BRIDGING MAYER’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF MULTIMEDIA LEARNING AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN TACKLING THE COGNITIVE LOAD ISSUES AMONG YOUNG DIGITAL NATIVES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In 2020, it is undeniable the existence of digital natives in the tertiary education especially in the university. They are part of a tech-savvy generation that lead to the technological progress which always be connected and linked based on their wishes and needs without any hesitation of time and places. They are basically use a technology without guidance but how far they can manage to handle the consequences of the technology usage and problems occur, are always been questionable. It is undeniable the cruciality for a digital native to start having at least a basic of computer knowledge in managing their education and daily life. Learning about the computer science not only helps students to create programs, application or how to handle the devices, but strengthen the practice of Computational Thinking (CT). CT refers to the capacity of learners to systematically tackle unstructured tasks focused on four computing concepts such as decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition and algorithmic thinking. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between CT and Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) towards the cognitive load of the learners. This research focuses on CT concept that will be integrated with the Mayer’s CTML in designing the learning material for young digital natives. Researcher therefore proposes a conceptual framework that aims to comprehend how to facilitate the cruciality of CT concepts in Mayer’s CTML when designing the instructional learning. The proposed conceptual framework adds value in tackling the cognitive load among students, particularly in the context of the digital native generation. This paper provides several implications and highlights for further studies through comprehensive and wide-ranging literature review.