Event date and time: Wednesday 28 January 2026 14:00 – 15:00
It’s reasonable to assume that a core focus of learning developers is student learning and the techniques we use to support this learning. It is interesting to note, therefore, that Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) – seen by some as ‘the single most important thing for teachers to know’ in compulsory education (Wiliam, 2017) – receives very limited attention in the Learning Development literature. More broadly a survey of key higher education teaching concepts published in the International Journal of Academic Development makes no mention of this theory (Kandlbinder & Peseta, 2009). CLT relies on well-established findings in cognitive psychology relating to the limits of working memory, and capacities of long-term memory. This seems significant as according to CLT advocates, ‘without knowledge of human cognitive processes, instructional design is blind’ (Sweller et al., 2011, p. v). This presentation will first outline the basic principles of and evidence for CLT. It will then highlight the ways it has been used to challenge the use of minimally guided, experiential teaching approaches such as discovery, problem-based or inquiry learning. Participants will have the opportunity to consider possible implications for Learning Development practice: can we, for example, use more strongly guided approaches in our teaching and learning interventions with some learners, without having to feel guilty about ‘sages on stages’ and ‘guides on the side’?
Presenter
Dr Steve White, University of Southampton
Steve has been lurking in teaching, learning and research-related third spaces in HE for about 20 years. As examples of third space roles which span academic, professional and technical domains, he’s worked as a learning designer for online courses and MOOCs, a learning developer, and as an educational developer. His current role is a hybrid of these functions, and the reason he still bangs on about third spaces is that it was the subject of his PhD research and he can’t seem to let it go.
References
- Kandlbinder, P., & Peseta, T. (2009). Key concepts in postgraduate certificates in higher education teaching and learning in Australasia and the United Kingdom. International Journal for Academic Development, 14(1), 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13601440802659247
- Sweller, J., Ayres, P. L., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. Springer. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8126-4_6
- Wiliam, D. [@dylanwiliam]. (2017, 26 Jan 2017). I’ve come to the conclusion Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know [Tweet]. http://bit.ly/2kouLOq