Seeking Evidence

Using the Science of Learning to Guide your eLearning Development

• Evidence-based learning design

• How we learn

• Principles from the Science of Learning:

– Gaining attention and motivation

– Information design

– Designing meaningful practice

– Making social and informal work

– Learning in organizations

– Myth busting

Agenda

Evidence-based medicine means pairing clinical judgment with the relevant scientific evidence and including your patients’ preferences into making a decision for your patient.

Evidence-based Medicine

Pure and Applied

Research

Expert Judgment

fromExperience

Learner Experience and Organizational

Impact

EBLD

Evidence-based Learning Design

Evidence-based eLearning design means pairing your expert judgment with the relevant scientific evidence, learner preferences and organizational impact when making design decisions

How We Learn

Short term memory

Long term Memory

Plan

Do

Outcome/Feedback

Attention

Task Environment

Learning ProgramInformation

Action

"If you wanted to create an education environment that was

directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you

would probably design something like a classroom."

Gaining Attention and Motivation to Learn

“Novel environments sparks exploration and learning. They motivate us to explore an environment in the search for reward rather than being a reward itself."

Pure Novelty Spurs The Brain. Science Daily, 27 August 2006.

“Novelty causes a the dopamine system to become activated

Dopamine is very much involved in learning and memory. Learning and memory occur in the brain through changes in the way that neurons connect to one another.

When dopamine is released, it is a signal to the brain that is it now time to start learning what is going on”

Techniques for Gaining Attention

• Show the big picture • Creative video demonstrations • Challenge perceptions• Tell a story • Present a work problem or challenge• Use a novel scenario • Simulate work processes to create authentic experience• Completing novel tasks are rewarding. Make tasks clear and

interesting • Use element of surprise• Game mechanics

unusual, unfamiliar, fresh, imaginative, strange, different, untried

Presenting Information

• Reduce unnecessary processing• Manage the difficulty of the

learning task • Create meaningful processing

Managing Cognitive Load

Short term Memory

Long Term Memory

Types of Cognitive Load

Minimize

Manage

Maximize

• Chunk content and allow the learner control (segmenting)

• Remove non-essential content (coherence)

• Use job aids and external resources

• Highlight key concepts and information (signaling)

• Use audio and text elements appropriately • Place text close as possible to corresponding graphics (spatial

contiguity)

• Don’t narrate on-screen text (redundancy)

• Choose narration over text (modality)

• Conversational style (personalization)

• Consistent structure

• Always connect to the big picture

Ways to Reduce Extraneous Cognitive Load

Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist. 38, (1), 43-52.

Finding the Right Difficulty Level: Intrinsic Cognitive Load

Match information presentation strategy to content type

Content Type Information Presentation

Concepts Examples and non- examples

Procedures Demonstrations

Processes Visualizations

Principles Use principles to solve

problems

Behaviour Behaviour Modeling

David Merrill: Component Display Theory

Maximizing Germane Cognitive Load

Designing Practice

Expertise is the result of years of effortful,

progressive practice on authentic tasks

accompanied by relevant feedback and

support, followed by self-reflection and

correction

Designing Meaningful Practice

• Authentic tasks and context

• Tasks, scenarios and simulations

• Learning from mistakes vs learning mistakes

• Explanatory feedback

• Worked examples

• Varied context

• Scaffolding

• Distributed (vs. massed)

• Increasing difficulty level

• Move practice to the job (the future?)

Effective Practice Automates Skill

Social and Informal Learning

John Seely Brown and Paul DuguidOrganizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation© 1991, The Institute of Management Scienceshttp://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download doi=10.1.1.530.7851&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Reliance on formal descriptions of work with explicit training to communicate “one right way” set organizations at a disadvantage.

It blinds management to the practices and communities that actually make things happen. It leads to the isolation of learners, who will then be unable to acquire the implicit practices required for work

Tacit Knowledge and the Development of Expertise

Expert

Proficient

Competent

Advanced Beginner

Novice

Tacit

Knowledge

Explicit

knowledge

Mental

Models

Disconnected

Knowledge

Rule bound

Intuition

Informal

learning

Formal

learning

Considers

everything

Sees

patterns

What Works in Organizations

Myth Busting: Learning Styles

“We conclude that there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into educational practice. Resources would better be devoted to adopting other educational practices that have a strong evidence base”

Myth Busting: Net GenerationNet Gen Characteristics

Digital literacy

Always connected

Multitasking

Experiential learning

Prefers structure

Collaboration at work

Social

Goal Oriented

Preference for text

Community minded

Communication preferences

Significant Difference?

