Sticking to a single, uniform approach to learning is holding you back. Truly effective learning and development (L&D) strategies embrace how learners engage and process information in diverse ways. While some learners grasp concepts more effectively through visual cues, others benefit from verbal explanations, written materials, or hands-on activities. For instructors, this diversity is an opportunity to be creative, experiment with different techniques, and improve learner satisfaction.
Multimodal learning offers a solution by integrating a variety of content formats and interactive activities. This approach engages multiple senses simultaneously for a richer and more inclusive learning experience. Why? Because multimodal learning deepens understanding and enhances retention with multi-channel delivery.
In this article, we'll define multimodal learning, discuss its significance in L&D contexts, provide real-world examples, and offer practical strategies for implementing multimodal learning effectively within your corporate training programs.
What is multimodal learning?
Multimodal learning is an instructional approach that teaches content with multiple modes, or channels of communication. This means information helps learners remember through more than one of their bodily senses, including sight, sound, and touch.
Instead of relying on a single method, multimodal learning blends various formats. These modes can be visuals (images, diagrams, videos), sound (spoken talks, music, podcasts), text or symbols (written words, math signs), and doing activities (hands-on tasks, moving, acting out parts).
Here’s a simple example: a training module with a how-to video that includes narration and subtitles, a written summary, a transcript, and an interactive exercise or quiz. Learners can see and hear the explanation, read the key points, and try an activity to apply the knowledge. Building the lesson this way ensures that if someone learns best by seeing, hearing, or doing, that the lesson fits how they learn.
It's backed by neuroscience
Remember that multimodal learning isn’t about creating a giant media library without a plan. Focus on curating the modes together in a way that makes understanding happen better, faster, and keeps learners coming back for more. Consider the research that shows when material is presented in multiple ways, learners form more connections in the brain. Why? Because the different sensory inputs activate various brain regions, helping build stronger memories through distributed processing.
Brian Mathias, a neuroscientist, explains that learning through multiple senses creates stronger, more integrated memories. An analysis of 183 studies also found that pairing verbal information with actions, like acting out a concept, is a reliable and effective way to boost memory.
Multimodal learning means employing not just lectures or text, but a mix of methods. Instructors can add pictures and charts to show ideas, videos or live showings to explain a concept, host group talks or record audio to give spoken details, and lead activities where learners can try learning independently. By connecting with learners in many ways, multimodal learning makes lessons more impactful.
Types of learners and modalities (The VARK model)
Every learner has unique preferences for how they like to receive information. The well-known VARK model developed by Neil Fleming categorizes four primary learning modalities: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic.
While many learn better when these are combined, it’s helpful to understand each style:
Visual learners
These learners learn best through seeing. They prefer to absorb information from images, diagrams, charts, infographics, and demonstrations. Visual learners also appreciate when content is illustrated with diagrams, like when an instructor brings out a whiteboard or slides with key graphics. For example, a visual learner in a biology class might benefit from seeing a diagram of a cell or a video of a process, rather than just listening to a description.
Auditory learners
These learners absorb information best through hearing. They prefer spoken explanations, lectures, discussions, and audio materials. To better grasp concepts, an auditory learner might listen to a podcast or participate in a group discussion. They also benefit from opportunities to hear the content, whether via an instructor’s voice or their own, by reading text aloud or talking through problems.
Reading/writing learners
Sometimes separated from visual learning, this category prefers information in text form. They learn effectively by reading textbooks, articles, and written notes. These learners often love handouts, enjoy taking detailed notes, and prefer reading instructions rather than having a peer explain verbally. Providing transcripts of videos or written summaries of key points is helpful for them.
Kinesthetic learners
These learners thrive on doing and experiencing. They understand concepts best by physically engaging in hands-on labs, experiments, role-playing, building models, or moving around. These tactile learners might get restless just sitting and listening; they learn better when touching, manipulating the information, or trying something themselves. For instance, a kinesthetic learner would master software skills faster by using the software in a sandbox environment. Watching a slideshow about it? That won’t cut it.
Most people do not fall strictly into only one category. Surveys show that most individuals identify with multiple learning preferences, implying that even if someone has a choice, using a mix of modalities can be more effective than one.
Benefits of multimodal learning
Multimodal learning offers significant advantages, supported by both research and practical application. Here are some benefits of using multimodal learning:
Boosts learner interest
Multimodal learning keeps learners interested and active. Using different formats, such as breaking up a lecture with visuals or an activity, prevents boredom and monotony. People naturally pay more attention when they have a new experience.
Tap into curiosity and sustain attention by providing content in different ways taps into the curiosity and attention of busy learners. They’re also less likely to tune out when a session includes a mix of media and experiences.
