Intrinsic cognitive load
A specific topic’s inherent complexity, regardless of how it is presented, is referred to as its intrinsic cognitive load. Some tasks are more challenging to master than others. If they are more difficult, they can cause an intrinsic cognitive load. For instance, doing simple addition is significantly easier than tackling a hard calculus problem. as noted in the lecture material, completely eliminating intrinsic load is not good as difficult tasks have significant educational value. Simply put, educators should make sure to properly manage it by helping learners when educators develop multimedia learning resources. It is significant to remember that various individuals and situations may experience the same task’s intrinsic load differently. As a result, allowing students choice over their learning pace is a key tactic.
The three principles related to managing the intrinsic load.
the three principles related to managing intrinsic (or essential) load:
Segmenting: According to this theory, individuals retain information more effectively when it is provided in user-paced parts as opposed to everything at once in a multimedia message [1].
Pretraining: This theory suggests that individuals absorb a multimedia message more fully when they are familiar with the names and characteristics of the key topics [2].
Modality: According to the Modality Principle, spoken and visual information is better for human learning than written and visual information [3]. This is not to say that you should never utilize text on a screen; it just implies that learners will become overwhelmed if there are too many graphics and too much text.
Reflection Questions
“Provide an example of a multimedia learning principle you have intuitively followed in the past, and an example of a multimedia learning principle you have broken in the past. What will you do differently now?”
Pre-training principle is an example of a multimedia learning principle that I have formerly instinctively used. back in high school, I used to constantly read/skim ahead of the crucial subjects or classes, like biology or math. Before going to a class, I used to make sure that I was familiar with the content; this enabled me to comprehend more and ask questions throughout the lecture. Furthermore, in many aspects of life, I still apply the pre-training idea. For instance, before visiting a new place that I am unfamiliar with, I use Google Maps to research the area and become acquainted with it.
I have in the past violated the principle of segmentation in multimedia learning. For instance, when taking self-paced online courses, I used to take a lot of lectures for a long time of period without pausing. Due to this, I was unable to retain all of the knowledge I had acquired. To make sure I remember the material I learn, I now approach studying differently and take pauses.
“What did you notice about your learning when you listened to the Soundcloud by Howat? How was it different from reading an article?”
Because I was previously familiar with the subject, I realized that I grasped everything without any trouble. If it was a new topic, I wouldn’t just listen because English isn’t my first language, so I’d need to see it to fully comprehend and look up any words I didn’t know. Just hearing is really different from reading text because when I read, I may pause to look up new terms and clarify what I’m reading.
References
[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multimedia-learning/segmenting-principle/37240877DDA0362355ADB39936027982 [2] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multimedia-learning/pretraining-principle/01791D57F5D4164251269E6DF56A8BF1 [3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multimedia-learning/modality-principle/E5CD6E01CEA0B568CE260F66A3CD0D1F
I like your simple images and explanation theory from your own experiences. I was amazed at your learning style of pre-training principles when you are in high school. Read/skim ahead of the crucial subjects or classes, biology or math. I know it is important that pre-learning helps to improve your learning but most of the students in my high school did not do that because I was too lazy.
Thanks, Akira for your feedback. Yeah, I was lucky to use the pre-training before, it helped me a lot with understanding and asking questions in the classes.
Hello Abdul,
I completely undesrtand your situation for the principle of segmentation. I too have had a similar experience where retaining information becomes difficult as the cognitive load is overworked. With online courses it is easy to let lectures pile up which in turn results in the need for cramming. With that being said, has there been a similar instance where segmentation was also difficult in in-person classes or has this only impacted you during online-classes?