Information Processing Theory and Approach

Do you know the complex brain-based process that is behind how students (or almost anyone) learn new concepts as well as information? This is the subject that the theory of information processing tries to unravel. It delve into the complex method of registering, monitoring and processing information in our brains, and then returning it as needed.

Find out more about the theories and how you can implement it in online classes that benefit your students. Let's take a short look at where the idea came from.

Skip ahead:

•       An overview of Information Processing Theory
•       The fundamental concepts from Information Processing Theory
•       How does this all take place inside the brain?
•       Make your students pay attention to the content of your online courses
•       Basic information processing strategies that will help students to remember better.
•       The Limits of Information Processing Theory in online learning
•       Strategies for facilitating more efficient the use of the theory of information processing to support online education
•       Theorize about information processing to create relatable online classes

     An introduction to Information Processing Theory    

In the 1950s, scientists realized that computers contained essential to comprehend how the human mind works. George Armitage Miller and Edward C. Tolman established the foundational principles for the human mind's ability to make use of short-term memory, as well as their capability to be able to learn. Based on this fundamental design, two popular theories of information processing theory eventually arose - that of the Atkinson and Shiffrin Model and the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory.

The Atkinson and Shiffrin Model discusses the different phases of processing information, comprising sensorimotor memory, short term memory (working memory) as well as long-term memory. It emphasizes the importance of attention as well as intricate rehearsal behavior that leads to data being stored in long-term memory. The Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory expands on these theories and provides a rationale for how we handle speech and spatial patterns.

Are you confused by the language of psychology? Don't worry! We've put together the most effective theories to aid you in comprehending how humans to process information. We can begin to understand this by looking at the manner in which humans use information to solve everyday problems as well as analyzing every one of these processes in depth.

     The basic concepts of Information Processing Theory    

As an educator for creators, it's important to understand aspects of information processing.

Take a look at an example:

Imagine walking around in a space that is crowded and get exposed to an array of sounds, sights, and odors. Some people may even rub your shoulders if you happen to be unfortunate enough to encounter unruly crowds. To stay clear of the crowds and chaos, you choose to stroll to a spot that you are sure is calm and quiet. It is also a good decision to know that they have the best coffee and croissants in the part of town.

It's information processing theory at work, and in actual life. Let's look at how:

1. There are many sensations you experience (people who are moving around, someone rubbing your shoulder or a vehicle speeding down the streets, and so on. - sensation. The stimulus could be external input (or information)
2. It seems to be overcrowded (perception is how we perceive what is perceived).
3. Based on your previous experience (long time episodic memory) You associate the situation with danger and discomfort (being being pushed around, prior association)
4. So, you remember the cafe that had provided you with peace (another chain of memories is to retrieve information regarding the serene cafe, as the croissants it served which is the semantic memory).
5. This is the memory you act on and then head towards the cafe (judging/analyzing before taking the final decision. The walk to the cafe is a good example of procedural memory).

First, you sense your environment

Human beings acquire information called "stimulus" via five senses: smell touch, vision as well as auditory (hearing) and the sensation of taste. Sixth sense is related to the body's posture as well as movement and balance. This is known as vestibular sense. occurs.

The senses as well as the related organs

• Vision Eyes
• Audio - Ears
• Touch Skin
• Taste - Tongue
• Aroma - Nose
• The ear, the sense of vestibularity and various other elements of the nervous system.

When your sense organs convert real-world information into electrical information and then your brain processes them and interpret them into information that you can recognize at a conscious level. Your perception is influenced by connections from the past (similar data stored within your brain, that can be remembered and create an association).

If you are a creator, and as long as you do not incorporate the use of virtual or augmented reality in the lessons you teach it is likely that you'll rely on inputs (stimuli) connected to sight (reading texts and watching videos) and music (voice or background music).

     Perception is a result of being able to sense.

The sense organs recognize environmental stimuli and converts their signals into electrical signals, which are then perceived in various parts within the brain. Sensory processing occurs in the sense organs and perception is carried out within the brain. For those with different perception and disordered learning might find it difficult to make sense of information.

For writers: If you're planning to create your writing in a way that is accessible to students who are disabled You may want consider accessible design methods. The most common examples of accessible design is making sure that words are spaced evenly, breaking long paragraphs into shorter ones, as well as ensuring sufficient white space.

 When perceived information is converted (encoded) the information is transferred into memory.