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No/Yes (IM)

No

Yes

Digital Learners in Higher Education: Generation is Not the Issue

Volume 37 Spring 2011

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/multimedia/GBE03637USEN.pdf

Summary: Design for How we Learn

Short term memory

Long term Memory

Plan

Do

Outcome/Feedback

Attention

Task Environment

Learning ProgramInformation

Action

References The Role of Dopamine in Motivation and Learninghttp://neurosciencenews.com/dopamine-learning-reward-3157/“Mesolimbic dopamine signals the value of work” by Arif A Hamid, Jeffrey R Pettibone, Omar S Mabrouk, Vaughn L Hetrick, Robert Schmidt, Caitlin M Vander Weele, Robert T Kennedy, Brandon J Aragona and Joshua D Berke in Nature Neuroscience. Published online November 23 2015 doi:10.1038/nn.4173

Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learninghttp://www.uky.edu/~gmswan3/544/9_ways_to_reduce_CL.pdfEDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 38(1), 43–52, 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Applying the Science of Learning: Evidence-Based Principles for the Design of Multimedia InstructionRichard Mayer, November 2008, American Psychologisthttp://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.457.5957&rep=rep1&type=pdfPure Novelty Spurs The BrainScienceDaily, 27 August 2006https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060826180547.htm

Mental maps: Route-learning changes brain tissueTimothy A. Keller, Marcel Adam Just. Structural and functional neuroplasticity in human learning of spatial routes. NeuroImage, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.015https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151027123859.htm

The Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in PracticePsychological Science in the Public Interest 13(2) 74–101, 2012Eduardo Salas, Scott I. Tannenbaum, Kurt Kraiger, and Kimberly A. Smith-Jentschhttp://psi.sagepub.com/content/13/2/74.full.pdf+html?ijkey=g8tvuLmoeZfN2&keytype=ref&siteid=sppsi

The 10 Biggest Breakthroughs in the Science of Learninghttps://www.brainscape.com/blog/2012/10/breakthroughs-science-of-learning-2/

Learning styles: where’s the evidence?MEDICAL EDUCATION 2012; 46: 630–635http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~drohrer/pdfs/Rohrer&Pashler2012MedEd.pdf

Learning Styles: Concepts and EvidencePsychological Science in the PUBLIC INTEREST Volume 9 Number 3, December 2008Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjorkhttps://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf

David Merrill Component display theory references http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/component-display.html

The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert PerformanceK. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-RomerPsychological Review, 1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf

The Making of an ExpertK. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula and Edward T. CokelyHarvard Business Review July–August 2007https://hbr.org/2007/07/the-making-of-an-expert

Organizational Learning and Communities of Practice: Toward a unified view or working, learning and InnovationJohn Seely Brown; Paul DuguidOrganization Science, Vol. 2, No. 1,(1991), pp. 40-57.http://myinstructionaldesigns.com/system/files/articles/brown-duguid-Communities-of-Practice.pdf

References e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (Mayer and Clark) https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Science-Instruction-Guidelines-Multimedia/dp/1119158664/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Brown, Roedigfer, McDaniel) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674729013/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Applying the Science of Learning (Richard Mayer) https://www.amazon.com/Applying-Science-Learning-Richard-Mayer/dp/0136117570?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens (Benedict Carey) https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Learn-Surprising-Happens/dp/0812984293?ie=UTF8&ref_=rdr_ext_tmb

The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performancehttps://www.amazon.ca/Cambridge-Handbook-Expertise-Expert-Performance/dp/0521600812

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise Anders Erikssonhttps://www.amazon.ca/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp/0544456238/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Evidence-Based Training Methods: A Guide For Training Professionals (Ruth Clark)https://www.amazon.ca/Evidence-Based-Training-Methods-Guide-Professionals/dp/1562869744/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469477446&sr=1-1&keywords=ruth+clark+evidence+based

Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement (Ruth Clark)https://www.amazon.ca/Building-Expertise-Cognitive-Performance-Improvement/dp/0787988448/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469541761&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=ruth+clark+bulding+expertise

The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Richard Mayer)https://www.amazon.ca/Cambridge-Handbook-Multimedia-Learning/dp/1107610311/ref=reader_auth_dp