The Influence of Cognitive Load on Infotec Students Participating in Online Learning

The theory of cognitive load has been developed to help educators, instructional designers, and developers of e-learning curriculum and materials, anticipate learning outcomes by fully understanding the cognitive capabilities and limitations of the learner. The theory is broad enough to be used in many educational environments because the focus is on making learning as effective and efficient as possible in regards to the human brain’s ability to process information. By reducing the complexity of the information to be learned and the manipulatives used to produce understanding, the curriculum developer can focus their energies on producing lessons that are streamlined and geared to the way the human mind works best. Infotec, a computer training facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia has historically offered classes in a traditional face-to-face format. More recently, they have converted many of their classes into web only curriculum. After conducting these web-based courses they found that student’s success rates and certification test scores had dropped. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this format change had increased the cognitive load on the learner and to develop techniques which can be used to reduce cognitive load. The study divided students into three classroom environments; (Group I) traditional face-to-face, (Group II) web-based with e-book, and (Group III) web-based with e-book and dual computer monitors. The identical curriculum was delivered to all three groups. Traditional methods of reducing cognitive load such as using “worked examples” and reducing the redundancy of materials seemed to have a similar ameliorative effect on all groups. Methods for reducing split attention cognitive load were conducted using Group III. Cognitive load seems to have increased slightly for male participants in Group II, using a single monitor and e-book with online instruction. The data demonstrates that there was a tangible increase in cognitive load in female participants in Group II. Reducing the split-attention effect using multiple computer monitors produced a minor positive effect on males within Group III, but seemed to have a significant positive effect on female participants of the same group. As part of the study, instructors also recorded communication frequency to determine if students in e-learning environments have similar communication regularity as traditional face-to-face instruction. Results showed a slight reduction in communication for individuals participating in online learning environments. In conclusion, results showed that the format change to a web-based learning environment at the Infotec Information Technology (IT) training school increased the cognitive load on the students. According to the results of the survey used in the study, as well as the certification exam scores, the increase in cognitive load seems to be more profound in female participants than their male counterparts. Furthermore, results showed that using a dual computer monitor in the e-learning environment helps to reduce cognitive load, and the use of dual monitors seems to have had a greater ameliorative effect on female participants

Making training more cognitively effective: making videos interactive

The cost of health and safety (H&S) failures to the UK industry is currently estimated at up to £6.5 billion per annum, with the construction sector suffering unacceptably high levels of work-related incidents. Better H&S education across all skill levels in the industry is seen as an integral part of any solution. Traditional lecture-based courses often fail to recreate the dynamic realities of managing H&S on site and therefore do not sufficiently create deeper cognitive learning (which results in remembering and using what was learned). The use of videos is a move forward, but passively observing a video is not cognitively engaging and challenging, and therefore learning is not as effective as it can be. This paper describes the development of an interactive video in which learners take an active role. While observing the video, they are required to engage, participate, respond and be actively involved. The potential for this approach to be used in conjunction with more traditional approaches to H&S was explored using a group of 2nd-year undergraduate civil engineering students. The formative results suggested that the learning experience could be enhanced using interactive videos. Nevertheless, most of the learners believed that a blended approach would be most effective

Indicators of Supportive Service Need Among Older Adults in Mississippi

Providing quality services is one of the challenges associated with the continued increase in the nation’s older adult population. Effective use of needs assessment data can be useful in assessing service need. This study measures the level of perceived need for supportive services among older adults in Mississippi. Using statewide needs assessment data, this study applies the Behavioral Model to measure the perceived need for supportive services among survey participants aged 60 and older (N = 838). Results indicate that age, race, physical health, and subjective well-being were consistent predictors of perceived need for supportive services. Results suggest the importance of understanding the factors associated with the perceived need for supportive services to more effectively plan service delivery

The Problems of Induction

All of us here are drawn together by our fascination with the lucid dream experience. We believe that it has the potential to enhance personal development and perhaps to increase our scientific understanding of dreams and consciousness. Without intentional induction procedures, lucid dreams tend to occur spontaneously but sporadically. An individual experiencing a lucid dream for the first time, will often become intrigued by it, and attempt to increase the frequency of these experiences by trial and error. These hit and miss methods do not often achieve their goal consistently. If we are to make progress toward scientific and the personal understanding of lucid dreams, we must first develop techniques to induce the lucid dream experience reliably. This is the most important task currently facing lucid dream research

Synthesis and Characterization of Conjugated/Cross-Conjugated Benzene-Bridged Boron Difluoride Formazanate Dimers

One of the most common strategies for the production of molecular materials with optical properties in the far-red/near-IR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum is their incorporation into dimeric architectures. In this paper, we describe the synthesis and characterization (1H, 11B, 13C and 19F NMR spectroscopy, IR and UV-Vis absorption and emission spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography) of the first examples of boron difluoride (BF2) formazanate dimers. Specifically, the properties of meta- and para-substituted benzene-bridged dimers p-10 and m-10 were compared to closely related boron difluoride triphenyl formazanate complex 11 in order to assess the effect of electronic conjugation and cross conjugation on their light absorption/emission and electrochemical properties. While the properties of cross-conjugated dimer m-10 did not differ significantly from those of monomer 11, conjugated dimer p-10 exhibited red-shifted absorption and emission maxima and was easier to reduce electrochemically to its bis radical anion and bis dianion form compared to monomer 11. Both dimers are weakly emissive in the far-red/near-IR and exhibited large Stokes shifts (\u3e 110 nm, 3318 cm−1). Unlike a closely related para-substituted benzene-bridged boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dimer, the emission quantum yields measured for the BF2 formazanate dimers exceeded those observed for monomeric analogues

Prospectus, September 7, 1988

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1988/1019/thumbnail.jp