The term "memory" is an expansive concept which encompasses different aspects of cognition. It's the act of storing and storing data in a limited time (sensory and working memory) and later transferring that data to a more long-lasting storage system via the process of consolidation (encoding).

Sensory memory lasts between one-half to three seconds. If you do not pay your attention to what you are experiencing and don't pay attention, it won't enter short-term memory. Studies have shown that short-term memory holds around seven different informational items over an interval of between 15 and 30 seconds. With practice the brain can be trained to store this information until it's lost or completely disappears.

The brain undergoes a process referred to as encoding, which leads the information to transfer into long-term memory. Once it's transferred to long-term memory, it is in a position to retrieve your information anytime so long as you do not allow it to go through the process of degeneration or disturbance. Memory that is long-term could range from remembering an event that you witnessed in the past few minutes up to the things that happened long in the past. It can go back to the time of your youth.

Rehearsing is a method that is used to facilitate rote learning in educational circumstances. Most students struggle to master the art of repetition in addition to not being a good strategy to master complicated concepts or abstract knowledge.

The different types of memory that are long-term include:

1. Explicate memory is the one that can be accessed to you without conscious thought. When you're being asked by a person what the capital city of Great Britain is, you can claim that it is London. Thus, explicit memories can be also described as declarative memories. Declarative memory can further be subdivided into:

• Memory that is episodic memories of particular events which occurred in your life. Examples include visiting the home of a dear friend in your childhood
• Memory that's semantic Ability to recall things that you've learnt about the world, such as the day of declaration of World War 2 (September 1 September 1939).

1. Implicit memory is part of your long-term memory but relates to performance and movements. Examples include being able to swim or remembering to drive your vehicle after the gap of a while as well as other examples.

 Attention aids in making memory last longer and improves your ability to learn.

Though our sense organs absorb lots of data, they're not registered in our minds unless you notice the information. The information is stored only as "sensory memory" following perception. It can are only retained for a couple of seconds (between 2 and 3 seconds).

Concentrating your attention to a particular event in the presence of a variety of stimuli. For instance, you go to the café you like and select the type of croissant you like, despite the presence of numerous other items on the menu.

Recalling the scenario of a traffic-filled street, your thoughts might have noticed the presence of various individuals. You may, however, not have been paying enough focus to recall their faces. This is why information related to their particular faces deteriorated and are gone in perpetuity.

     What does it mean? take place inside the brain?

If you are an educator and create, you might be wondering what the content you provide to students are processed by their brains. Baddeley along with the Hitch Model of Working Memory provides a clear answer.

They've explained that the frontal region (a component of our brain) is processors where information can be encoded and recovered. There are a myriad of memories that are stored in the various areas within the brain. According to Hitch as well as Baddeley:

• Audiological information (information expressed in sound, mostly recognised as music, language or any other kind of sounds) is recorded in the audio loop, which is also commonly referred to as the phonological loop.
• Phonological loop is comprised of phonological memory, which is where the data is held for a limited duration, as well as the process of articulatory training, where the brain rehearses auditory information to be stored for a long time.
• The Visuospatial Sketch Pad is an area of the brain that records spatial and visual information such as pictures, shapes, patterns and more.
• Episodic buffer is thought to boost the ability of the brain to record, encode and retrieve information by connecting various brain regions that assist in processing information.

We'll now apply our lessons learned from the realm of information processing within virtual learning spaces.

     Make your students know about your class's online content    

If you're making or planning modules, consider your process in this way. If you do not create interesting slides or videos enough, the pupils aren't going to be interested in them and go on to the next. The students are able to glance at the slide or the video (sensation happens) however they do not feel the material for enough time to keep it on their mind in the short term. If they do not practice it enough to become long-term storage it disappears completely from their sensorimotor memories. So, maintaining their focus is crucial.

You need to factor in possible scenarios where your student may be daydreaming, distracted or perhaps bored by your material. This can affect the process of paying focus on what must be learned and stored into long-term memory. So, ensuring that your writing content is able to hold your students' attention is crucial.

This is how you are able to do:

• Have them stop every ten to fifteen minutes. Research shows that attention spans decrease after 15 minutes.
• Additionally, you should create the lesson plans divided into chunks of fifteen minutes or less. You don't need to make tutorials or create videos lasting just 10 minutes. Instead, you should give your students small activities, games, or even chillouts.
• Develop more interactive online learning spaces for learning. That's why we'll talk about it in the near future.

     Information processing basics for helping your students learn better.    

