Empirically supported multimedia learning (MML) principles [1] suggest effective ways to design instruction, generally for elements on the order of a graphic or an activity. We examined whether the positive impact of MML could be detected in larger instructional units from a MOOC. We coded instructional design (ID) features corresponding to MML…

This study is part of a larger effort to investigate linguistic features of assessment items that might explain differential performance of English learners on science assessments. An analysis of a large set of multiple-choice items suggested two features that held promise in reducing the performance gap: the presence of contrast words and the…