Information Processing Theory and Approach

Do you understand the complicated neuro-psychological process behind how your students (or almost anyone) acquires new concepts and knowledge? This is what Information Processing Theory aims to understand. It explores the complicated mechanism of perceiving, recording and processing data in our brains. It also retrieves it whenever needed.

Read on to learn about the concept and ways you can implement it into online courses to help your students. We'll begin with a quick overview of where the process began.

Skip ahead:

•    A brief history of Information Processing Theory
•    Key concepts in Information Processing Theory
•    Where does it all occur inside the brain?
•    Make your students be aware of the content of your online courses
•    Basic information processing strategies for helping your students learn better.
•    Lesser-than-average limitations of Information Processing Theory in online learning
•    Strategies to make the theory of information processing work better to facilitate online learning
•    Humanize theory of information processing to make online courses that are relatable

A brief history of Information Processing Theory

In the 1950s, psychologists recognized that computers could be the crucial information to understand how the human mind works. George Armitage Miller and Edward C. Tolman established the basic principles of how human beings work with short term memory and learn things. Based on this fundamental model, two well-known models of information processing theory eventually emerged namely that of the Atkinson and Shiffrin Model and the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory.

The Atkinson and Shiffrin Model discusses the three stages of processing that comprise sensory memory, short term memory (working memory) and long term memory. The focus is on the significance of paying attention to and intricate rehearsal patterns that contribute to the storage of information in long-term memory. It is based on the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory expands upon these ideas and describes the process of processing language as well as spatial patterns.

Do you have a lot of psychological terminology? Don't worry! We've merged aspects of all these theories in order to provide you with the information needed to understand the way we humans handle information. We can begin to understand this by examining how we are able to process information in daily situations while examining all of these functions in depth.

The fundamental concepts of Information Processing Theory

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

Let's take the following example

Suppose, you're walking on an area that is crowded and encounter a myriad of sights, sounds, and odors. People may also rub against your shoulders if you are unfortunate enough to encounter unruly crowds. To escape this chaos and noise it is suggested to stroll to a café that you are sure is peaceful and tranquil. It is also a good idea to keep in mind that they have the finest coffee and croissants in the part of the town.

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

1. You sense various stimuli (people moving around, someone touching your shoulder, a vehicle racing across the road and so on. - sensation. A stimulus can be any external informational or input)
2. You perceive this place to be crowded (perception is the way we interpret what we perceive).
3. Through your experiences in the past (long term episodic memory) You associate this particular situation with being unsafe and uncomfortable (being pushed around - previous association)
4. Hence, you recall the place which had provided you with comfort (another chain of association results in retrieving details about the quiet cafe and its croissants, which is a form of semantic memory).
5. You act on this memory, and walk into the cafe (judging/analyzing and making a decision. Moving towards the cafe can be a the procedural memory).

    First, you sense your environment    

Humans are able to receive information also known as "stimulus" through five senses of smell, sight, touch, (hearing), and the sense of taste. A sixth sense, which relates to the body's position as well as movement and balance the vestibular sense is present.

Senses and the associated sense organs

• Vision: Eyes
• Audio - Ears
• Touch Skin
• Taste - Tongue
• Smell - Nose
• Vestibular sense: Ears and other components of the nervous system.

When your sense organs convert actual information into electrical data the brain processes these and interprets them into information that you recognise at an unconscious level. Interpretation of what is perceived is influenced by past connections (similar information stored in your mind, which you are able to recollect and connect).

For creators, unless you incorporate augmented or virtual reality for the content of your lessons I would suggest that you primarily employ inputs (stimuli) connected to sight (reading texts and watching videos) as well as the audio (voice as background music).

    The process of perception is the result of sensing.

The sense organs reacts to different environmental stimuli and transforms the signals they receive into electrical signals which are then perceived in various parts in the brain. Sensory processing takes place within the organs of sense while perception occurs in the brain. For those with different perception and difficulties with learning may be difficult to comprehend information quickly.

Note for writers: If you're planning to make the content of your class accessible to people with disabilities, it is advisable to consider accessible design practices. Some examples of accessible design include making sure that words are spaced evenly and paragraphs that are long, breaking them into shorter ones, and ensuring enough white space.

