Information Processing Theory and Approach

Do you know the complex neural-psychological mechanism that determines how your students (or anyone else) discover new ideas and knowledge? That's the question that the information processing theory seeks to understand. It dives into the intricate mechanism of perceiving, recording and processing information within our brains and retrieving the information when needed.

Find out more about the concept and ways you can apply it to develop online classes that will benefit your students. We'll begin with a quick look at where it all started.

Skip ahead:

•    An overview of Information Processing Theory
•    Concepts at the heart from Information Processing Theory
•    What happens to it? occur within the brain?
•    Your students should be aware of the content of your online courses
•    Fundamental information processing techniques to help your students remember better.
•    The Limits of Information Processing Theory in online learning
•    Strategies to make more efficient the use of theory about information processing for online learning
•    Humanize information processing theory to make online courses that are relatable

Brief history of Information Processing Theory

Back in the 1950s, psychologists realized that computers held the key to understanding the way that human brains work. George Armitage Miller and Edward C. Tolman set out the basics of how humans use short-term memory and learn things. Basing their work on this foundational structure, two popular models of information processing theory eventually arose - the Atkinson and Shiffrin Model and the Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory.

The Atkinson and Shiffrin Model discusses the three stages of information processing, comprising sensory memory, short term memory (working memory) and long term memory. It focuses on the importance of attention and complex rehearsal behavior that leads to the storage of information in the long term memory. The Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory expands on these concepts and explains how we process language and spatial patterns.

Are you overwhelmed by the jargon of psychology? Don't worry! We've merged aspects of these theories to help you understand exactly the way we humans handle information. We can begin to understand this through examining the way that humans process information in everyday situations as well as analyzing each of these steps in greater detail.

The fundamental concepts in Information Processing Theory

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

Let's try it with the following example

Suppose, you're walking on a crowded street and you get exposed to an array of sights, sounds and smells. There are also people who rub your shoulders when you're unlucky to bump into large crowds. To avoid this rush and chaos, you decide to walk into a cafe that you are sure is peaceful and tranquil. Also, you remember that they sell the best coffee and croissants available in this area of town.

Information processing theory in action, and in actual life. We'll see:

1. It is possible to feel various stimulations (people moving around, someone touching your shoulder, a vehicle speeding across the street, etc. - sensation. A stimulus is an external input or information)
2. It appears to be crowded (perception is how we perceive the information we sensed).
3. Based on your previous experiences (long long term episodic memories) and you are able to identify this situation to be unsafe and uncomfortable (being being pushed around, the past associations)
4. So, you remember an area that previously offered you comfort (another chain of association will result in you retrieving the information regarding the tranquil cafe as well as its pastries - the 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 also known as "stimulus" through the five senses of smell, visual, touch, auditory (hearing), and taste. Sixth sense that is related to body's posture as well as movement and balance known as vestibular sensing exists.

Senses and the associated sense organs

• Vision Eyes
• Audio - Ears
• Touch - Skin
• Taste - Tongue
• Aroma - Nose
• Vestibular sense, ear and various parts of the nervous system.

The sense organs in your body convert real-world information into electrical information, your brain processes them and interprets them as data that you can recognize on a conscious level. The interpretation of what you see occurs due to previous associations (similar information stored in your mind, which is able to recall and make connections).

Notice to creators: Unless you are using augmented reality or virtual reality in the content of your lessons, you will primarily use inputs (stimuli) connected to sight (reading texts and watching videos) as well as audio (voice or background music).

    The process of perception is the result of sensing.

The sense organs reacts to different stimuli in the external environment and converts these signals to electrical signals which are then detected by different parts of the brain. Sensing processes take place in the sense organs, and perception takes place in the brain. People with different perceptual and learning disorders may find it difficult to comprehend information quickly.

For authors: If you are planning to make your lesson content accessible for disabled students, you might want to consider accessible design practices. Examples of accessible design include to avoid uneven spacing between words, breaking long paragraphs into shorter ones, and ensuring enough white space.

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

Memory is an umbrella word that covers a variety of aspects of cognitive functioning. It begins with retaining information for a short while (sensory and working memory) before transferring it to long-term storage through consolidation (encoding).

