Improving courses and resources by applying Cognitive Load Theory The CAFÉ Toolkit: Improving courses and resources by applying Cognitive Load Theory Dr Raina Mason

Cognitive Load Theory UNSW in mid to late 1980’s John Sweller (and others) Cognition and education Early work in maths and physics Schools, vocational/industrial training

Modal model of memory (reproduced/ modified from Cooper 1998, with permission) Capacity: 7+- 2 unrelated elements 4 interrelated elements Duration: a few seconds Schema – help us to manipulate larger payloads of information in working memory.

Managing cognitive load Reduce non-necessary (extraneous) load Promote learning load (germane load) Avoid overload CL = function of Content complexity / element interactivity presentation of content Student’s prior expertise

Segmentation effect Modality effect Split attention effect Redundancy effect Worked examples effect Faded worked examples Goal-free effect Sub-goal effect Self-explanations Mental rehearsal Priming Expertise reversal effect … and more

“Theories of cognition such as Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller 1999) have been used to develop successful principles of instructional design in other complex domains (for example, see Van Merrienboer et al., 2006). Cognitive Load Theory has previously demonstrated the negative impact that can accrue from split attention (Tarmizi and Sweller, 1988) and redundant information (Mayer et al., 2001). Such studies have typically required students to attend to the ‘complete’ set of information presented. In the context of learning programming there are elements of information that are presented on screen – within the environment – that are irrelevant to the task(s) at hand. Even though such elements may reside outside of the task activities undertaken by students, this paper argues that these may effectively become a source of split attention or redundancy through tacit distraction and thus impede learning.”

Air conditioning

Air conditioning Condensing Coil: refrigerant cooled by air flowing across the condenser coils and condensed into a liquid. Expansion Valve: refrigerant undergoes an abrupt reduction in pressure which further lowers its temperature Evaporator Coil: warm air blows over the coil to produce cold air Compressor: pressure and temperature of refrigerant is increased

Reduces pressure which further lowers its temperature cooled by air flowing across the condenser coils and condensed into a liquid warm air blows over this to produce cold air pressure and temperature of refrigerant is increased

Case studies Database Systems (2nd year unit) Failure rate of exam: 42% before redevelopment; 8% afterwards Student satisfaction (from 5): 3.66 -> 4.58 Mason, R., Seton, C. & Cooper, G (2016) Applying Cognitive Load Theory to the redesign of a conventional Database Systems course, Computer Science Education, 26(1), p68-87, Routledge.

Case studies First year programming course Small changes Participation rate improvement: eg: first assessment 70% -> 93% Mean performance on every assessment task improved (between 6 – 8%) Failure rate for unit reduced by 19% of cohort Paper currently under review Many other units

John Sweller 2016 “[Cognitive Load Theory] was largely ignored in Australia—where it continues to be ignored.” Sweller, J. (2016). Story of a Research Program. In S. Tobias, J. D. Fletcher, & D. C. Berliner (Series eds.), Acquired Wisdom Series. Education Review, 23. http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/er.v23.2025

The CAFÉ Toolkit http://cafe.cognitiveload.net

Programming redevelopment

Programming redevelopment

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