    The information that is perceived has been processed (encoded), it enters memory.    

Memory is an umbrella concept that encompasses a range of different aspects of cognition. It is the process of storing and storing data for a brief period (sensory as well as working memory) and then transferring that information into longer-term storage via consolidation (encoding).

Sensory memories last between two and three seconds. If you ignore the sensation and do not feel it, you will never make it into short-term memory. Researchers have found that the short-term memory holds approximately seven information items for an interval of between 15 and 30 seconds. Through practice, your brain can retain this information, after which it deteriorates or gets lost.

During rehearsal, your brain performs a process called encode, which causes the information to be transferred to long-term memory. After it's transferred to a long-term storage it is possible to retrieve your information anytime as long as you don't let it fade or expose it to interference. The term "long-term memory" can refer to something you perceived a few minutes ago up to the events that occurred many years in the past -- going back to your childhood.

A note for the creators of your work: Rehearsal is usually performed as rote learning in pedagogical situations. We know that most students find rote learning basic, and it is not a good strategy to master complex concepts and abstract information.

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

1. The term "explicit memory" refers to that which is available in conscious. If you are asked by someone what the capital of Great Britain is, you can easily claim it's London. Thus, explicit memories are also called declarative memory. Declarative memory can further be divided into:

• Memory that is episodic Memory of events or specific occasions that took place in your life. Examples include going to a friend's home in your childhood
• Semantic memory is the ability to keep in mind things that you have learned about the world, such as the date of the official declaration of World War 2 (September 1 1939).

1. Implicit memory is stored as part of your memory for the long term, however it also relates to movement and performance. Examples of this include the ability to swim and remembering how to drive your car after a long gap, or any other.

    Attention helps memory last longer, and improves the way you learn    

Though our sense organs absorb many kinds of information but they aren't registered within our brains unless we pay attention to the information. They just get stored as "sensory memory," following perception. They will last for only a couple of seconds (between two and three seconds).

Attention here implies focussing your attention to a certain stimuli in the absence of different stimuli. One example of this is when you walk into the cafe that you like and decide to order the croissant you want in spite of the fact that there are many other things available.

Recalling the instance of the busy street, your mind may have perceived the presence of different individuals. But, you might have not paid attention enough to remember their faces. This is why the details associated with their individual faces decayed, and is lost forever.

How does this all happen inside the brain?

Being 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 gives a precise answer to this.

They've explained that the frontal region (a component that is located in the brain) acts as the processor that encodes information and later retrieved. Different types of memories are stored in various parts of the brain. According to Hitch and Baddeley:

• Audio information (information that is in the form of sound, mostly recognised as language, music, or a variety of other sounds) is stored within the phonological loop.
• Phonological loop is made up of a phonological store, where information is held for a limited time and the articulatory practice process is where the brain practices auditory data to store over a longer time.
• Visuospatial sketch pad is the area of the brain which stores visual and spatial information like shapes, patterns and images.
• Episodic buffer is thought to improve the capability of the mind to encode, store and retrieve information through the connection of diverse brain areas to aid in the processing of information.

We can now implement what we've learned on information processing to online learning environments.

Your students should focus on your online course content

If you're planning or creating modules, think of the process this way. If you fail to make your slides or videos attractive enough, your students are likely to ignore them and go on to the next. The students glance at the slide or video (sensation occurs) but do not perceive it for the length of time needed to retain the information in the short-term memory of their brains. Leave alone practicing it to become long-term storage the information is erased from their sensorimotor memory. Thus, keeping their focus is crucial.

You need to factor in the possibility that your student could be distracted, daydreaming or even bored by your content. These factors can hinder the process of paying 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:  

• Encourage them to have a break each ten to fifteen minutes. Research shows that attention spans decrease within 15 minutes.
• So, plan your lessons to be divided into chunks that are 15 minutes or less. You do not have to make tutorials or videos which last only 10 minutes. Instead, you should provide your students with smaller activities, games or chillouts.
• Create more engaging online learning spaces for students. The reason will be explained in the future.

Information processing basics that will help students to remember better.

