Information Processing Theory and Approach

Do you understand the complicated neural-psychological mechanism that determines how your students (or almost anyone) acquires new concepts and information? That's the question that the information processing theory seeks to explain. It delve into the complex process of registering, observing, and processing information in our brains, and then retrieving it when necessary.

Learn more about the concept and ways you can use it in the creation of online courses to help your students. Let's start with a brief review of how it all started.

Skip ahead:

•    An overview of Information Processing Theory
•    Key concepts in Information Processing Theory
•    Where does it all occur in the brain?
•    Make your students focus on the content of your online courses
•    Fundamental information processing techniques for helping your students learn better.
•    Lesser-than-average limitations of Information Processing Theory in online learning
•    Strategies to help information processing theory work better to facilitate online learning
•    Humanize information processing theory to create relatable online courses

Brief history of Information Processing Theory

Back in the 1950s, psychologists recognized that computers could be the most important clue to understanding how our minds work. George Armitage Miller and Edward C. Tolman established the fundamentals of how we work with short term memory and the ability to learn. Building on this basic structure, two popular models of the theory of information processing came into existence - the Atkinson and Shiffrin Model and the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory.

The Atkinson and Shiffrin Model discusses the three phases of processing information, which include sensorimotor memory, short term memory (working memory) as well as long-term memory. It emphasizes the significance of attention as well as elaborate rehearsal behaviors that lead to the storage of information in long-term memory. It is based on the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory expands on these theories and explains the process of processing language as well as spatial patterns.

Are you overwhelmed by the jargon of psychology? Don't worry! We've combined the best of all these theories to provide you with the information needed to understand the way we humans handle information. Begin by exploring how humans are able to process information in daily situations, and examining each of these steps in greater detail.

The fundamental concepts from Information Processing Theory

As a creator educator, it's extremely helpful to know the basics of information processing.

Let's do that with an example:

If you're on a crowded street and you get exposed to an array of sounds, sights and odors. Some people may rub your shoulders when you're not careful enough and happen to be in the middle of large crowds. To escape this chaos and noise You decide to go to a place is quiet and peaceful. It is also a good idea to remember that they sell the finest coffee and croissants in the area of town.

This is information processing theory at work, in real life. Let's see how:

1. There are various sensations that you feel (people walking about, someone rubbing your shoulder, a car moving at a high speed or a car speeding by, etc. - sensation. A stimulus can be an external input or information)
2. You perceive this place to be crowded (perception is the way we interpret what we perceive).
3. From your past experiences (long long term episodic memories), you associate this particular situation with being unsafe and uncomfortable (being forced around by a past association)
4. Hence, you recall a place that had previously offered you comfort (another chain of associations leads to retrieving information about the tranquil cafe as well as its croissants - semantic memory).
5. It is your memory that you act upon then walk towards the cafe (judging/analyzing before making a final decision. The walk to the cafe is the procedural memory).

    First, you sense your environment    

Humans are able to receive information often referred to as "stimulus" through the five senses: smell touch, vision, auditory (hearing) as well as tasting. The sixth sense relates to the body's position as well as movement and balance the vestibular sense is present.

The sense organs, and their sense organs

• Vision - Eyes
• Audio - Ears
• Touch skin
• Taste - Tongue
• Smell - nose
• Vestibular sense: Ears and various parts of the nervous system.

If your sense organs transform real-world information into electrical information and your brain process them and interprets them as data that you recognise at a conscious level. Interpretation of what is perceived occurs due to previous associations (similar information stored in your brain that is able to recall and make connections).

Note for creators: Unless you incorporate augmented or virtual reality within the content of your lessons, you will primarily use inputs (stimuli) that are related to visual (reading texts or watching videos) and the audio (voice or background music).

    Sensing leads to perception.

Each of the sense organs reacts to different stimuli in the external environment and converts these signals into electrical signals, which can be perceived in various parts within the brain. The process of sensing takes place within the organs of sense, and perception takes place within the brain. Individuals with diverse perceptual or difficulties with learning may be difficult to comprehend information quickly.

For creators: If you plan to design your content in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities, it is advisable to think about accessible design principles. Examples of accessible design include avoiding uneven spacing of words, breaking long paragraphs into shorter paragraphs and making sure there is enough white space.

    When perceived information is processed (encoded) the information is transferred to memory.    