If information is stored in short-term memory, the data can transfer to memory that is long-term or be removed. It is essential to practice and repeat the process to store information for longer periods in the long-term memory. It is therefore essential to create lesson plans that ensure your students are given plenty of time to practise and revisit the information stored in their memory. It should happen within a few minutes. Therefore, at the end of any class that is only two minutes in length, you should encourage students to take a look, do some practise, or practice. This helps in ensuring that what they've learned is stored into their permanent memory.

When something is saved within the long-term memory area of your brain, it could be read when you need to in the event that you're prompt. But, the effectiveness of retrieving information from memory is contingent upon the amount of attention the student has in the topic (were sufficient attentive and found the material you were studying interesting enough, etc. ).

You can tell from the above explanation that general learning happens because of the way we look at information and the way we connect it to the facts we already know, and that we must be aware of it.

But is it really all that easy?

     A Limitation of Information Processing Theory in online learning    

Human beings aren't just machines. While drawing comparisons between human brains and computers is appealing however, they're very different. Information Processing Theory doesn't discuss the role of motivation, or emotion in our understanding of the world, nor does it discuss recall the information. Both are crucial to understanding and retaining what's learned.

It is believed that the brain processes information in a linear fashion -- information is interpreted, sensed and transformed (encoded) then stored and finally returned. This is known as serial processing. This is exactly the same as computer systems do.

The brain, however, is able of processing parallel which means it's capable of processing multiple types of information. Multitasking capabilities of the human brain does do not correspond to what computers can accomplish. Therefore, even though the concept of information processing is a precise description what we see in how we process, perceive and store data, it fails to consider the emotional component and the manner the brain operates.

Students you instruct are influenced by thoughts, desires and motives you may have missed when creating the curriculum for your class. It is therefore crucial to understand that you're teaching human students and not computer-generated students. One of the easiest ways to solve this issue is to design educational spaces on the internet that can be engaging.

Let's take a examine ways to bring motivation, emotion and interaction with other students to your mix, and make use of information processing theory even better to create that perfect online course.

     Strategies for making more effective use of theory about information processing to facilitate online learning    

 Engage your students to pay attention

What's the purpose to learning something if they do not want to? They must have an innate determination or desire to enroll to take your course and then be motivated to complete it.

Motivation drives students to concentrate on the subject matter in your class, which will result in better processing of information (encoding) and improved information retrieval abilities. If your student isn't energized to study, the best course might not register on their minds.

The role of motivation is vital in the process of information too. It is essential to be able to pay attention to the outside environment.

• Your job as a teacher creator is to maintain that drive.
• Be aware that motivation cannot exist in a vacuum. It's essential for people to be able to feel appreciated, receive positive feedback, and feel that they are socially accepted in order to motivate to keep doing the things they excel at. Do you remember your friends inspiring you during times you were feeling low or looking to improve in certain areas? This applies to studying too.

The interpersonal and motivational factors are connected. Let's look at how this is played out in the Social Information Processing Theory.

Encourage social interaction during learning

Despite the fact that the one-to-one method of training is effective learners learn best by working in groups. That's the majority of traditional training is conducted in group settings or classrooms because working with others is much more enjoyable (and efficient).

Social Information Processing Theory partly explains how people communicate with each other via computer-mediated networks, such as an online platform to learn.

Humans learn through modeling and observation. That is they imitate what other people are doing. In this case, you, as the teacher who is creating assume the position of a role model. The students mimic your behaviour. Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, observed that learning takes place in social settings, and that it is impossible to completely eliminate "social" aspects that influence learning.

With this thought in mind, it is essential to

• Create online group activities
• Encourage students to participate on websites and to share their expertise.
• Take into consideration collaboration, as well as the use of social media as essential components of your program.
• Utilize social media tools to share ideas. These tools can be used as a type of practice
• Encourage positive feedback from peers (other students) for positive reinforcement. To do this, you can have your students rate the work of their peers in a positive manner.

Make use of specific mental strategies that are geared towards achieving your objectives.

They are generally focused upon a particular task. This means you must make sure that your students are working with the material in a direct way. A few of the strategies for cognitive learning that can be used in online learning are notes-taking, repetition, context understanding, as well as Mnemonics. (A Mnemonic technique is one which allows you to remember or recall information that you have stored in your memory)

In this instance, VIBGYOR can be an abbreviation used to describe the colors of the rainbow which include: violet, indigo blue, green, yellow red, and orange. Other than acronyms, there are other types of mnemonics, including flashcards, dividing objects into categories or classes, etc. Each of these can aid learners remember what they've learned quickly.

