Instructional Design is about Adapting Instruction to Brain’s Ways

The Learning Circuits Blog from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) asks “The Big Question” on a topic related to eLearning each month and invites replies from learning professionals.

The Big Question for July is:

Does the discussion of "how the brain learns" impact your elearning design?

My answer to that is an unequivocal yes. The eLearning design choices I make are definitely informed by my knowledge and experience of how the human brain learns. And I am sure this holds true for every eLearning designer.

Take the example of multimedia. eLearning is almost always designed with multimedia. This is obviously not done just for aesthetic or recreative reasons, but to support and improve learning. Research has shown that people learn better from words and pictures together than from either words or pictures alone. Multimedia enhances learning by stimulating multiple senses simultaneously. The Cue Summation Theory also states that learning increases as the number and types of cues increase.

Further, learning is enhanced when the instructional material provides or simulates real-life experience. This also is realized by making use of multimedia. Multimedia (such as 3D animations, video, graphics, etc.) removes the layers of abstraction and brings the instructional material closer to reality, thereby aiding the learning process.

Another learning theory that is relevant for eLearning design is the Cognitive Load Theory (John Sweller). The theory states that the capacity of our working memory to process information is limited. According to George Miller the working memory can hold only “seven plus or minus two chunks” of information. If the learner's working memory is bombarded with too much information, cognitive overload occurs, which hampers encoding of information and learning.

Once the learner is overloaded, frustration and demoralization inevitably set in. And people can’t learn when they’re frustrated and demoralized. One key to teaching, then, is to avoid overloading the learner’s working memory.

- Ruth C Clark and D. Taylor, The causes and cures of learner overload, Training, 1994

What implication does the Cognitive Load Theory have for eLearning design? We always design eLearning objects with small chunks of content in order to prevent cognitive overload. We also often use the “progressive disclosure” or “layered” design technique to present the content, so that the learner does not have to process a lot of information at a time.

Further, we know from experience that it is difficult to learn if one has to read text and listen to audio at the same time, as it causes cognitive overload. Therefore we design eLearning instruction keeping in mind such propensities of the human brain.

I can provide more examples, but I think the point is made. That instructional design is about adapting the instruction to brain’s ways. Ruth Clark is spot on in suggesting that Instructional Technology practitioners must incorporate an understanding of how cognitive and memory systems work during the learning process.

Conversation Matters

On the Linkedin Q&A channel, someone posed a question: How do you learn? My answer was as follows:

Nothing works better for me than conversations - face-to-face or online. They work wonders for both comprehension and retention.

Talking about the value of conversation in the learning process, learning expert Jay Cross said:

Conversation is easily the most important learning technology ever invented.

Conversation also breeds and crystallizes ideas. Charles Dudley Warner, an American novelist, wrote:

The chief effect of talk on any subject is to strengthen one's own opinions, and, in fact, one never knows exactly what he does believe until he is warmed into conviction by the heat of attack and defence.

The Cutting Edge of eLearning

To have an overview of the current debate and innovation in the field of eLearning, I would make a distinction between the area of eLearning design and that of eLearning delivery and deployment, even though the two areas significantly influence each other.

In the area of design, eLearning designers are now increasingly using media such as video and 3D animations to create authentic, life-like learning experiences, called immersive learning. They are also becoming more conversant with designing learning games.

In the area of eLearning delivery and deployment, I think the following four technologies represent the state of the art:

• Social learning (Informal learning; Learning 2.0)
• Mobile learning
• Embedded learning (learning embedded within applications, EPSS, job aids, process documentation, or reference)
• Context-aware learning

It is to be noted that the above categories do overlap; for example, mobile learning or embedded learning can also be context-aware.

Is eLearning 2.0 Going to Replace eLearning 1.0?

Definitely not.

eLearning 1.0 (WBT/CBT) and eLearning 2.0 (social/informal learning) are two different solutions for two different workplace learning requirements. The former addresses specific performance-based learning objectives, whereas the latter caters to broad, unspecified learning needs. Although eLearning 2.0 has become crucial in the constantly-changing knowledge environment of today, it is certainly not going to replace either synchronous training (ILT) or asynchronous training (eLearning 1.0). There will always be certain learning needs in the workplace that would be best met through training interventions.


In a recent blog post Kevin Jones described training and social learning as subsets of a broader category, namely, workplace learning. Each of these subsets has a unique and irreplaceable role. Kevin's post has a nice graphic too.

As I see it, eLearning is a subset of Training is a subset of Learning is a subset of Performance Improvement is a means to the end: Accomplishing goals – in this case business goals, but more often personal goals.

There are many ways to learn. Training is one way. Whether that be eLearning or ILT (instructor led training). Other ways? Social learning (of course), job aids, experiential discovery, mentoring and a thousand other subtle ways.

Trendy Terms

Time for some trivia. I present here the people who coined some of the most widely-used terms in the fields of information technology, eLearning, and knowledge management.

Tim O'Reilly	Web 2.0
Stephen Downes	eLearning 2.0
Andrew McAfee	Enterprise 2.0
Jay Cross	Informal Learning
George Siemens (along with Stephen Downes)	Connectivism

Value of Questions

No… this post is not about the question of values, just in case you are reading this post sleepy-eyed, but about the value of questions for knowledge creation.

As I was scrolling through the earlier posts in this and other blogs of mine, it dawned upon me that nothing springs my brain into an active mode better than an interesting question. Many of my blog posts were actually triggered by some thought-provoking question, posed online or offline.

...questions are the engine, the driving force behind thinking.

- Linda Elder and Richard Paul, The Foundation for Critical Thinking

I think question-answer forums and interviews are the two most effective tools for capturing tacit knowledge (or “knowledge harvesting”, if you like).

To give you an example, I tried so many times to find out which of the two expressions is correct - "a book titled..." or "a book entitled...", but never found an answer. I finally got the answer in a discussion board on the Internet. No book will give you this information - you can get it only in a question-answer format.

Another point worth noting here is that it is the way a question is framed, and not just the intention of the question, that determines whether it will get your neurons firing and elicit a good answer.

If, for example, someone asks you what (not who) is dearest to you, chances are that you will not be able to decide. But if the same question is posed as “What would you grab, if you could, if your house was on fire?”, most people would be able to give an exact answer.

Apin Talisayon, an online friend from the Philippines, has written an excellent post on the value of questions.

Technology is Game Changer

I have always considered technology to be the most potent agent of change in various fields of human affairs - administration, communication, entertainment, learning, etc.

Answering a question about the impact of technology on learning at Linkedin, I wrote:

I disagree with the suggestions that technology is just a tool that aids learning, and that learning would always primarily consist in teacher-student interaction in classrooms.

That is of course true for children’s education, but, hey, children’s education is not just about learning; that is about the broader process of socialization.

I am a big believer in the impact of technology on learning or, for that matter, on most arenas of human affairs. When the technology of 'writing’ was developed in the remote past, it revolutionized not only learning but the whole human civilization. The arrival of calculators rendered rote learning of number tables unnecessary and anachronistic. I have no doubt that computer and web 2.0 technologies are going to completely transform learning, especially adult learning.

As I was reading George Siemens’ article on Connectivism, I realized that many of the processes previously handled by our brain (such as memorizing, number crunching, data analysis) can now be outsourced to, or supported by, technology. Thus, in George Siemens' words, “Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains.”

Isn’t it revolutionary?