{"id":5320,"date":"2010-05-18T19:32:52","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T23:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=5320"},"modified":"2010-05-18T19:39:24","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T23:39:24","slug":"notes-on-dr-ruth-clarks-presentation-re-cognitive-load-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2010\/05\/18\/notes-on-dr-ruth-clarks-presentation-re-cognitive-load-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on Dr. Ruth Clark&#8217;s presentation re: cognitive load theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I just listened to a presentation by<strong> Dr. Ruth Clark<\/strong> entitled, <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>&#8220;Efficiency in Learning: Applying  Cognitive Load Theory to Distance Learning&#8221;. <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Below are my notes from her presentation.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Besides our <strong>long-term memory<\/strong> we have a    <strong>working memory<\/strong> &#8212; which is where the action is and where cognitive  load theory focuses<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>7 \u00a0+- 2 chunks <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>George Miller&#8217;s work in the 1950&#8217;s re: the limitations of  working memory<\/li>\n<li>Cognitive load theory is an update  to George\u2019s work<\/li>\n<li>The concept of &#8220;chunking&#8221; and the capacity  of short term memory. Miller (1956) presented the idea that <strong>short-term memory could only hold 5-9  chunks of information (seven plus or minus two)<\/strong> where a chunk is any  meaningful unit. A chunk could refer to digits, words, chess positions, or  people&#8217;s faces. The concept of chunking and the limited capacity of short term  memory became a basic element of all subsequent theories of memory.<\/li>\n<li>So <strong>segmenting<\/strong> of content is good \u2013 chunking it up &#8212; as  information should be presented in small  digestible units<\/li>\n<li>A digestible unit of information contains no more than  nine separate items of information.<\/li>\n<li>By chunking information the author improves the  reader&#8217;s comprehension and ability to access and retrieve the information.<\/li>\n<li><em>[Search for items related to \u201cInformation Processing  Theory\u201d and George Miller for more information]<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Working memory has a <strong>limited capacity<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Great for processing \u2013  not great for holding information<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Prior knowledge <\/strong>is key here<\/li>\n<li>Gets slower as trying to hold more information in working memory<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Our challenge  as instructional designers is how to optimize cognitive load that maximizes  learning <\/strong><\/span><strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>More complex\/difficult subject matter or more novice the learning \u00e0 more cognitive load<\/li>\n<li><strong>Intrinsic <\/strong>(imposed by content; how complex  is the content?) + <strong>Extraneous\u00a0 \/ Extrinsic<\/strong> (irrelevant &amp; want to minimize this)\u00a0 + <strong>Germaine<\/strong> (good stuff; relevant; want  to maximize this)<\/li>\n<li>Intrinsic + extraneous + germaine = <strong>additive<\/strong> cognitive load<\/li>\n<li>Giving learners orientation gives better learning; establish context<\/li>\n<li>Use audio to explain visuals when appropriate \u2013 uses both <strong>auditory information  track <\/strong>and<strong> visual information track<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Modality effect <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Better learning if a visual is explained  by words expressed in audio (except if different language)<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Redundancy effect <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t want to use the same text w\/  same audio at the same time \u2013 less is more \u2013 if have a picture of something,  with text next to it, plus having someone say that text is too much info \u2013 too much  cognitive load<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proximity effect<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Placement of text and visuals<\/li>\n<li>Keep visuals next to the relevant  text\/explanation of that visual<\/li>\n<li>Avoid splitting attention<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Germaine load<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> Use examples<\/strong> \u2013 but also <strong>add self-explanation questions to examples  to encourage deeper mental processing <\/strong>and not blowing the example off<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Some more tips\n<ul>\n<li>Watch the pacing of the presented  materials<\/li>\n<li>Provide control to user<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t put items on screen unless  serving a purpose<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t put background music if  trying to concentrate on learning something<\/li>\n<li>Motion \u2013 careful when use it<\/li>\n<li>If dealing with experts, don\u2019t  have to worry as much about cognitive load burdens; allow control\/freedom<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Didn&#8217;t sound like Ruth  supported learning styles too much \u2013 believes that we place too much emphasis on them; <strong>prior knowledge <\/strong>is the key according to Ruth<strong> <\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Some synchronous, web-based communication and collaboration tools can cause cognitive overloads<\/strong> &#8211; as the interface can split our attention. We  try to absorb information that is flowing at us from the various areas of the interface:\n<ul>\n<li>Chat<\/li>\n<li>An attendee list of members<\/li>\n<li>The presentation area\/PPTs<\/li>\n<li>Audio<\/li>\n<li>Motion w\/ application sharing<\/li>\n<li>etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Clark Training &amp; Consulting&#8217;s blog &#8211;&gt; <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/clarktraining.com\/blog\/?feed%5Cx3drss2\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>http:\/\/clarktraining.com\/blog\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/clarktraining.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5332\" title=\"ruthclarkblog\" src=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ruthclarkblog.jpg\" alt=\"Ruth Clark's Training &amp; Consulting site\" width=\"447\" height=\"357\" border=\"0\" srcset=\"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ruthclarkblog.jpg 447w, http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/ruthclarkblog-150x119.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 447px) 100vw, 447px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just listened to a presentation by Dr. Ruth Clark entitled, &#8220;Efficiency in Learning: Applying Cognitive Load Theory to Distance Learning&#8221;. Below are my notes from her presentation. Besides our long-term memory we have a working memory &#8212; which is where the action is and where cognitive load theory focuses 7 \u00a0+- 2 chunks George [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,223,23],"tags":[103,620,570,685,580],"class_list":["post-5320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-audio","category-learning-theories","category-multimedia","tag-cognition","tag-cognitive-psychology-computing","tag-digital-audio","tag-learning-theories","tag-multimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5320"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5333,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5320\/revisions\/5333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}