Sensory memory can last from half a second to three seconds. If you ignore the sensation it doesn't make it into short-term memory. The research has shown that short-term memory stores around seven items of information for the duration of 15 to 30 seconds. Through practice, your brain will be able to retain the information until it is degraded or disappears.

When you practice, your brain performs a process called Encoding. This process causes information to be transferred to long-term memory. When it is transferred to long-term memory and you are able to access your information anytime provided you do not let it go through a process of decay or disturbance. Memory that is long-term can range from recollecting something you perceived in the past few minutes up to the events that occurred many years ago -- dating all the way back to childhood.

Note for creators: Rehearsal can be viewed to facilitate rote learning in educational circumstances. However, we are aware that the majority of learners find it difficult to master rote learning, and it is not such a great strategy to master complex concepts and abstract knowledge.

The various kinds of long-term memory are:

1. The term "explicit memory" refers to that which is accessible to you consciously. If you are asked by someone what the capital city of Great Britain is, you are able to say it's London. Thus explicit memories can also be known as declarative memory. Declarative memory is further divided into:

• Episodic memory Memory of events or specific occasions that occurred during your life, such as visiting a friend's house as a child
• Memory that is semantic - The ability to keep in mind things that you've learned about world, such as when the official declaration of World War 2 (September 1, 1939).

1. Implicit memory: It's kept in your memory for the long term, however it also relates to performance and movement. Examples include being able to swim and remembering how to drive your car after a lengthy gap and so on.

    Attention makes memory last longer, and learn better    

While our sense organs are able to receive lots of data however, they do not register within our brains unless we are paying attention to the information. They are stored in "sensory memory," upon perception. These memories will last for only a couple of seconds (between half a second to 3 seconds).

Focusing here means focusing your awareness on a particular stimuli in the absence of other stimulus. One example of this is when you enter the café that you like and decide to order the type of croissant you like, despite the presence of several other options on the menu.

Recalling the instance of the busy street, your mind could have recognized that there were many people. However, you may not have paid enough attention to recall their faces. In the end, the data associated with their individual faces decayed, and then is gone forever.

How does this all take place within the brain?

As an educator who creates, it is possible to be curious about how the learning material you present to your students will be being processed by their brains. Baddeley and the Hitch Model of Working Memory gives a precise solution to this.

The frontal region (a component that is located in the brain) acts as the processing unit where data is stored and later retrieved. There are various types of memories stored in various parts within the brain. According to Hitch and Baddeley:

• Information about the auditory system (information that is in the form of sound, mostly recognised as language, music, or different kinds of sounds) is stored within the phonological loop.
• Phonological loop consists of a phonological store, where information is stored for a short duration, and the articulatory rehearsal process is where the brain practices auditory information to be stored for a longer period of duration.
• Visuospatial sketchpad is a part of the brain which stores images and spatial information including shapes, designs, images, etc.
• The episodic buffer may improve the capability of the mind to encode, store, and retrieve data by linking different brain regions that aid in information processing.

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

Make your students focus on the content of your online courses

In the context of lesson designing or making modules, think about it in this manner. If you don't create your videos or slides attractive enough, the students will ignore them and proceed on to the next. The students take a look at the slide video (sensation happens) but don't take in it for the length of time needed to retain it in their short-term memory. Leave alone practicing it to enter long term storage - the information is erased from their sensory memory. Hence, sustaining their attention is the most important thing.

You need to factor in the possibility that your student might be distracted, daydreaming from your material. All these factors interfere with the ability of students to pay attention to what needs to be absorbed and stored in long term memory. Therefore, making sure you produce materials that keep the attention of your students is vitally important.

  What you can do:  

• Encourage them to take a break every ten to fifteen minutes. Studies show human attention diminishes after fifteen minutes.
• So, plan your lessons in chunks that are 15 minutes or less. You do not have to make tutorials or videos lasting only ten minutes. Instead, you should provide your students with small activities, games, or chillout sessions.
• Make online learning more interactive environments for learning. We will explain why in the future.

Fundamental information processing techniques to help your students remember better.

