Feedback provided by Miles Berry on 08/01/17 requested that I;

Write a blog post to discuss how I used Cognitive Load Theory when designing my E-Resource activities.

Further to my original blog post on Cognitive Load Theory here

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)can be quite consuming to human attention.  Dependent on the depth of the learning topic, our human brains can find our processing speed and provided attention can vary.

Due to the difficulties that I originally had when reading about CLT, I found that the depth of the journal article was extremely difficult and hard for me to process, therefore, my attention and focus was increasingly reduced the more I re-read and tried to understand this CLT topic.

My e-resource activites sessions 1-4, have been created taking on board the multimedia principles and DfE (2014a, 2014b) curriculum theory.  All 4 e-resource activities provide aspects incorporating: visual, auditory, interaction, social and emotional skills, future involvement, possible future requirement for reuse.  All 4 activities can be adjusted for flexibility, individual requirement, learning needs, and learning ability.  For those activities where developing independence is strongly encouraged, there will always be a teacher, parent, peer, sibling, and even the Padlet blackboard from session 2 can provide help.

Therefore, taking CLT into account in relation to the e-resources, all activities offer an outcome that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely; which can be dependent on the class and individuals.  All 4 activities do not provide too much information that will make it too unattainable and unrealistic, therefore, only small amounts of information is provided at one time, so as to not overload the class pupils.   Therefore, the outcomes from these activities are consistently measurable and longer lasting, in relation to long-term memory and ability to securely develop and scaffold future knowledge, as the experiences and memories are more positive.

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Paas, F., Renkl, A., & Sweller, J. (2003) Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments.  Available at: https://moodle.roehampton.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/370378/mod_resource/content/1/Cognitive_load_theory_and_instructional.pdf  (Accessed: 17/10/16).

The University of Sydney (2008) Lecturing for learning: Cognitive Load. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZcjWzXTHng (Accessed: 27/03/17).

Wolf, A. (2012) Introduction to Cognitive Load Theory. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZcjWzXTHng (Accessed: 27/03/17).