Week 6 - Cognitive Theory in Instructional Design

I've always been someone who tries to use templates to make tasks easier.  Silber and Forshay encourage instructors to do just that in their instructional model regarding different types of learning.  This makes a lot of sense because all important steps are accounted for to allow learning to have the best chance of sucess to stick. 

Though the process may look a little different, the steps are the same. 

Select the information that is relevant.  What's your "why" here from a student perspective?
Connect it to previous knowledge.  Make the relationships clear and get learner buy in. 
Organize information.  Create structure around learning.
Assimilate information.  Use graphic organizers, images, videos.  Tie previous information to new learning. 
Strengthen learning.  Review, practice, offer feedback and commit to memory. 

If any one of these steps are missed, learning will not be as strong as it could be, and may not be retained at a desired level.  

This is also really interesting to think about in terms of understanding one's own learning.  If learners know and understand these steps, informal learning can be treated like formal learning, and learners can even use similar strategies when studying new or reinforced information on their own.  Knowing HOW you learn best can be an invaluable tool in courses where self directed learning is required.  

Silber, K.H. and Foshay, W.R., (2006) Designing instructional strategies: A cognitive perspective in J.A. Pershing (Ed.) Handbook of human performance technology. (3rd ed) (370-413)


Comments

  1. DreamCatFebruary 21, 2022 at 2:17 PM

    Kate,
    It is an interesting post.

    In a process that requires self-directed learning, it is important to know how to learn. In addition, it is essential to know how people learn to achieve improved outcomes in any learning process. That is why people have been studying this field for a long time. All of the cognitive learning theories began with this reason. To understand how humans learn, scholars had defined knowledge, learning, and learning transfer. Scholars also studied the process of knowledge processing in the human brain. Methods to increase the educational effect in this way have been studied. In this cognitive theory, previous knowledge has been introduced and addressed in learning performance.

    Why is previous knowledge in the learning process?

    Thank you!
    Best,
    Sunmi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katie DixonApril 8, 2022 at 7:38 PM

      Thanks Sunmi! I think that it is important to remember that learning is a continuum, and not everyone will have the same experience with content. Previous knowledge can impact how new content is processed and related. If someone grew up in Germany, learning the history of the Holocaust will affect them differently than it would someone who grew up in the US, for example. This is one more piece that makes an educator's job challenging!

      Delete

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