Once information is stored in short-term memory and is not accessed, it could be transferred to long-term memory or get removed. Repetition and practice is the key to keeping information for a long time in long-term memory. Hence, it is crucial to create lesson plans in order that students have plenty of time to practise and then repeat the information that is stored in their working memory. The process should take place in just a few minutes. Thus, at the close of each short lesson that lasts a few minutes, encourage your students to repeat, practice, or rehearse. Rote learning helps ensure that the information they've processed gets stored in long-term memory.

When something is saved in the long-term memory of your brain, it can be retrieved later when prompted. The success of memory retrieval depends on the degree of enthusiasm with which the student learned the subject (were they attentive enough, was your course material interesting enough, etc. ).

As you can see from this description that learning occurs due to the way we perceive information, and how we associate it with our previous knowledge, and that we must be attentive.

But is it really all that easy?

Limitations of Information Processing Theory in online learning

Human beings aren't computer systems. Though drawing comparisons between the human brain and the computer is tempting however, they're very different. Information Processing Theory doesn't discuss the importance of motivation or emotions in how we perceive the world and recall information. Both are crucial for learning and remembering what's been learned.

It is believed that brains process information in a linear fashion -- information is sensed, perceived and stored, processed (encoded), stored, and then recovered. This is referred to as serial processing, which is what computers do.

However, the brain can be able to process information in parallel, which means you can concurrently process various types of information. The multitasking ability of the brain is do not correspond to what a computer is able to do. Therefore, even though the information processing theory accurately depicts how we feel and process and store information, it does not consider emotions and the non-linear way of how our minds work.

Your students have feelings as well as desires and motives that you might or may not have considered when creating your course content. It is therefore crucial to understand that you're providing instruction to human learners, not computers. The easiest way to fix the issue is to create educational environments online that are engaging.

Let's take a look at how you can bring motivation, emotional engagement and social engagement into the mix. You can also leverage information processing theory even better to create that perfect online course.

Strategies to make more efficient the use of theory about information processing to facilitate online learning

    Inspire your students pay attention    

What is the point of learning something if they don't want to? It is essential that they have the drive or motivation to register to take your class, and remain motivated to complete.

Motivation drives students to be attentive to the course content, which can result improved information processing (encoding) and better capabilities for retrieving information. Also, if your student is not motivated to study, an outstanding course will be unable to register in their minds.

Motivation is a key factor in the processing of information as well. It is essential to be able by external stimuli.

• Your role as an creator educator is to keep this drive.
• Always remember, motivation does not exist in an empty space. It is essential to feel valued as well as receive constructive feedback and be accepted by others to be motivated to continue doing something. Did you recall your buddies encouraging you in times when you were feeling low or needed to improve at some thing? This applies to learning as well.

Motivation and interpersonal relationships are connected. We'll now look into the ways this is reflected in the social information processing theory.

    Encourage social interaction during learning    

Despite the fact that one-to-one instruction is highly effective, we learn better when they are working in groups. That's why learning in traditional settings always takes place in groups or classrooms because learning with others is much more fun (and more effective).

Social Information Processing theory partly explains how individuals communicate with each with each other through computers like an online platform for learning.

Humans also learn through models and observation. That means, imitating how others behave. If you are your role as an educator is to take on the role of being a teacher, and students imitate your behavior. Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, emphasized that learning usually takes place within social contexts and we can't eliminate "social" in our learning.

With this thought in mind It is crucial to

• Create online group activities
• Encourage students to interact with one another on websites, and also share their knowledge.
• Create collaboration and social media engagement essential parts of the course's structure.
• Make use of social tools for exchanging ideas that can be used as a type of practice
• Give positive feedback to your classmates (other students) that act as reinforcement. To do this, you should request your students to assess their work in a positive way.

    Make use of goal-specific cognitive strategies    

They are generally focused on a specific task. This means you must help your students work with the material in a direct way. The cognitive strategies which you could employ in online learning are not taking notes, repetition, contextual understanding, as well as mnemonics. (A mnemonic is a tool that allows you to recall or retrieve information from your memory)

As an example, VIBGYOR can be an abbreviation used to describe the seven rainbow colors which are: violet, indigo blue, green, yellow, red and orange. Other than acronyms, other kinds of mnemonics too including flashcards, categorizing objects into different categories, etc., can all help students retain what they've learned in a short time.

