The Brain and Learning of Individuals

The brain is a highly complex organ that has intrigued scientists, educators, and others for decades, leading to a deeper understanding of how it influences learning. In addition, learning is a broad term that people use daily. Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs due to experience and can bring a change in behavior and experience. Understanding how individuals process, retain, and retrieve information is crucial for instructional designers (ID). Instructional designers need to know who their learners are regarding what draws their attention, motivates them, culture, and background knowledge. Lastly, individuals learn and retain information differently from others. Therefore, instructional designers need to tailor it to meet the different learning needs of their learners.

Two resources that I have found and encourage you to check out to help understand 1) why the knowledge of how the brain and learning function and 2) multimedia learning can help an instructional designer are below.

1)     Krishnamoorthy, R., Prelatha, R., David, T., & Manikam, M. (2021). THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEHAVIORISM, CONSTRUCTIVISM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY IN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN PRACTICE ACTIVITIES – A REVIEW. International Journal of Education And Pedagogy, 3(2), 37–44. Retrieved from https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijeap/article/view/13766

Krishnamoorthy et al. (2021) detail learning theories and information processing theory. Information processing theory observes new behavioral patterns and focuses on how to learn. It factors in the learner’s characteristics that promote the process of information and analyses which tasks are appropriate for effectively and efficiently processing information (Krishnamoorthy et al., 2021). This theory involves the sensory, working, and long-term memory. Where the sensory memory helps people screen incoming information, the working memory helps individuals manage and store larger chunks of information and permanent visual-spatial mental operations. Long-term memory serves as a permanent repository holding all sorts of information that can be retrieved later and allows individuals to build upon their knowledge base continually. This article and information by Krishnamoorthy et al. (2021) are helpful for instructional designers because, from an instructional designer standpoint, information processing is used to help learners enhance their respective skills further and understand the information presented. The material should be presented in a way that is easy to understand and organized.

2)     Kutbay, E., & Akpmar, Y. (2020). Investigating Modality, Redundancy, and Signaling Principles with Abstract and Concrete Representation. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 8(2), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijemst.v8i2.710

Learners' attention may become distracted when learning an unfamiliar subject in a multimedia environment without the proper guidance. In multimedia learning, words can be presented in spoken or print formats, and pictures can be given as static or dynamic images. When information is presented with words and pictures, not just words alone, the learner can better connect and represent the information. However, just because multimedia is used does not mean meaningful learning will occur. Thus, signaling can help highlight central ideas to the learner. The signaling principle states that multimedia learning materials become more effective when cues guide the learners' attention to the material's critical elements. In general, multimedia environments have many extraneous components; therefore, learners, especially low-knowledge learners, typically need help focusing on the essential parts. This may also cause cognitive overload to the learners. Using signaling in the multimedia environment can attract the learner's attention to the essential aspects of the learning material. Signaling is a way to reduce learners' extraneous load and enhance their learning experience. Using signaling, like color-coding-related elements to highlight correspondences between text and picture, can help learners focus on the essential material.

These two journal articles are great resources to have in your back pocket as an instructional designer. The brain and learning are essential to get familiar with, and the presentation of information makes a big difference in how an individual learns.