Memory is a broad concept that encompasses a range of different aspects of cognition. It begins with retaining the information for a period of time (sensory and working memory) before transferring it to longer-term storage via consolidation (encoding).

Sensory memories last between half a second to three seconds. If you ignore the sensation and do not feel it, you will never become short-term memory. Researchers have found that the short-term memory holds around seven items of information for a period between 15 and 30 minutes. When you practice it, your brain is able to store this information until it is degraded or is lost.

In rehearsal, the brain performs a process called Encoding. This process causes information to transfer to long-term memory. When it is transferred to long-term memory and you are able to access the data at any point as long as you do not let it fade or expose it to interference. Memory that is long-term can range from recollecting what you saw in the past few minutes or something that happened a long time ago -- dating to the time of your youth.

A note for the creators of your work: Rehearsal typically is used to facilitate rote learning in educational situations. However, we are aware that the majority of students find rote learning basic in nature, which is why it's not a good strategy for learning complex ideas or abstract information.

The various kinds of memory that are long-term include:

1. Explicit memory - that which can be accessed to you consciously. If you are asked by someone what the capital city of Great Britain is, you will easily be able to declare it is London. Therefore explicit memories can also be called declarative memory. Declarative memory is further broken down into

• The episodic memory memories of events or specific occasions that took place in your life. For instance, visiting the home of a close friend in your childhood
• Memory that is semantic - The ability to recall things you've learned about the world, such as when declaring World War 2 (September 1 1939).

1. Implicit memory: It's kept in your memory for the long term, however it also relates to your performance, movement. Examples of this include the ability to swim and remembering how to drive a car even after a long gap, or any other.

    Attention makes memory last for longer, as well as improves the way you learn    

Though our sense organs absorb many kinds of information, they don't get registered in our minds unless you take note of them. They just get stored as "sensory memory," following perception. They last only a few seconds (between half a second to 3 seconds).

Concentrating your attention to a certain stimuli in the absence of different stimuli. For instance, you enter the café of your choice and order the type of croissant you like even though there are many other things available.

Reinvoking the example of the crowded street, your brain might have noticed the presence of various individuals. However, you may have not paid attention enough to recall their faces. As a result, the details associated with the faces of each individual has deteriorated and eventually, it's lost forever.

Where does it all take place inside the brain?

As a creator educator, you may wonder how all information you provide to your students is processed in their brains. Baddeley and the Hitch Model of Working Memory provides a clear answer.

They've explained that the frontal lobe (a part that is located in the brain) is the brain's processor that encodes information and then retrieved. The various kinds of memories are stored in various parts of the brain. According to Baddeley and Hitch:

• Auditory information (information that is in the form of sounds, usually referred to as language, music, or other kinds of sound) is recorded in the phonological loop.
• Phonological loop is made up of the phonological storage, in which data is kept for a limited time and the articulatory practice process in which the brain practice auditory data to store for a longer period of time.
• Visuospatial sketchpad is the area of the brain which stores spatial and visual information, such as shapes, designs pictures, and so on.
• Episodic buffer is thought to enhance the ability of the brain to store, encode, and retrieve information through the connection of different brain regions that aid in information processing.

Now let's take what we've learned in the area of information processing in online learning environments.

Your students should focus on your course's online content

If you're planning or creating modules, you should think of it in this manner. If you do not create your videos or slides attractive enough, the students are likely to ignore them and move on to the next. The students take a look at the slide video (sensation occurs) but don't take in it for the length of time needed to retain it in their short-term memory. It is left to practice it until they become long-term storage it just disappears from sensorimotor memory. Therefore, keeping their attention is the most important thing.

It is important to consider the fact that your child might be distracted, daydreaming from your content. These factors can hinder the ability of students to pay attention to the information that needs to be learned and stored in long-term memory. Therefore, making sure you produce material that keeps your students' attention is vitally important.

  What you could do:  

• Urge them to take a break every ten to fifteen minutes. Research shows that attention spans decrease within 15 minutes.
• Therefore, you should plan your classes to be broken down into segments of fifteen minutes or less. It is not necessary to develop video lessons or lectures that last just ten minutes. Instead, it is better to offer your students small activities, games, or even chillout time.
• Create more engaging online learning environments for learning. The reason will be explained later on.

Basic information processing strategies that will help students to remember better.