    Facilitate high-level processing of information using metacognitive strategies    

Some researchers have also suggested the existence of something referred to as "metacognition," which means "thinking about being thinking." Practice as you practice and try to recollect your mistakes, or employ techniques to aid others to learn or remember (such as teaching using a goal) You are participating in a form of metacognition.

In 1987, A.L. Brown initiated discussion around metacognition for learning. In the course of time the topic has evolved somewhat.

In Online courses, here are some of the top metacognitive strategies

• Advance organizers: Encourage your students to reflect on your lesson plan through sharing calendars of class ahead of time. This will help your students foresee what to expect and also connect it to information they already know.
• Self-planning: Encourage your students to plan their projects, as well as how they'll structure their assignments. This allows them more time to "think about what they are doing" - metacognition.
• Self-monitoring scales: Students self-rating their scores can be a great way to understand what areas your students may require help. Develop online forms to assist students monitor their progress after each session or week, at the schedule you prefer.
• Self-evaluation: This can happen regularly scheduled or after the completion of the course. Since online courses are typically used by people who are self-motivated It is crucial that students see the results.

Apart from self-evaluation you could also use associations to help students learn and remember what they learn. In order to make this method more effective, you must be aware of what your students have learned. So,

• Before enrolling someone into the course, you should assess the level of their knowledge in order to determine if they're the right candidate for the course.
• If they are not, when you launch the course to help beginners ensure that you develop your material so that they can relate your course to something they already know. It means you have aid them through the encoding process.

You may need to use methods like image, chunking and the elaboration.

• Divide your lessons into smaller parts with engaging questions and online debates. You can also use Q&As, and peer support to keep your students entertained.
• Help your students form associations with their previous knowledge by providing information in a way that is easy to visualize. This will help students use images for learning and retaining.
• Additionally, the online course must encourage the student to take the course actively. This process, also known as elaboration is vital to engage students and form associations with existing skills to acquire new knowledge.

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

    Add social engagement and feelings in the mix    

Most of your students enroll in your class because they are unable to physically attend classes for different reasons. Online learning environments provide a different option to traditional learning and provide better engagement in many cases. But it's important to make your learning online environment vibrant and exciting. The key is to use social-affective methods, which require interpersonal communication and emotions. Please note "affect" means feelings.

Here's how you can do it:

• Be relatable for your students and help them learn by modelling. Generate feelings of curiosity, excitement, satisfaction, contentment, joy, excitement, surprise, etc. It's pretty simple to trigger these feelings in your students.
• Gamification can help your students feel satisfied and content as they complete certain levels of completion.
• The giving of badges, certificates or any other form of positive reinforcement can assist in bringing joy into your life.
• If you offer the chance to discount a well-performing student, you combine joy and surprise. This makes students more eager to study.
• Polling can be used to make games and tests each 15 minutes, to ensure that your students are engaged and allow them to talk about their knowledge in forums.
• Because children are increasingly comfortable with using social media, it makes sense to include social media in education as well.

Humanize information processing theory in order to develop online courses with a human touch

Information processing theory can help us to understand how we store and learn new information within our brains, by using our sense organs as well as the brain. Although this model is accurate as regards how sensation & perception, and memory operate, it fails to explain social learning and the functions of motivation or emotions.

Furthermore, the human brain is incredibly complex and cannot be boiled down to the way a computers function. As instructors, it's essential to maintain the students' natural thoughts and desires in their minds. By creating an engaging online learning experience and taking into consideration human limitations, you can create a course online that is successful that leaves a lasting impression on your pupils.

It gives you a variety of tools to create course content which is social and engaging. It allows you to create courses that are based on information processing models yet recognizes the fact that students are thought and feeling human beings, who want to connect with each other while they learn. It provides powerful social engagement capabilities that make it easier to develop group learning modules and encourage engaging discussions between your students.

By humanizing online learning, allows you to connect with your students intellectually in an engaging manner. To learn more about how could help you develop courses that are based on the field of psychology, please contact us today.