After information has been stored in short-term memory and is not accessed, it could be transferred to long-term memory or deleted. Practice and repetition are the keys to retaining information for a long time in the long-term memory. Therefore, it's essential to plan your lessons so your students are given enough time to study and then repeat the information that is retained inside their brains. It is essential to do this in a matter of minutes. Thus, at the close of any short class that is only a couple of minutes long, encourage your students to practice, repeat the lesson, or rehearse. Rote learning helps ensure that the information they've processed gets stored in long-term memory.

After something has been stored in long-term memory the information can be read at a later time, if you are prompted. The success of memory retrieval depends on the degree of enthusiasm with which the student was taught the subject (were they focused enough and did your material relevant enough, etc. ).

So it is clear from the previous explanation that learning mostly is a result of how we perceive information, and the way we connect it to what we already know, and that we must keep an eye on it.

It's not that simple?

Lesser-than-average limits of Information Processing Theory in online learning

Human beings aren't machines. While drawing parallels between the brain of a human and the computer is tempting but they're different. Information Processing Theory doesn't discuss the importance of motivation or emotions in our perception of information or remember facts. Both are vital in learning and retaining the information we've learned.

The idea is that brains process information in a linear manner -- information is perceived, sensed and processed (encoded) then stored and finally, returned. This is referred to as serial processing, which is what computers perform.

However, the brain can be able to process information in parallel, which means you can simultaneously process various kinds of information. The multitasking ability of our brains does do not correspond to what a computer can do. So, while the information processing theory accurately defines how we perceive how we perceive, process and organize data, it fails to consider the emotional aspect and the non-linear manner in which our mind works.

Students have emotions as well as desires and motives which you could or might not recognize while designing your curriculum. Hence, it is essential to understand that you're providing instruction to human learners, not machines. The easiest way to fix this issue is to develop online learning environments that are engaging.

Now, let's examine ways to bring motivation, emotional engagement and engagement with others into the mix. You can also leverage the theory of information processing in order to design the ideal online class.

Strategies to make the theory of information processing work better to facilitate online learning

    Inspire your students focus on the task at hand.    

Why would someone learn something even if they aren't interested in? They must have an innate desire or drive to sign up to take your class, and remain motivated to complete.

Motivation drives students to focus on the material in your class, which results improved information processing (encoding), and superior ability to retrieve information. In other words, if your student doesn't have the motivation to study, an excellent course may not register in their mind.

Motivation is a key factor in information processing as well. One needs to be motivated by outside stimuli.

• Your job as a creator educator is to keep that drive.
• Always remember, motivation is not the absence of. You must feel valued as well as receive constructive feedback and be accepted by others in order to feel motivated to keep in doing what they are good at. Did you recall your buddies motivating you whenever you felt down or needed to improve in certain things? The same is true for the process of learning too.

The interpersonal and motivational aspects have a lot in common. Now, let's explore the ways this is reflected in social information processing theory.

    Encourage social interaction during learning    

Although one-on-one teaching is effective, humans learn better when they are in a group. That's why learning in traditional settings usually takes place in groups or classrooms because learning with others is more enjoyable (and more effective).

Social Information Processing theory is a part of the explanation for the way people interact with one other on computer mediated platforms like an online learning platform.

Humans also learn through models and observation, that is, by imitating the actions of others. In this case, you as the educator who created it assume the role of model, and your students mimic your behaviour. Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, emphasized that learning usually takes place within social contexts and we can't eliminate "social" from the process of learning.

With this in mind it is vital that you

• Create online group activities
• Encourage students to interact in forums, and even share their knowledge.
• Make collaboration and engagement with social media a key part of the course's design.
• Use social tools to exchange ideas, that can be used as a type of practice
• Give positive feedback to your classmates (other students) to provide positive reinforcement. For this, have your students evaluate the work of their peers positively.

    Make use of particular cognitive strategies that are geared towards achieving your goals.    

Cognitive strategies are usually specific to a particular task. That means that you should make sure that your students are working with the material in a direct way. The cognitive strategies which you could employ when learning online include notes-taking, repetition, context understanding, as well as the use of mnemonics. (A memory aid is one that helps you recall or retrieve information from your memory)

Like: VIBGYOR is an acronym used to describe the seven rainbow colors including violet, indigo blue, green, yellow, red and orange. In addition to acronyms, there are other kinds of mnemonics too like flashcards, dividing objects into categories and so on. These can assist your pupils retain what they've learned in a short time.

