Cognitive load and e-learning design
Katy Montgomery
As an educator, understanding the cognitive processes that affect learning is of great importance to me. And as someone who designs e-learning, it's also essential for me to be familiar with Richard Mayer's multimedia principles, which aim at reducing cognitive load in multimedia learning.
What is cognitive load?
Cognitive load refers to the demands placed on a learner’s working memory. When cognitive load is lower, learners can more easily focus on essential information and transfer it into long-term memory (MindTools, n.d.). On the other hand, when there is high cognitive load, learners will struggle to acquire the new information. Cognitive load theory, first introduced by John Sweller in 1988 (Psychologist World, n.d.), is based on earlier investigations into the limits of working memory, which can typically hold only five to nine chunks (MindTools, n.d.). This theory also considers that fact that the brain develops schemas, which are organized models in long-term memory that can be activated to free up working memory resources when a concept is encountered again.
Types of cognitive load
There are three types of cognitive load:
Intrinsic Cognitive Load is related to the complexity of the task or new information (Psychologist World, n.d.). This perceived complexity will vary among individuals depending on the schema that they have already developed through previous encounters. Over time, the intrinsic cognitive load placed on an individual by a particular task will also lessen as their schemas become more complex. For example, the idea of a field goal wouldn’t place as much intrinsic cognitive load on me now as it did when I first began learning the rules of American football.
It’s important to break down information into smaller parts based on how much intrinsic cognitive load it will produce for a particular group of students (MindTools, n.d.). This is why, for example, when designing a course on Python for beginners, I started simple with a focus on just variables and then added other concepts one by one into their developing schemata.
Extraneous Cognitive Load is created through the demands and design of the learning task and environment (Psychologist World, n.d.). This can be lowered by reducing distractions, limiting complexity, or improving the design of the materials.
One concept to keep in mind related to reducing extraneous cognitive load is the split-attention effect (MindTools, n.d.). When there are two sources of visual information, for instance, they are in competition with each other, and this taxes working memory.
Germane Cognitive Load refers to the load of creating new schema (Psychologist World, n.d.). This use of working memory resources is positive because the new schema can facilitate understanding in the future. Learning activities should thus be designed to promote the development of this new schema (Malamed, n.d.).
Also note that when schemas are activated repeatedly, they become automated and have little if any impact on working memory. As a result, another instructional goal relates to designing practicing activities that will help automatize schema. I did this frequently as a language instructor, recycling linguistic structures into activities to help learners automatize their use of these structures over time.
Mayer's principles of multimedia learning
When it comes to e-learning, Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning can offer insights on how to design materials to reduce cognitive load. There are twelve principles in total, and here is a look at a few of them:
The Signaling Principle indicates that we learn best when cues are added to point out essential information (Mayer, 2009, as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016). These cues could be arrows, highlights, or other differentiated text. Adding these cues helps direct the learner's attention and aids in the development of schema.
The Coherence Principle centers around removing extraneous information (Mayer, 2009, as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016). This makes sense when considering the fact that working memory can only hold so much at once; it’s therefore important not to take attention away from essential information.
The Segmenting Principle suggests that learning should be presented in learner-controlled segments rather than one continuous stream (Mayer, 2009, as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016). Presenting information this way provides a way for a diverse group of learners to better manage the varying degrees of intrinsic cognitive load created by the information.
The Redundancy Principle notes that better learning occurs from images and auditory narration than from images, auditory narration, and text (Mayer, 2009, as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016).
The Multimedia Principle revolves around the idea that learners retain more from images and text than just text alone (Mayer, 2009, as cited in Davis & Norman, 2016). The images aid in the development of new schema.
These are all great insights to consider when creating e-learning materials. For a complete summary of all twelve principles, I suggest reviewing this article: Principles of Multimedia Learning.
References
Cognitive Load Theory. (n.d.) Psychologist World. https://www.psychologistworld.com/memory/cognitive-load-theory.
Cognitive Load Theory: Helping People Learn Effectively. (n.d.) MindTools. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/cognitive-load-theory.htm.
Davis, G., & Norman, M. (2016, July 19). Principles of multimedia learning. Wiley Education Services. https://ctl.wiley.com/principles-of-multimedia-learning/.
Hendricks, D. (2016, April 17) Cognitive Load Theory, How Do I Apply It? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stJ-MkTgRFs&feature=emb_title
Malamed, C. (n.d.) What is cognitive load? The eLearning Coach. https://theelearningcoach.com/learning/what-is-cognitive-load/.