Working for a private education institution our transition to online teaching has been expedited out of necessity due to COVID-19. Our online teaching through virtual classrooms has met with moderate success, as we could offer a simulation of F2F teaching scenario to a limited extent. Our students are still afforded the opportunity to engage with and learn from a facilitator. Yet the student experience concerning the study material is lacking. The students easily become overwhelmed by the digital stimuli overload. Students would be required to download and manage multiple PDF study guides, engage with online textbooks and deal with a plethora of different digital content as their Facilitators would experiment with the implementation of a variety of different digitally mediated teaching aids as they themselves try to navigate the turbulent waters of online teaching.
In order to unravel these knots, the study material could be structured more effectively. The Cognitivist learning theories' approach to chunking information is a useful strategy to employ here. To combat the feelings of being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of digital content. The information first needs to be consolidated on a centralised platform such as an LMS system. From there it can be broken down into more manageable chunks.
An advantage of an online application is the inclusion of progression or timed gating. This ensures that effective scaffolding can be implemented. Even though scaffolding can be applied in a textbook form or in a PDF document with the use of headings and subheadings, the amount of work still to be done can be daunting. While if navigation is restricted this daunting aspect can be eliminated. Students can then focus on the work at hand and ensure that they fully master the tasks at hand before dealing with new content.
This form of chunking and scaffolding embrace the three tenants of cognitivism. Each new section or chunk of learning material ensures that Equilibration, a balance of pre-acquired knowledge and newly acquired knowledge, is reached before the processes of Accommodation and Assimilation; modifying and arranging new knowledge alongside pre-acquired knowledge, can begin anew in order to reach the sought balance in Equilibration again.
It also plays in on the Cognitive Load Theory. As outlined by Esther Michela (2020) the amount of information that can be processed by the mind in any given experience is limited. Therefore, for learning to effectively take place, in other words for information to be transferred from short term memory to long term memory, it is imperative that the information load not exceed the mind's capacity of processing information.
The interactive capabilities of the online content can also aid in the retention of information. Interactivity fosters engagement, which in turn facilitates retention of the information. A learn through doing scenario. This form of self-regulated learning is described by Zimmerman (as cited in Michela, 2020) as students being active participants in the learning process and "through which learners transform their mental abilities into task-related academic skill".
List of References
Michela, E. (2020) 'Cognitivism', in Kimmons, R. & Caskurlu, S. (2020). The Students' Guide to Learning Design and Research. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/studentguide
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