Once information is stored in the short-term memory of your brain and is not accessed, it could be shifted to long-term memory or erased. Practice and repetition is the key to keeping the information over a period of time in long-term memory. Therefore, it's essential to create lesson plans in order your students are given plenty of time to practise and re-experience what is retained inside their brains. It is essential to do this within 30 minutes. So, at the conclusion of every lesson, which takes a short amount of time, encourage your students to repeat, practice and rehearse. The process of rotation helps to ensure that what they have processed gets stored in long-term memory.

After something has been stored in the long-term memory of your brain the information can be read later when prompted. The success of memory retrieval is dependent on the degree of enthusiasm with which the student learned something (were sufficiently attentive and did your material relevant enough, etc. ).

It is evident from the above explanation that learning generally occurs due to the way we view information and how we relate it to what we already know as well as the need to keep an eye on it.

But is it really that simple?

Limitations of Information Processing Theory in online learning

Human beings aren't computer systems. While drawing parallels between the brain of a human and a computer can be tempting however, they're very different. Information Processing Theory doesn't discuss the importance of motivation or emotions in how we perceive information and remember things. Both are crucial in learning and retaining what's been learned.

The theory assumes that the brain processes information linearly -- that information is sensed, perceived and stored, processed (encoded), stored, and later recovered. This is referred to as serial processing, which is what computers perform.

But, the brain can be able to process information in parallel that means it can concurrently process various types of data. Multitasking capabilities of the brain is do not correspond to what a computer can accomplish. So, while the information processing theory accurately defines how we perceive and process and organize information, it does not consider emotions as well as the way that our brain works.

Students have emotions, desires, and motivations that you might or may not have considered when creating your curriculum. Hence, it is essential to realize that you are teaching human students and not computer-generated students. The most effective way to address this issue is to develop online learning environments that are fun.

We'll now explore ways you can include motivation, emotion and social engagement to your mix, and make use of the theory of information processing in order to design the ideal online course.

Strategies to make information processing theory work better for online learning

    Inspire your students be attentive    

How can someone be a student even if they aren't interested in? It is essential that they have the desire or drive to sign up for your course, and remain motivated to complete.

The motivation of students drives them to be attentive to the material in your class, which results improved information processing (encoding), and superior capabilities for retrieving information. In other words, if your student isn't motivated to learn, even the best course might be unable to register in their minds.

The role of motivation is crucial in the processing of information as well. You must be able by outside stimuli.

• Your job as a Creator educator's job is to maintain the enthusiasm.
• Always remember, motivation does not exist in the absence of. One needs to feel appreciated as well as receive constructive feedback and feel socially accepted in order to feel motivated to keep in doing what they are good at. Remember your friends motivating you whenever you felt down or wanted to become better at something? This applies to the process of learning too.

The interpersonal and motivational aspects are connected. We'll now look into how this is played out in social information processing theory.

    Encourage social interaction during learning    

Despite the fact that one-to-one training is efficient, people learn better when they are working in groups. This is the reason why traditional learning usually takes place in classrooms or groups because the learning experience with other people is much more fun (and efficient).

Social Information Processing theory partially explains how people communicate with each with each other through computers like an online learning platform.

Humans also learn by modeling and observation, that means, imitating the actions of others. This is where you, the creator educator, play the role of a role model and the pupils mimic your actions. Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, observed that most learning happens in interpersonal contexts, and that it is impossible to take away "social" in our learning.

With this in mind It is crucial to

• Create online group activities
• Inspire students to engage with each other on forums, and even to share their expertise.
• Create collaboration and social media engagement essential parts of your course plan.
• Make use of social tools to exchange ideas, that can be used as a type of rehearsal
• Encourage positive feedback from peers (other students) to provide encouragement. For this, you can have your students evaluate the work of their peers positively.

    Use particular cognitive strategies that are geared towards achieving your goals.    

The cognitive strategies you employ are typically specific to a particular task. This means you must help your students work on the subject in a direct way. Some of the cognitive strategies that you can apply in online learning are note-taking, repetition, contextual understanding, and Mnemonics. (A Mnemonic is a technique which allows you to remember or access information stored in your memory)

For example: VIBGYOR is an acronym for the seven colors of the rainbow: violet, indigo, blue green, yellow red, and orange. Apart from acronyms, other sorts of mnemonics as well, such as flashcards, categorizing things into categories or categories, etc. These can assist your pupils remember what they've learned quickly.

