Neuroscience and Information Processing

In my quest to gain more knowledge about how people learn, I took a look at couple of journal articles that I thought could help me be a better instructional designer.  My first discussion is about teaching in a group verse individually.  The second one is about the cognitive load theory and aging. 

I thought it would be interesting to look into if people learn better as a group or individually.  Typically, I train software with more than person at a time.  There are times, however, that I train one person. 

The article Differential effects of problem-solving demands on individuals and collaborative learning outcomes discusses which of these methods is most effective and efficient.  A study was conducted using 140 biology students.  An instructional format was used both emphasized worked examples (those that needed to be studied) and equivalent problems (those that needed to be solved). 

The article discusses Cognitive Load Theory (CLT).  This theory “focuses on learning from complex cognitive tasks based on what is known about human cognitive architecture.”  This includes long-term memory (LTM).  The working memory (WM) interacts with the LTM.  The article then discusses how CLT and individual WM can be a basis for instructional design.  Most of the research that has been done has been done regarding information processing for individual learning settings.  Kirschner and Kirschner have been looking at alternative ways to deal with an individual’s WM limitations.  They suggest “groups of learners are considered to be information-processing systems consisting of multiple limited WMs which can create a collective working space.”  They say that valuable information that is possessed can be shared, discussed and remembered, thus learned more efficiently.

The study found that learning from solving problems together as a group led to higher learning outcomes than studying from worked examples.  However, for individuals, the opposite was true.  Learning outcomes were higher when studying worked examples verse solving problems.  Thus, when g students are learning individually, instruction should be emphasized using worked example study.  When learning collaboratively, emphasize solving problems for students. 

I plan to keep this in mind when holding my software training sessions.  For my group sessions, I will have them work together to solve problems I propose.  For the individual learners, worked examples will be incorporated.

Reference:  

Femke Kirschner, Fred Paas, Paul A. Kirschner, Jeroen Janssen, Differential effects of problem-solving

demands on individual and collaborative learning outcomes, Learning and Instruction, Volume 21, Issue 4, August 2011, Pages 587-599, ISSN 0959-4752, 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.01.001.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095947521100003X)

Keywords: Cognitive load theory; Worked-example study; Problem-solving; Collaborative learning; Learning efficiency; Learning outcomes

One of the challenges of working in a technology field is designing my instruction for all ages and all skill levels.  I work with a great amount of dietitians, clerks and food and nutrition directors.  Sometimes I have an elderly learner that has been in the business for many years.  They are typically not very excited about learning something new, particularly on a computer. 

The journal article Cognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency  discusses cognitive aging.  While there is growth that occurs from all of the knowledge they have accumulated throughout their life, there is also a decline.  This relates to their working memory.   This decline makes it difficult for them to acquire new complex skills, making it difficult for them to comprehend it.   A study was conducted aimed at “testing the efficiency of worked examples relative to conventional problems in elderly and young learners.”

The study found that the elderly benefited comparatively more from worked examples than the young participants and that worked examples were found to be a more efficient means of training the elderly than conventional problems.  Another great tip as an instructional designer who trains a variety of ages!

Reference:

P.W.M Van Gerven, F.G.W.C Paas, J.J.G Van Merriënboer, H.G Schmidt, Cognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency, Learning and Instruction, Volume 12, Issue 1, February 2002, Pages 87-105, ISSN 0959-4752, 10.1016/S0959-4752(01)00017-2.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475201000172)

Keywords: Cognitive load; Cognitive aging; Complex skills; Instructional design

The Doorway to Professional Learning Communities

This is my virgin voyage when it comes to blogging.  I have to admit, I am so far quite fascinated at the wealth of information that is out there!  I am pretty sure I have run across blogs when doing research in the past, but had no idea what their purpose or their function was.  Without a doubt, these blogs will be helpful in my current occupation.  In this post, I will highlight and discuss one of the blogs I have come across.  Links to the blogs I have discovered are listed below in My Blog List.

Out of all of the blogs I read through, I found the Minute Blog to be most helpful for my current occupation.  Because a portion of my job is developing eLearning materials, I am always looking for new ways to present my ideas to administration, new tools to design my materials, and ways to make learning fun.  This blog had all of those components.  In addition, it had a link to an interesting article about learning styles called “Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely”.   This gave information about how they are finding teachers should not target student’s learning based on a learning style.  Because I deal with such a wide variety of learners as a corporate trainer, this has always been a question I have had.  This article intrigued me because I have always thought of myself as a “visual” learner. 

In addition to some great free tools, the blog also gave some information on the ADDIE model.  Recently, I have been asked to lead the implementation of a new software program for internal use.  I have been battling how to approach this.  The blog gave a link to Creating e-Learning from Inception to Evaluation.  This pdf file provides a quick glance at the ADDIE model.  I am still, however, unsure if I will be using this approach.  If you have any ideas that would be helpful instead of using the ADDIE model to get me started with a project plan, please let me know!    

All of the blogs I have listed in My Blog List have good information.  I found it very useful that one blog led to another blog, and so on.