Improved recall and understanding
When you present information through multiple senses, it embeds more firmly in their memory. Each channel supports the others; for instance, viewing a diagram while hearing an explanation creates two mental associations with a learning outcome. Studies also indicate that learners using multiple modalities performed better than those who learned via a single method. The basis for this lies in multiple inputs forming strong neural networks. Learners retain material longer and can grasp it fully by encountering the concepts in varied forms. They can recollect an instructor's narrative or visual aid alongside textual information, which aids in developing a more complete comprehension.
Greater access and inclusivity
A multimodal approach makes learning content more accessible to a broader audience. Providing diverse means to interact with material naturally accommodates differences in learners’ abilities. Offering both video and accompanying text helps individuals with hearing or visual impairments. It also supports different learning scenarios; a commuter might prefer audio, while someone in a quiet location might like reading.
And for many learners, research indicates that even without diagnosed impairments, features like captions support focus and learning effectiveness. Multimodal learning aligns with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, prioritizing multiple pathways for learners to interact with content. UDL is a structure that promotes adaptable learning experiences for all by offering varied methods for presentation, action, expression, and interaction. This adaptability allows each learner to select the mode that suits them best, or combine modes, to meet learning goals.
Enhanced creativity and practical application
Learning through multiple modes encourages learners to make connections and apply knowledge in creative ways. Learners can transfer and generalize their knowledge more readily by viewing material in different contexts, like a simulation versus a case study. With multimodal learning, learners are guided to consider content not merely in one format but in a conceptual manner that underlies various forms. Activities involving multiple modes can also cultivate critical thinking and innovation for project tasks incorporating research, visual design, and presentations.
From the instructor's standpoint, using multimodal approaches enables greater creativity in teaching, enhancing the learning experience for all. Learners often find multimodal sessions more stimulating and memorable, supporting their motivation and participation.
Learner autonomy
An overlooked advantage is that multimodal learning grants learners' greater control over their learning journey. When accommodating resources are accessible, learners can determine the sequence or format that suits their needs. Learner autonomy also promotes self-direction. For example, an employee completing training via an LMS might opt to view a brief video lesson first, then review a detailed document, and finally attempt a practice evaluation.
Offering such options boosts a learner’s sense of ownership and intrinsic motivation. It addresses not only learning preferences but also contextual factors. Trainers understand that individuals vary, so providing choices (multimodal content) allows trainers to tailor support. When you value individual preference, you elevate the overall learning environment and outcomes.
Multimodal approach aligns well with the varied and dynamic nature of everyday learning. By keeping learners engaged, improving retention, ensuring accessibility, and spurring creativity, multimodal learning helps maximize the effectiveness of education and training programs.
As one article succinctly noted, giving learners a choice of learning media improves accessibility and reduces cognitive load, helping them master content more easily .
Strategies for implementing multimodal learning
Below are five key strategies to make your teaching more multimodal. These strategies apply to corporate or technical training, intending to engage multiple senses and learning styles:
1. Blend visuals with verbal explanations
When introducing a concept, consider what visual element can complement your verbal or written explanation. This could be slides with images or diagrams, videos, infographics, or physical models.
For example, provide a flowchart or animation alongside your explanation when teaching a process. Also, include screenshots or product demos while explaining a software feature, as visual aids help learners picture the concept in their minds.
Use graphs, mind maps, or metaphorical images to anchor ideas, even for abstract subjects. The point is to avoid text or speech-only instruction. So always ask yourself if you can add a visual or an example.
2. Incorporate audio and discussion elements
Use the auditory modality instead of just written content. This can mean adding narration to presentations, using podcasts or recorded lectures as study material, or simply encouraging group discussions and Q&A sessions in training. Hearing information can help reinforce what learners see on screen.
When providing eLearning, think about including an audio option or video voiceovers. Also, encourage learners to discuss or explain concepts aloud, which gets auditory processing going and can help understanding.
For instance, after reading a case study, having learners discuss it in a webinar or classroom debate adds an auditory and social component that improves the learning.
3. Include reading and writing activities
Reading and writing remain important learning methods even in our multimedia age. To put multimodal learning to use, provide text to support other media – transcripts for videos, summaries for lectures, or reference PDFs for hands-on workshops.
Many learners find reading at their own pace to be helpful for instructions or background information You can also encourage writing as a way of showing ideas by asking trainees to write a brief plan or summary of what they learned in a session.
These reading/writing modes help memory because writing ensures that those who learn well through text are not left out. For example, after a series of doing sales role-plays, a written checklist of best methods helps set the lessons for everyone, especially reading/writing learners.
4. Use hands-on and kinesthetic methods
Plan activities to get learners actively engaging with the learning outcome. This could be a lab test, building or making a star shape, acting out roles, using a test setup, or even body movement to show an idea. Hands-on might mean working through reenactments, practicing with a live system, or doing eLearning parts where learners make choices and see what happens.
