The great multimedia content deception Learning teams spend millions on dressing up content with multimedia. The premise is always the same: better graphics equal better learning. The evidence tells a different story. The focus on the presentation and transmission of content represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how learning actually works in our complex world.

Educational technology professionals cite Richard Mayer’s 2008 study more than any other research on multimedia instruction. They are citing the wrong conclusion. Mayer did not prove multimedia enhances learning. He proved multimedia creates cognitive problems requiring ten different workarounds – and accidentally built the case for text-based instruction.

A dashboard of transparency indicators signaling trustworthiness Our Research Transparency Check (Bekkers et al., 2025) rests on two pillars. The first pillar is the development of Papercheck (DeBruine &

Rene Bekkers, 4 September 2025[*]   A dashboard of transparency indicators signaling trustworthiness Our Research Transparency Check (Bekkers et al., 2025) rests on two pillars. The first pillar that we blogged about previously is the development of P apercheck , a collection of software applications that assess the transparency and methodological quality of research (DeBruine &

Appalachian History Series A highway made a lake Lake Linville is not a conventional reservoir built behind a separate concrete structure. Kentucky’s own mapping and basin summary explain that “Renfro Creek was dammed in 1968 by the I-75 fill embankment to create the lake.” The same Kentucky Geological Survey page notes that the Mount Vernon Water Works draws its raw water from Lake Linville and even provides a ramp locator for public access.

Appalachian History Series Setting the scene Where Paint Creek meets the Levisa Fork at Paintsville, a federal reservoir now anchors the landscape and the local economy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers calls it Paintsville Lake, a rock-fill dam with an impervious core that impounds a narrow mountain lake used for flood risk reduction, water supply, low-flow augmentation, fish and wildlife, and recreation.

Appalachian History Series What Congress Authorized and Why In July 1960 the Flood Control Act became law and it expressly authorized “the project for flood control and allied purposes on Laurel River, Kentucky,” to be carried out in line with the Chief of Engineers’ recommendations in House Document 413 of the 86th Congress.

Appalachian History Series Along a bend of the Ohio near Lloyd, Kentucky, the Greenup Locks and Dam turned a troublesome stretch of river into a predictable navigation pool and later became home to one of the valley’s most productive municipal hydro plants.

Appalachian History Series What and where Grayson Lake is a narrow, cliff-lined reservoir on the Little Sandy River in Carter and Elliott counties, Kentucky. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District built an earth and random rock-fill dam about seven miles south of the town of Grayson, creating a lake roughly 20 miles long with about 1,510 acres at summer pool.

Appalachian History Series A new lake in the Upper Cumberland On the Obey River near Celina in Clay County, Tennessee, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built Dale Hollow Dam during World War II to control floods across the Cumberland system. The reservoir sprawls across the Tennessee–Kentucky line and today anchors recreation, hydropower, and regional water management.

Appalachian History Series Setting the scene Kitts sat where a small mountain stream meets the Clover Fork of the Cumberland River, a few miles east of the county seat at Harlan. Historic USGS 7.5-minute topographic maps place “Kitts Creek” entering the river just below the rail and road corridor that funneled coal out of the valley, with the town of Harlan upstream and Evarts downstream.