Making space for learning: Cognitive load for effective learning and teaching

In this article, we are going to explore one of the key learning theories that can help us think about not only online learning, but how we present information across all the different venues we use, whether that is in-person lectures, seminars, practical sessions or online.

Cognitive load is a theoretical approach to learning, based in cognitive science, that looks at how working memory operates. It suggests that our working memory has a limited capacity, and that learning materials and activities can place demands on this capacity (Paas, Renkl and Sweller, 2003). This load is usually split into three types:

• Intrinsic load: This is the load that is necessary for the activity. It can vary depending on factors such as the prior knowledge of our students and the number of elements that need to be processed.
• Extraneous load: This is any mental load that does not contribute to mastery of what is being learnt. Often this is linked to how we present learning, but it could also include things like distracting noises during in-person classes.
• Germane load: This is the load involved in creating ‘schemas’ from the information being worked with. This is the process by which new information is organised and assimilated into long-term memory.

Generally speaking, we want to make intrinsic and germane load as manageable as possible for our students while reducing unnecessary extraneous load (Paas, Renkl and Sweller, 2003). Below, we highlight a couple of key techniques.

Pre-training and scaffolding

Learning at university often means dealing with difficult ideas. Presented on their own, these can have high intrinsic load as students grapple with their inherent complexity. However, if we first teach the different elements of a system, we can make this load more manageable for students. Breaking complex material into more manageable components (Mayer and Moreno, 2003), or progressing from simple to complex sequences (Paas, Renkl and Sweller, 2003), are both ways of reducing the demands placed on working memory.

For example, teaching students how individual heart valves function before introducing the heart as an integrated system allows them to focus on how the components work together, rather than having to understand both the individual parts and the whole system simultaneously.

Signalling

Sometimes complex ideas cannot be simplified any further. In these cases, a technique called signalling can make cognitive load more manageable. Signalling is an approach where we highlight to students what information is most important and how to work through the material effectively (Mayer and Moreno, 2003).

This can be done in QMplus through the use of effective titles and subtitles to break up materials, but we also have a number of User Interface (UI) elements that you can include in your modules via the Components for Learning button.

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Think about what a student is meant to get out of any part of your QMplus site. Is the purpose of the links you have added clear? If you have started a new topic, is it clear how it fits with the rest of the material and with the assessment on the module?

Signalling is also applicable to our module pages as a whole. When students come to learn, we do not want them expending unnecessary mental effort on questions such as ‘How do I find the information I’m looking for?’ or ‘Where do I go next?’. The new module template has consistent tabs and weekly sections designed to ensure that students can navigate easily and spend their mental effort on learning.

Reduce fragmentation

Asking students to hold a lot of information from different places in their mind at the same time can increase cognitive load. When you are presenting an activity in QMplus, it is useful to collect everything that students will need.

This might mean repeating key points from previous pages so that students do not have to continually navigate backwards and forwards. Reducing the need to mentally integrate information from multiple separate sources can help reduce unnecessary cognitive demand (Mayer and Moreno, 2003).

Present information when it is most relevant to students (Paas, Renkl and Sweller, 2003). For example, in the new template, all assessment information is gathered on one tab. Rather than having to remember where an assessment brief was discussed within weekly teaching materials, students now have a clear and consistent place to find it.

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Utilising video

The use of educational video could cover a whole article. Where QMplus pages are typically made up of text and images, video also adds auditory processing into the equation. Theories around multimedia learning suggest that we process verbal and pictorial information through partly separate channels, each with limited processing capacity (Mayer and Moreno, 2003). This adds some key considerations for cognitive load:

Tips for video	Why this works
Chunk learning into shorter videos	Pauses between ideas reduce cognitive load and allow time for ideas to be processed and integrated into long-term memory.
Use minimal text on slides	Hearing spoken words and reading at the same time can increase cognitive load, particularly when what is being said differs from what is written.
Reduce irrelevant material on your slides	Clear slides containing only important information mean that students are not expending mental effort working out what matters, potentially at the expense of the main message.

These suggestions are by no means exhaustive but should give you a good start creating effective videos.

Visit our multimedia showcase to see examples of effective educational videos.

Cognitive load is not the whole picture

We’ve discussed why thinking about cognitive load is crucial, but it’s important to note that it’s not the only thing that matters. Extraneous elements may not directly add to learning, but they might add to students’ motivation or engagement, which can itself have positive effects (Skulmowski and Xu, 2022).

We are also often not learning things devoid of context. Sometimes part of the skill being learnt is identifying what is important while filtering out distractions. In these situations, what initially looks like extraneous load may actually become part of the task itself.

For example, learning how to treat a cardiac arrest and learning how to treat a cardiac arrest during surgery would involve different intrinsic and extraneous loads. In the latter, dealing with monitor alarms, other members of the team, and competing demands would be part of the intrinsic complexity of performing the task in that environment.

Conclusion

Cognitive load theory gives us a useful lens through which to think about how we design learning, both within QMplus and elsewhere. The aim is not simply to make learning easier, but to ensure that students are spending their limited cognitive resources on the things we actually want them to learn.

Clear structure, effective signalling, sensible scaffolding and reducing unnecessary fragmentation can all help. When designing a page, session or activity, a useful question to ask is: what are students having to think about here, and how much of that thinking is contributing to the learning we want to happen?

by Tom Hinks

References

Mayer, R. E. and Moreno, R. (2003) ‘Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning’, Educational Psychologist, 38(1), pp. 43–52.

Paas, F., Renkl, A. and Sweller, J. (2003) ‘Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments’, Educational Psychologist, 38(1), pp. 1–4.

Skulmowski, A. and Xu, K. M. (2022) ‘Understanding cognitive load in digital and online learning: A new perspective on extraneous cognitive load’, Educational Psychology Review, 34(1), pp. 171–196.