For example, a customer service training course might use a branched scenario online where a representative must decide how to handle a customer complaint. This is a form of kinesthetic learning (learning by doing).
Hands-on elements prevent passive learning. They also draw in kinesthetic learners who learn best by trying and seeing errors. Also, an activity asks learners to use what they know, which helps understanding and builds practical skills.
5. Multimodal assessments and feedback
Multimodal principles can be applied when assessing learning. Instead of only standard tests, which are usually for reading/writing, assessments that allow demonstration of knowledge in different forms can be included, such as presentations, portfolios, group projects, or practical demonstrations.
Similarly, give feedback in multiple ways, like written comments, one-on-one verbal feedback, or video commentary. A multimodal assessment strategy not only provides a fuller picture of what the learner knows, but it also further engages them.
Beyond these core strategies, practical learning benefits from a mix of online/offline methods when possible. Using a blended learning strategy involving eLearning modules and in-person workshops is an effective multimodal strategy for workplace learning.
Additionally, as mentioned earlier, getting learners involved in their learning process is important; for example, asking them which format they find most helpful gives them some control over their learning. Some organizations use a learning management system to let employees choose whether to read an article, watch a webinar on a topic, or do both.
Allowing learners to set preferences or filter content by format can significantly boost engagement . If your training platform supports it, consider enabling these features so learners can easily access content in their preferred mode.
Finally, re-purpose and reinforce content across modes. If you deliver a classroom lecture, repurpose the content into a short video or an infographic handout as a follow-up. If you have a great piece of written content, discuss it in the next live session or make a podcast summarizing it.
This not only saves content development time by reusing material, but it also aligns perfectly with multimodal reinforcement. Implementing these strategies creates a learning environment where every modality is used to get maximum results, ensuring that different learners in your organization have multiple pathways to learn and retain the knowledge.
How to build a multimodal learning course
Building a multimodal learning course involves planning how to put together content and tasks so the course naturally assists diverse ways of learning. Think about these points so the course supports multimodal learning:
- Create varied types of content: Create dynamic content pieces and tasks in the course. This means structuring course parts (lessons, units) to mix materials like videos, readings, audio clips, and practical assignments. For example, a lesson on company policy might include a written summary, a short video from a leader, and a quick check you can do things with.
- Use tools and technology for varied formats: Use authoring tools, media editors, and system features to combine text, pictures, sound, video, and sections that learners can discover in the course content. A quality learning management system (LMS) is key here. Your LMS should work with varied content types like video, interactive checks, and documents. When picking tech for course building, consider whether it helps you combine and give content in multiple modes.
- Design course structure and interface for flexibility and accessibility: Get flexible course plans and interface design. Design how the course is put together and how learners move through it for ease of change and different abilities. Design learning paths and iterate based on learner data. For instance, a course might let learners do units in any order or easily revisit videos and readings. Make sure to integrate access features directly into course materials, like words on videos, papers for sound, and text that works with screen-readers, so the course is open to everyone.
- Plan assignments and activities using multiple ways: Include multimodal tasks and activities in the course plan. When creating training plans for a course, make it clear you’ve included different modes of learning. Put reading sections between video parts and questions you can answer. Structuring course lessons using this multimodal pattern helps the course move through multiple modalities. For example, a course on safety steps might mix reading about the steps, watching a video of someone performing the steps, and an interactive picture with informative pop-ups to show understanding.
- Let learners show what they know in many ways: Encourage multimodal output from learners within the course. Design tasks where learners can answer using text, audio, video, images, instead of limiting all work to one method. A course project might allow workers to give their results as a written response, a spoken presentation, or a short video demonstrating a skill.
Building a multimodal course takes thought, but it often means building upon what you already have. If you mostly have text lessons, add pictures and interactive components. If you have course material tied to using real equipment, ensure you have discussion and reflection surrounding those activities within the course structure.
Often, it is about finding equilibrium, making sure no single modality overshadows others within the course content. By skillfully putting together different materials and tasks in the course, you build a course where multimodal learning flourishes.
Pro tip: Consider obtaining feedback on your course build. Ask learners if there were enough ways to learn within the course and adjust the materials and tasks as needed. A well-structured multimodal course is adaptive and evolving, consistently seeking to address learner needs through multiple learning models offered within the course.
Challenges and considerations
While multimodal learning has many advantages, it’s important to be aware of potential challenges and considerations when implementing it:
Challenge 1: Time and resource constraints
Creating and curating content in multiple modalities can be time-consuming. Instructors may feel stretched having to prepare slides, handouts, videos, and activities instead of just a lecture and a reading. Not every organization or L&D department has the budget for extensive multimedia content development.
