Is Your Training a Lean, Mean Learning Machine?
Do you belong to a health club? Perhaps you just walk 20 minutes
every other day. Maybe you run one of the famous marathons
sponsored throughout the United States. Actually, here in Chicago,
there is even a marathon to walk up the stairs of "Big John", the
John Hancock building on Michigan Avenue. That's 94 floors and
1,632 steps! In order to achieve the end goal which is to cross the
finish line, the participant must be in superb physical condition
and mentally attuned to achieving the goal. That takes training the
body and the mind. Part of this training includes eating the right
foods, performing the right exercises, and getting the proper rest.
Perhaps it's time to get your e-learning training "in shape."
Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage
Cognitive Load could be your "personal trainer" in performing
this learning design tune-up. Along with Frank Nguyen and John
Sweller, Ruth Clark has written a textbook that offers
scientifically based evidence that suggests guidelines in managing
cognitive load. In more pedestrian language that means the authors
offer principles to follow in examining your training content and
how effective it may or may not be. And, they offer suggestions on
how to fix it. Cognitive load is the amount of information that can
be processed in short-term memory at any one time. This book
discusses the three levels or conditions of cognitive load:
intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load, and germane
cognitive load. Intrinsic cognitive load is contained in the
training goal(s), extraneous cognitive load is that information
that is "nice to know not need to know," and germane
cognitive load is that information needed to support the training
goal(s).
What's an example of cognitive overload? Have you ever looked at a
tutorial with music in the background? Actually, that's one of my
real pet peeves. Talk about extraneous cognitive load, I find music
very distracting in a didactic learning situation. Following the
rules of instructional design, I ask, "Does it add to the
instructional content or goal." If not, the music does not belong
there. It's just a distracter! The music distracts your short-term
memory from processing the information considered pertinent to the
instructional or performance goal. Understand it? If not, that's
OK, the textbook concentrates on explaining how the instructional
designer or developer can design for optimum intrinsic cognitive
load of the content. In other words, use the optimum amount of
content or the "best" delivery tool possible to deliver the
training content so that short-term memory can "handle" or process
the information and transfer the information to long-term memory
for future retrieval and use.
Here's the layout for the book. It is divided into five parts:
Part 1: Introduction to efficiency in learning summarizes
the basics of cognitive load theory and that describe its
psychological basis.
Part 2: Basic guidelines for managing cognitive load
summarizes all of the proven ways you can reduce extraneous
(irrelevant) and intrinsic cognitive load.
Part 3: Instructional guidelines for imposing relevant
cognitive load features proven techniques you can use to
increase germane cognitive load.
Part 4: Tailoring instruction to learner expertise
features recent research using cognitive load theory and features
how instructional methods must be adjusted as learners gain
expertise.
Part 5: Cognitive load theory in perspective contains two
chapters; Chapter 12 discusses how and when you can apply cognitive
load principles in the context of your instructional decisions.
Chapter 13 offers an opportunity to integrate the principles in the
book through a personal account by John Sweller of how cognitive
load theory originated, developed, and evolved over the past 25
years.
Not only does Efficiency in Learning offer guidelines for
determining the cognitive load in your training materials, there
are suggestions on how to apply cognitive load theory to target the
most effective use of short term memory during the learning
process. Four of the five ADDIE stages of instructional design are
addressed through these guidelines: design, development,
implementation, and evaluation. For example, using a table
designating What to Doand Ways to Do It, Clark
outlines how to adjust for prerequisite knowledge, content
complexity, content type and media delivery method. There are also
discussions about developing explanations of visuals and
performance aids, examples and practice for major tasks, the
challenges in implementing cognitive load theory when using
authoring software, and finally, applying cognitive load theory to
training implementation with discussions about learner support in
asynchronous training and training handouts.
To quote the book:" Cognitive load theory has its modern origins in
experiments conducted by Dr. John Sweller at the University of New
South Wales, Australia, in the early 1980's. Today cognitive load
theory has grown into one of the most widely recognized sets of
proven principles governing learning and instruction in the
training profession." Dr. Sweller's work is featured on the CD-ROM
which is included with the textbook. The CD-ROM contains
demonstration lessons and commentary on the lessons by Dr. John
Sweller.
This book was written for "all instructional professionals" who
create synchronous as well as asynchronous training events. To
reiterate the book's purpose, "This book provides you with
evidence-based guidelines on how to create efficient instructional
environment which result in faster learning, better learning, or
both." The pressure is on to accelerate the learning process and
the only way we, as instructional designers, can begin to achieve
that goal is to help learners learn better. Maybe we can't climb 94
floors but we can cut out the "noise." You can start by reading
this book!