The Role of Neuroscience in Learning Design

This article is the second one in a series of articles in which I am deconstructing a recent course I worked on with Bosnia and Herzegovina Futures Foundation. 'Leaders of Online Learning' is now live, upskilling educators across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. In this article, I will demonstrate how I used research from neuroscience to optimize this learning experience for our learners.

What is Neuroscience?

Neuroscience refers to the sciences that study the nervous system and the brain; i.e. their structure, the components, and the way they function. Understanding what happens in our brain while we are learning enables us, as educators, to design learning experiences that are in sync with the brain's natural ability to learn. One easily applicable method in designing neuroscience-informed learning is the AGES model, (Davachi, Kiefer, Rock & Rock, 2010). It consists of creating the learning experiences with consideration of learner attention, generation, emotion, and spacing in mind.

ATTENTION

In order to learn, learners must pay attention to the concepts being taught. There are several ways to grab and sustain learner attention, and here I will focus on three: (1) presenting the content in a variety of ways, (2) eliminating the distractions in the learning design, and (3) planning for regular breaks.

Presenting content in a variety of ways adds a sense of unexpectedness, which stimulates the release of dopamine in the body, leading to the activation of hippocampus and increased attention during the learning process.

In our course, there is a true variety in lessons; we have videos (instructor-led, animated, tutorials), text lessons accompanied with graphics, audio lessons with downloadable resources, as well as live webinars at the end of every week. 

To eliminate the distractions, each lesson includes only the most essential information, with key points highlighted. The videos are short, averaging 3 minutes each, and text lessons don’t exceed 150 words per screen. In audio lessons, music tracks are placed in strategic places to aid learners in processing new information.

We plan for regular breaks during our live sessions on Saturdays. Research has shown that paying attention consumes a lot of energy and that most learners can stay focused for about 10-20 minutes (Brown, Roedriger & McDaniel, 2014). To play it safe, in our webinars, we have activities every 10 minutes, ranging from asking the audience to respond to questions directly and in the chat, using presentation tools like Mentimeter, Zoom annotation tools, polls, breakout rooms, Kahoot, and so on.

GENERATION

In order to learn effectively, learners must have enough time, space, and opportunities to make connections between ideas. Generating connections and associations means having those famous “a-ha moments”, which typically happen when we're not learning. Again, there are several ways this can be encouraged, but I will focus on three:

(1) contextualization,

(2) personalization,

(3) reflection.

Learners must be able to apply concepts taught in a personalized context. In our course, we have a series of assignments that run over six weeks, and we have asked all participants to choose one lesson from their subject, which they will be working on throughout the course and transforming it into an online lesson. This way, the content is contextualized and personalized at the same time, enabling the learners to essentially become content owners. At the end of every week, in our learning community, we ask the learners to reflect on what they learned during the week and share their thoughts with others, but ideally, learners should write down their reflections and often keep them private.

EMOTIONS

Activating emotions during the learning process can be incredibly useful as it signals to the amygdala that a particular piece of information or an event is important. The hippocampus then gets activated and learners start to pay attention, enabling more effective learning. It’s important for learners to feel safe and secure. Positive emotions coupled with positive social pressure can lead to great results.

Two weeks prior to the beginning of the course, we opened up the pre-registrations and activated an online community on our educational platform. We created a couple of posts welcoming the new members, and every time one of them introduced themselves, one of the instructors would leave a welcoming comment. So, we started building positive rapport with our learners even before the beginning of the course. As a result, they are now actively engaged and don’t shy away from sharing their experiences and giving us honest feedback, which we love and appreciate.

SPACING

Research has shown that spacing learning out helps increase retention. We learn better over a longer period of time as opposed to short, intensive bursts of learning. (Makes you think twice about attending that 5 day course you were considering, doesn’t it?). Our course runs over 6 weeks, and the content is spaced out, but also recycled throughout the course, which allows the learners to be exposed to the same content in different ways and build on it with each new encounter. Quizzes, discussions, and purposeful assignments help our learners frequently practice retrieving information, allowing those newly formed neural pathways to get stronger, which leads to improved retention.

Follow the hashtag #MersiLXD on LinkedIn to easily find other articles about this course, relating to design thinking, scenario-based learning, and gamification. 

References:

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Davachi, L., Kiefer, T., Rock, D. and Rock, L. (2010) Learning that lasts through AGES. NeuroLeadership Journal. Issue 3, 2010.