Solutions:
- Start small: One way to address this is by starting small and gradually adding modalities using readily available resources like educational videos from reputable sources or simple activities that don’t require elaborate materials.
- Repurpose content: Over time, content can be repurposed across modes, like turning a recorded lecture into a mini-podcast or converting an article into an infographic to lighten the load.
- Create a workflow: Use an LMS like Absorb LMS’s built-in content library or authoring tools can help streamline multimodal content creation .
- Delegate: If working in a team, delegate modality responsibilities (one person curates visuals while another designs activities, for instance).
Challenge 2: Possibility of cognitive overload
At a point, multimodal can become too much at once. If learners are bombarded with simultaneous audio, text, flashing images, and movement, it might overwhelm rather than help. The goal is to reinforce content, not distract or confused.
Solutions:
- Develop content based on cognitive load theory: Extraneous information can impede learning. So, it is important to ensure that the modes complement each other, not compete. For example, if playing a video with narration, you might not need lots of on-screen text simultaneously, or if you include on-screen text, it could match the narration (as subtitles) rather than introducing separate points.
- Be strategic about timing and placement: A good practice is introducing one modality at a time or segmenting them, like discussing and then demonstrating, rather than doing both haphazardly together. Testing your materials on a small audience or asking for feedback can inform these design choices.
Challenge 3: Learner resistance or bias
Occasionally, learners believe they have the best way to learn and may resist other modalities. A busy employee might hesitate to do an interactive exercise, preferring a quick slideshow.
Solutions:
- Communicate the benefits: Help learners understand why you’re asking them to engage in various ways.
- Focus on growing learner buy-in over time: An emphasis backed by the research we have discussed on the benefits of multimodal learning and offering some flexibility aids a gradual shift in adopting a more multimodal approach. Over time, most learners appreciate the variety, realizing that an activity they were unsure about helped them understand better.
Challenge 4: Assessment alignment
If teaching is multimodal but the assessment uses one modality, there can be a mismatch. Conversely, if assessments are too open-ended, like a creative project, ensure you have clear criteria so all learners know how to succeed and regardless of modality.
Solutions:
- Test knowledge with different modes: To align with multimodal teaching, try to make assessments multimodal or offer multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge. This can be challenging in standardized environments, but small additions like an oral presentation component or a practical exam segment can make a difference.
- Automate grading: This might be more complex with varied outputs. Be sure to plan the grading approach and rubrics accordingly, which may take more time for the instructor.
Challenge 5: Consistency of message
When you present content in multiple forms, you must ensure consistency. A danger is that your can confuse learners when one modality inadvertently presents slightly different information than another, confusing learners. For example, learners might get conflicting information if a slide deck is updated, but an accompanying PDF handout isn’t. Or, an instructor might emphasize one point in a lecture, but the provided summary sheet emphasizes another.
Solutions:
- Coordination and version control: This is important so that all modalities reinforce the same core content. While offering multiple formats, learners must receive a consistent message in every format.
- Choose a source of truth: The multimodal principle should never compromise the clarity or accuracy of the content. One practical tip is to base all modalities on a single source, like a curriculum outline or script, so each mode is just a different expression of that source material.
Challenge 6: Instructor skill and training
Not every educator or trainer is immediately comfortable with all modalities or technology. Moving to a multimodal approach might require professional development.
Solutions:
- Provide resources to instructors: Institutions should support trainers through this transition with training and start by incorporating one new modality at a time. Similarly, corporate trainers might work with eLearning designers to convert some training into new formats.
- Give instructors runway to grow: A modest starting point could involve incorporating videos and an interactive quiz into an otherwise text-based course. As familiarity with multimodal methods increases, additional elements can gradually be introduced.
Addressing these challenges requires recognizing that the transition to multimodal learning is a gradual process, not an immediate shift. Ongoing evaluation and reflection are essential to identify what is effective and make necessary adjustments. As a flexible framework, multimodal learning should be adapted to suit specific contexts and learner needs.
Final thoughts on the multimodal approach
Multimodal learning recognizes that the best way to learn is unique to every learner. That’s why the best learning experiences often blend modes to engage every aspect of the learner’s needs. By teaching with multiple channels, we create more opportunities for understanding.
Multimodal strategies are also essential for inclusivity and effectiveness. Research and real-world practice affirm that when learners see, hear, and do as part of the learning process, they learn more deeply and retain knowledge longer.
Also, many tools and resources are available to support implementation. Absorb LMS can help you through this process. Absorb allows for seamless integration of videos, documents, quizzes, and even social learning, all in one centralized platform. Its design reflects a commitment to learner-centered, flexible education. Learn more here.
