In this age of digital learning, content that includes various types of media is not just easy, trivial even, to produce, but has become the de facto standard. Interweaving images with text is not something new, but today’s content integrates much more than just text and images: video, audio, interactive elements, inline quizzes, learning games etc. are now fairly commonplace. The ability to incorporate these multiple media types into a learning resource opens up a world of possibilities for learners. For some learners, videos and images might convey information that is difficult to grasp from written descriptions. This will be almost universally true for audio; it is hard to fathom any description of a piece of audio that can function as well as a recording of the audio itself. For learning that involves hands-on application, such as learning a software tool for example, we now have the opportunity to embed data and pieces of code in the learning content, which enables the learner to recreate the steps illustrated in the instruction, hence making learning more engaging, interactive and hence effective. Some disciplines have long used such learning aids – the sciences for example have always used practical lab sessions to give learners an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge, and to see phenomena in action. Today, this affordance is available to virtually every branch of learning.

Learning games, in particular, work very well in enhancing the effectiveness of learning. With the ability to insert small learning games, quizzes, knowledge checks and activities into the learning content, learners have the opportunity to apply small pieces of learning then and there; this serves as a good checkpoint for learners to assess whether they are ready to progress to the next piece of learning, or whether they need to revisit some concepts or topics. This also serves as an effective form of formative assessment, which is another of the affordances provided by the shift from didactic pedagogy to new learning.

The ability to enrich content with a multitude of media types has made it possible to use multiliteracy, or the process of moving between learning modes according to the type of learning content, as an effective learning aid under the new learning paradigm.