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Has it ever happened to you that you are attending the lecture, you aren’t really distracted, but suddenly you forget what the instructor talked about a while ago. You felt as if the module ended too fast or there was too much to grasp and too little retained. If you have experienced this, you probably know what cognitive load feels like. To all instructors designing beautiful eLearning courses either for school students or employee training, this post is a must-read for you. Cognitive load can make people forget things easily. Poor retention would either demotivate the learners, or they would start thinking that you are not a good teacher. Learn more about cognitive load and how micro-learning can help you reduce it as you read this article.
What is cognitive load?
Cognitive load theory is a psychological theory that explains the limited capacity of working or short-term memory and the high capacity of long-term memory. Psychological terms can be difficult to understand, so I’ll keep it as simple as possible for you.
You receive a lot of information via your sensory organs. The brain discards the unimportant things, and all the other information flows into the working memory/short-term memory. Short-term memory understands the information and stores it in a relevant folder of long-term memory.
Cognitive load theory helps you understand that the amount of data working memory can take in at a moment and process it is very small. If the person has prior knowledge about the new information, they just received, processing it can become easier. This is precisely why many professors used to ask us to read the new chapter before it is discussed in class.
Try to dip a sponge in a cup full of water, the cup will become empty. Now drop a sponge of the same size and quality into a bucket of water. Do you think the bucket would become empty? No, right? This sponge is like your working memory. It can hold information only till it reaches its saturation point. If you keep adding more information, you will have to let go (forget) of the old information. This is what causes poor retention.
There are 3 types of cognitive loads:
- Intrinsic: refers to the load caused due to the complexity of the information
- Extraneous: refers to the load caused by some distraction
- Germane: refers to the load caused while organizing the information in the long-term library.
A one-hour lecture is too much for the working memory. So is a hell of information fed at a time. You need to take it slow. One bite at a time! This is what microlearning is all about.
What is micro-learning?
Micro-learning is a way of delivering information in which bite-sized information is provided at a time. A small 5-minute video is an example of micro-content used in micro-learning. This is to ensure that too much information is not fed at the same time. Moreover, courses don’t feel like a burden.
How does micro-learning help you reduce cognitive load?
Micro-learning is probably the perfect solution to reduce the cognitive load of your employees. You know, how do our computers stop responding if too many functions are initiated simultaneously? We can stop our brains from shutting down like this by cutting down on the information we gather at a time. This ensures that your working memory converts all the information and stores it nicely in long-term memory. Here are some ways in which micro-learning enables this.
Bite-sized content
Microlearning is a concept where you use bite-sized pieces of content. Either a 2-5 minute long video or a small 50-word textual piece, or an easy-to-read infographic.
Make it easy to navigate.
We read about intrinsic load, right? It is the load that comes from the complexity of the information. If your LMS is hard to navigate, the load is sure to increase. With microlearning, navigation is easy. It is one module after another, thus reducing the load on the learner’s working memory.
Avoids distractions
A small video that ends in 5 minutes can be viewed with full concentration. Also, if your speaker and the graphics used are interesting, the learners would be more engaged, reducing the extraneous load.
Use of different formats
Different types of formats contribute to the cognitive load differently. For example, the textual content can be too much for some learners, so converting that into an infographic or animated video can help the learner process the information faster.
Self-paced learning
Each brain is different, and so is the capacity of the working memory. Some people can do 1 module at a time for some 4 modules is also possible. Micro-learning allows each student to receive information based on their capabilities.
Microlearning + Blended learning
Microlearning alone cannot help you teach complex topics. Some topics just need a 30 min lecture, there is no other way out. We can make sitting in a 30 min lecture tolerable for the brain by using microlearning with a blended learning approach.
Blended learning refers to a learning system in which both online and offline modes of learning are employed.
You can use LMS apps to provide a series of microcontent to give students an idea of the new topic. Or to make them familiar with the basics. Once the information is stored in the long-term memory, it would be easier for the working memory to make sense of the new information coming it’s way. They would be able to build associations with the previously learned information and get better at understanding and remembering the material.
Bottom Line
Instructors need to learn about the cognitive load theory. You want your learners to remember what you taught and not forget it in the next 30 minutes. Taking things slowly, one step at a time can help you ensure that your learners remember what they learned in the session. It would give their brain a better chance to process the information without having to delete some parts. Make use of microlearning and blended learning to help your students enjoy the session rather than burdening themselves with it.