Aid with high-level information processing by using Metacognitive techniques

Certain researchers have suggested that there is something called "metacognition," which means "thinking about being thinking." When you practice in rehearsal and attempt to recall what you've lost or engage in techniques that assist others in learning or recollecting (such when you teach using a goal) You are using a metacognitive method.

The year 1987 was the year that A.L. Brown first began discussing metacognition as a method of learning. Over time, the subject has evolved quite a bit.

In online classes, here are some of the top metacognitive strategies:

• Advance organizers: Help your students think about your lesson plan by sharing the course calendars ahead of time. This helps them to anticipate what they can expect and connects their knowledge to what they've already discovered.
• Self-planning: Ask your students to think about their work and the way they'll organize it. This gives them a chance to "think about what they're doing" Metacognition.
• Self-monitoring Scales for self-rating by students are a a fantastic method of determining those areas that require help. Create online forms that help students to monitor their progress after the conclusion of each session or a week whenever you want to.
• Evaluation of self-reflection: This can happen periodically or even at the end of the course. Since online classes are mostly taken by people who are self-motivated, it's important students see the positive results.

Alongside self-evaluation, associations can also be used to assist students in learning and retain what they have acquired. To improve the effectiveness of this technique, you need to understand what your students are familiar with. So,

• Before enlisting someone in a course, assess the degree of their expertise for determining if they're the right fit.
• If not but you're launching an introduction to the subject, be sure to design your content in a manner where students can relate the topics you teach with things they're acquainted with. It means you need to help them through the process of decoding.

There may be a need to apply methods such as images, chunking, and elaboration.

• Divide your lessons into small parts using engaging questions as well as online debates. You can also use Q&As and support for peers to keep your students entertained.
• Instruct your students to make relationships with their understanding by explaining facts in a manner that can be easily comprehended. This helps with using imagery for students to learn and remember information.
• In addition, online courses must encourage the student to take the course in a way that is stimulating. This method, which is also referred to as elaboration is crucial to get students involved and to form connections to their previous knowledge and skills. acquire new knowledge.

Though they are all cognitive and metacognitive techniques, it is impossible to avoid the significance of motivation, emotions as well as social learning theories.

 Include social interactions and emotional expression in the mix

A majority of your students enroll for your course because of the fact that they are unable to take part in your class due to different factors. Online learning platforms offer the option of in-person education and increase participation in many cases. It is nevertheless crucial to keep the learning experience online active and enjoyable. It is essential to employ techniques that requires interpersonal communication as well as emotions. It is important to note that "affect" is an expression referring to emotions.

Here's how to accomplish this:

• You must be able in bringing your students' attention to gain knowledge through modeling. Encourage feelings of wonder as well as excitement, joy, and happiness. excitement, surprise, etc. It's pretty simple to create these types of emotions among your students.
• Gaming can make your pupils feel happy and satisfied after they have completed certain different levels of success.
• The giving of badges, certificates or any other form of reward can aid in adding joy to your life.
• If you offer a surprise discount to a highly academically-educated student, you mix delight and surprise. This encourages them to continue their education.
• Polling can be used to create games and test each 15 minutes to keep students interested and allow them to communicate the knowledge they've gained in forums.
• As children become more comfortable with the use of social media, it is sensible to integrate the use of social media into learning as well.

     Humanize the theory of information processing to create online courses that have a a human touch    

The idea of processing information can help us understand how we organize and learn new information using our sensory organs as well as our brain. Even though this theory is true as regards how sensation and perception function however, it doesn't explain social learning nor the functions of motivation or emotions.

The brain of a human is extremely complex and is not able to be reduced to how the computer works. In your role as creator instructors, it's crucial to pay attention to your pupils' intrinsic needs and emotions in their minds. In creating an online learning environment and acknowledging the limitations of human beings, you will be able to create a course online that is successful which will leave an unforgettable impression on the students.

It offers a wide range of tools for you to create content for your course that is engaging and social. It assists you in creating classes that are built on methods of information processing, but acknowledges the fact that students are thought and expressing human beings who like to communicate with one another while they learn. It offers powerful social engagement features which make it easy to design classes for groups and promote engaging discussions between your students.

Humanizing online learning enables students to interact with your students' minds in an engaging method. If you want to know how we can assist create course materials based in psychology, connect to us now.

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