Conventional education attempts to create a linear learning journey: study information, have an assessment, and then move to the next level of learning. We now know that people do not learn this way, and we know this model does not prepare students to face unanticipated adversity. What we want to see is a learning journey that allows students to face academic and social challenges head on, learn from mistakes, think and reflect critically about struggles, and remain determined to succeed by being equipped with the necessary skills to do so. Instructional design specifies three requirements when focusing on the learning environment that help this learning journey :
- the need to motivate learners that result in reflective thinking
- instructional activities that foster self-organized learning
- social learning and development of collaboration, communication and peer relationships.
In my context creating an atmosphere of motivation is vital and for students to understand how to remain motivated when faced with challenges. For me the amygdala plays a pivotal role in education. It is the part of the brain that responds and learns about rewarding properties of events (Baxter & Murray, 2002) and I see this a cornerstone of motivation. If students see the value of a particular task, especially when afforded the choices in tasks, they will likely pursue the one that offers the highest value (Montague & Berns, 2002). This does not imply that students should only choose the task they prefer most, but rather that choices are on offer for students to challenge themselves and particular skills that need honing. Instructional Design here is pivotal in the careful selection of content and scaffolded appropriate material in the classroom.
Effective learning for me requires to be multi-faceted and starts with a target on having student direct their own learning because students need to have the capacity to self-regulate. We want students to be able to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in their own learning (Andrade & Valtcheva, 2009) leading to increased self-regulation and better self-learning. Butler and Winne (1995), define self-regulated learning as “a style of engaging with tasks in which students exercise a suite of powerful skills: setting goals for upgrading knowledge; deliberating about strategies to select those that balance progress toward goals against unwanted costs; and, as steps are taken and the task evolves, monitoring the accumulating effects of their engagement” (p. 245).
They need to be capable of being autonomous in their learning, because to be successful today and tomorrow we all need to be capable of continuously re-inventing ourselves. We need to know where to find information to help us continue learning on our own, where to find and how to contact experts in different fields, and how to judge what’s important to learn. It is an essential trait for contemporary life in a globalized world: Students must be capable of self-directing. Right now, and in the future, the people who are going to be most successful are going to be doing this.
Together with self-regulation strategies that are taught explicitly, as educators our task is to help students shift from intrinsic to extrinsic motivation as much as possible. In my experience I have found that by making a concerted effort to understand my student’s prior knowledge, helps them to make this shift with less difficulty. Their prior knowledge has an impact on how they navigate new information and whether their learning will lead to a conceptual change or conceptual growth (Mayer, 2011). In my current context, whilst students are hardworking and produce exceptional results, in general my students are mostly motivated by an ‘ought-to’ mindset. Many are focused simply to appease cultural or parental expectations.
The next priority in my context is understanding how instructional activities could impact my students in terms of cognitive load and working memory. Regardless of the material or media used, I maintain a focus on chunking strategies in the classroom is to minimize working memory (Baddeley, 1992) and to help promote long term memory. Much of my planning analyses context that could minimize extraneous cognitive load, allowing for a better foundation to understand the content. I use various ways to incorporate context and am fortunate that our curriculum is one that is not fixed, and departments can curate their own content to be used. This freedom allows me to use content that is very contextual and lesson extraneous cognitive load.
Extraneous cognitive load is often caused by the way a task is designed or presented. For example (and something I am sure all of you have experienced) a redundancy situation is where one is looking at a PowerPoint presentation and the presenter reads the text verbatim. Another extraneous cognitive load factor is transiency situations. This too we see in classrooms, especially when students are perhaps listening to a podcast or watching a documentary and the teacher does not pause the viewing at any time. Students eyes glaze over and often teachers blame the students, however, they are unaware of the cognitive load this may place on learners. When working memory is working at capacity, concentration declines and information is unable to be stored in long-term memory. This for the learner often results in becoming disengaged and demotivated.
It is clear that instructional design could make or break the learning experience for students. New teachers to the field, should be encouraged to continue exploring and experimenting under the guidance of peers with experience. Whilst schools and contexts vary, our students are biologically and cognitively similar. Our role is to seek ways to understand the means to cultivate learning by focusing on the environments that we have influence over within our schools and institutions.
References
Andrade, H., & Valtcheva, A. (2009). Promoting Learning and Achievement Through Self-Assessment. Theory Into Practice, 48(1), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802577544
Baxter, M. G., & Murray, E. A. (2002). The amygdala and reward. Nature Reviews:
Neuroscience, 3, 863–873.
Bramante, F., & Colby, R. (2012). Off the clock: Moving education from time to competency.
Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: a theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281.
Mayer, R. E. (2011). Applying the science of learning. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Montague, P. R., & Berns, G. S. (2002). Neural economics and the biological substrates of
valuation. Neuron, 36, 265–284.
Pardini, P. (March 01, 2005). The Slowdown of the Multiage Classroom: What Was Once a Popular Approach Has Fallen Victim to NCLB Demands for Grade-Level Testing. School Administrator, 62, 3, 22.