OVERVIEW OF SERIES:

INTRODUCTORY WEBINAR IS FREE TO ALL. THE THREE FOLLOWING SESSIONS: $250 for NON-LDA MEMBERS.

Based on her book, Evidence-based Training – 3rd Edition, Ruth Clark will review evidence-based approaches to instruction focusing on guidelines to minimize mental overload, to maximize mental load that leads to learning and lessons learned on digital learning games. 

Each session will last approximately one hour and begin at 11:00 AM ET (New York time).

There are four total sessions. The initial session is a foundational introduction to Evidence-Based Training Methods. This session had no charge. It is free to all who register for it. If you sign up for the other sessions, you will receive a video of that session to review in advance if you’d like. The following three sessions go into more depth.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2021 Foundations of Evidence-based Practice (Foundational Program Open to the Public)

We will review types and tradeoffs of research evidence as well as the link between working memory, long-term memory and instructional techniques.  We will use research on instructional graphics to illustrate the tools, guidelines, and limits of experimental evidence.  We will introduce three arenas of evidence-based practice: 1) Methods to minimize mental overload, 2) Methods to stimulate relevant load that leads to learning and 3) Evidence on digital learning games. 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2021 Session 1: Methods to Minimize Irrelevant Mental Load

Learning is an effortful process that requires the allocation of limited working memory capacity.  In this session we will look at how to maximize working memory capacity by minimizing irrelevant words, graphics, and activities during learning.  We will look at well-researched techniques to minimize mental overload including guidelines for less is more, learning by examples, and  best use of text and audio to describe graphics.  

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021 Session 2: Methods to Maximize Relevant Mental Load

The goal of reducing irrelevant mental load is to free working memory capacity for mental activities leading to learning.  In this session we will review evidence on engagement techniques shown to promote learning including use of graphics, personalization of lessons,  productive practice activities, feedback, and self-explanations. 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2021 Session 3: Maximizing Benefits of Digital Games

To leverage the motivational benefits of games, research in the past 10 years has focused on how to design effective games for learning.   In this session we will review the results of meta-analyses and individual studies that show what design features of games impede and lead to learning benefits.   We will end with a look at the emerging technology of immersive learning environments.