    Encourage high-level information processing by using metacognitive strategies    

Researchers have suggested that there is something known as "metacognition," which means "thinking about thinking." In practice, when you rehearse, try to remember your mistakes, or use techniques that assist others in learning or recall (such as teaching with a purpose) it is engaging with a metacognitive form.

The year 1987 was the year that A.L. Brown started a discussion about metacognition within the context of learning. In the course of time, it has developed somewhat.

Within the context of online classes Here are a few of the most effective metacognitive strategies.

• Advance organizers: Encourage your students to consider the lesson plans you have prepared through sharing calendars of class ahead of time. It helps them foresee what to expect and to connect the information with what they already have.
• Self-planning: Encourage your students to plan their projects, as well as how they'll structure their assignments. This gives them extra room to "think about what they're doing" - metacognition.
• Self-monitoring by students: Scales for self-rating provide a fantastic method of determining what areas your students may require help. Make online forms that allow students track their progress at the conclusion of each week or lesson, according to your preferences.
• Self-evaluation can be done at regular intervals or even at the conclusion of the course. As online courses are mostly attended by self-motivated people It is crucial that they get outcomes.

In addition to self-evaluation, you could also use associations to assist students in learning and keep track of what they've learned. To make this process more effective, you must know what your students already are aware of. So,

• Before enlisting someone in an educational program, evaluate their current level of understanding in order to judge if they're the right match.
• If not, and you're launching the course to help beginners be sure to develop your material in a way that students can connect your course to something they are already familiar with. It means you have to help them in the process of encoding.

There may be a need to implement methods such as image, chunking and elaboration.

• Break your modules into smaller pieces Use engaging polls as well as online debates, Q&As and support for peers to keep your students engaged.
• Encourage your students to form relationships with their prior knowledge by presenting content in a manner that's easy to visualize. This will help students use images for learning and retaining.
• In addition, your online class should encourage students to take the course active. This method, which is also referred to as elaboration, is crucial to keep learners engaged and form associations with existing skills to acquire new knowledge.

Although these are all metacognitive or cognitive techniques, they cannot be ignored the importance of motivational, emotional as well as social learning theories.

    Include social interactions and emotions to the mix    

Most of your students enroll in the course due to their inability to physically attend class due to various reasons. Online learning environments can be a viable alternative to face-to-face learning as well as a better level of participation in many instances. However, it is essential to keep the online learning experience lively and exciting. It is essential to employ social-affective methods, which require the interpersonal interaction and emotional reactions. Please note "affect" means feelings.

Here's how to do it:

• You should be able to inspire your students to gain knowledge through modeling. Generate feelings of curiosity, excitement, satisfaction and joy. excitement, surprise, etc. It is pretty easy to create these types of emotions within your students.
• Gamification can help your students feel satisfied and content when they achieve specific levels of satisfaction.
• Offering them certificates, badges, or other forms of reinforcement positive can help you install joy.
• If you provide the chance to discount an academically successful student It is a way to combine happiness with surprise, which makes learners more enthusiastic to continue learning.
• Polling can be used to make games and tests each fifteen minutes in order to keep your students engaged and encourage them to share their knowledge on forums.
• Since children are becoming more comfortable with social media platforms It makes sense to include social media in education as well.

Humanize theory of information processing to make online courses that are relatable

Information processing theory can help us to comprehend how we keep and learn new information in our minds, using our sense organs as well as our brain. Though this theory is valid in terms of how sensation & perception, and memory operate, it fails to provide a complete explanation of social learning or the roles of motivation and emotions.

Furthermore, the human brain is incredibly complex and cannot be reduced to how the computers function. Being teachers of creators, it's essential to maintain your students' inherent thoughts and desires in their minds. Through creating a stimulating online learning space and recognizing human limits, you are able to create a course online that is successful which leaves an impression on the learners.

It gives you a variety of tools to design course content that is engaging and social. It helps you create courses that are based on information processing models, but recognizes that your students are thinking and expressing human beings who like to interact with others while learning. It has powerful social interaction capabilities that make it easier for you to create group learning modules and encourage active discussions with your students.

By humanizing online learning, allows you to connect with your students intellectually in an engaging manner. If you want to know more about how could help you develop courses that are based on psychology, get in touch with us today.