Cognitive Overload

In education, many styles are often used and lecture is one of them. Though I don’t believe it should be used all the time, there is a time and place for it. In the digital age, there is a easy way to make lectures more accessible by chunking them into shorter videos. This will allow participants to focus on the emphasized explicit teaching moments and capitalize on short attention spans. Digital tools also allows for lecture to be grouped with online quiz and tools and for students to watch, re-watch, slow down, or fast forward as needed. It can also be used as a review tool for students who need differentiation. Even with these tools though, a teacher should not rely on lecture alone. Experiences are very important and with the course I will be creating, participants will be meeting in person five times as well as having opportunities to discuss and collaborate in between meetings. Their experiences will be at the forefront of their learning and will be intentionally in bedded into E-portfolios.

With the abundance of digital tools that were already around and that emerged through pandemic, I believe cognitive overload is a very real thing. In face-to-face classes, this may look like an overload of busywork and worksheets. In a virtual setting, this is assignments of a large quantity or many different tools all at once. The parents and students just cannot keep up. It is my belief that a tool should be taught content-free first in order to create quality products and dig deeper into the contact that needs to be learned. When introducing content and tools at the same time, it is likely that students will not master one or the other.