exp. 3), and an eye-tracking experiment was carried out for studying online the visual exploration of the screen (exp. 4). Finally, we have tested our learning support in real first-aid classes to assess their outcomes in the environment that we expect they could be used (exp. 5). Outcomes of these studies are discussed and future directions are proposed.
Soccer player (mid-fielder) at North Epping Rangers.
Skills
Research and Teaching in Experimental Psychology
• Carrying out of full psychological experiments including the recruitment of participants, setting of experimental apparatus, software programming, data collection, statistical analysis and publication of results
