Metaphors for Learning

Learning involves strengthening correct responses and weakening incorrect responses.

Learning involves adding new information to your memory.

Learning involves making sense of the presented material by attending to relevant information, mentally reorganizing it, and connecting it with what you already know.

The knowledge construction view is based on three principles

Dual channels—people have separate channels for processing visual/pictorial material and auditory/verbal material;

Limited capacity —people can actively process only a few pieces of information in each channel at one time; and

Active processing —learning occurs when people engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning, such as attending to relevant material, organizing the material into a coherent structure, and integrating it with what they already know.

Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning.

Managing Limited Cognitive Resources During Learning

1. Selection of the important information in the lesson.

2. Management of the limited capacity in working memory to allow the rehearsal needed for learning.

3. Integration of auditory and visual sensory information in working memory with existing knowledge in long-term memory by way of rehearsal in working memory.

4. Retrieval of new knowledge and skills from long-term memory into working memory when needed later.

e-lessons relies on four key processes.1. the learner must focus on key graphics and words in the

lesson to select what will be processed.

2. the learner must rehearse this information in working memory to organize and integrate it with existing knowledge in long-term memory.

3. in order to do the integration work, limited working memory capacity must not be overloaded. Lessons should apply cognitive load reduction techniques, especially when learners are novices to the new knowledge and skills.

4. Fourth, new knowledge stored in long-term memory must be retrieved back on the job. We call this process transfer of learning. To support transfer, e-lessons must provide a job context during learning that will create new memories containing job-relevant retrieval hooks.

People learn more deeply from words and graphics than from words alone.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN e-LEARNING Graphics and text are used to present instructional content. Graphics are relevant to the instructional purpose rather than

decorative. Representative graphics are used to illustrate concrete facts, concepts,

and their parts. Animations are used primarily to illustrate hands-on procedures. Organizational graphics are used to show relationships among ideas or

lesson topics or where the parts are located within a whole structure. Relational graphics are used to show quantitative relationships among

variables. Transformational graphics, such as a video showing how to operate

equipment, are used to show changes over time. Interpretive graphics, such as a series of static frames, are used to

explain how a system works or to make invisible phenomena visible. Graphics are used as a lesson interface for case studies.

Contiguity Principle Avoid Separation of Text and Graphics on Scrolling Screens Avoid Separation of Feedback from Questions or Responses Avoid Separating Lesson Screens with Linked Windows Avoid Presenting Exercise Directions Separate from the

Exercise Avoid Displaying Captions at the Bottom of Screens Avoid Simultaneous Display of Animations and Related Text Avoid Using a Legend to Indicate the Parts of a Graphic Avoid Separation of Graphics and Narration Through Icons Avoid Separation of Graphics and Narration in a Continuous

Presentation