    Facilitate high-level processing of information with metacognitive strategies    

Some researchers have also suggested the existence of something called "metacognition," which means "thinking about the thought process." In practice, when you rehearse, try to remember the things you've forgotten or employ techniques to actively help others to learn or remember (such such as educating with a purpose) You are participating in metacognition.

In 1987, A.L. Brown started a discussion about metacognition within the context of learning. In the course of time the topic has evolved somewhat.

In the context of online learning Here are a few of the top metacognitive strategies

• Advance organizers: Encourage your students to think about your lesson plan by distributing course calendars in advance. This will help your students foresee what to expect and to connect the information with what they already know.
• Self-planning: Encourage your students to organize their work and the way they will structure them. This gives them extra room to "think about the things they're doing" Metacognition.
• Self-monitoring: Student self-rating scales provide a fantastic means of understanding what areas your students may require help. Create online forms that help students to monitor their learning after each lesson/week, as per your preferences.
• Self-evaluation can be done at regular intervals or after the completion of the program. Since online courses are typically used by people who are self-motivated, it is important that they get outcomes.

Alongside self-evaluation, you could also use associations to assist students in learning and remember what they learn. In order to make this method more efficient, you need to understand what your students already have learned. So,

• Before enrolling someone into an educational program, evaluate their level of knowledge in order to judge if they're an appropriate match.
• If not, and you are launching a course for beginners, make sure that you design your course to allow them to connect the lessons you offer to things they are already familiar with. This means you will have assist them with the process of encoding.

It is possible to use methods like images, chunking, or elaboration.

• Separate your courses into smaller parts, and use engaging polls as well as online debates, Q&As, and peer support to keep your students entertained.
• Instruct your students to make relationships with their prior knowledge by presenting content in a manner that's simple to comprehend. This helps with using imagery to help students learn and retain information.
• Additionally, the online course will require the students to take the course active. This method, which is also referred to as elaboration is vital to keep learners engaged and create connections with previous information to gain new knowledge.

While these are all metacognitive or cognitive techniques, they cannot be ignored the role of motivation, emotions and theories of social learning.

    Incorporate social interaction and emotional expression into the mix    

A majority of your students enroll in your course because they cannot physically attend class due to various reasons. Online learning environments provide a different option to traditional learning, and can increase engagement in many cases. It is important to ensure that your online learning environment lively and engaging. The key is to use socio-affective strategies, which involve interpersonal communication and emotions. Note that "affect" is a reference to emotions.

Here's how you can do this:

• You should be able to inspire your students to learn through modeling. Inspire feelings of curiosity and excitement. You can also create feelings of satisfaction, contentment, joy, surprise, etc. It's pretty simple to trigger these feelings in your students.
• Gamification is a great way to help students feel satisfied and content when they achieve specific levels of satisfaction.
• Offering them certificates, badges or any other form positive reinforcement could help you install joy.
• If you provide the chance to discount students who are performing well It is a way to combine happiness with a sense of surprise. This can make students more eager to study.
• You can use polling and make games and tests after every 15 minutes, to keep your students engaged and allow them to talk about their knowledge through forums.
• Because children are increasingly comfortable to social media, it makes sense to incorporate social media in education as well.

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

Information processing theory helps us to better understand how we organize and learn new information in our minds, using our sense organs and the brain. Although this model is accurate regarding how perception and perception work, it does not provide a complete explanation of social learning or the functions of motivation or emotions.

Furthermore, the human brain is very complex and cannot be reduced to the same way that a computer functions. As teachers of creators, it's essential to maintain your students' inherent desires and feelings in mind. Through creating a stimulating online learning environment and considering human limits, you are able to create a course online that is successful which leaves an impression on your students.

It gives you a variety of tools to design course content that is engaging and social. It allows you to create course content rooted in information processing techniques, yet acknowledges the fact that students are thought and expressing human beings who enjoy interacting with each other while they learn. It offers powerful social engagement capabilities that make it easier for you to design classes for groups and promote active discussions with your students.

By humanizing online learning, helps you connect with your students intellectually through a fun and engaging way. For more information on how we could help you develop educational modules that draw on the principles of psychological science, contact us right now.