Whenever I organize a demo of Sify eLearning’s capabilities, I make it a point to demonstrate the various interaction and instructional design strategies we have built for our customers. Recently, one of the questions from an audience member took me by surprise. She wanted to know why should companies spend time and money to make eLearning interactive and what’s wrong with a PowerPoint presentation? While the answer seems obvious, It made me think and I started digging around to present some meaningful reasons.
A quick search in Google, did not actually yield any answers. But I did stumble upon an article that goes into the science of how the human brain learns and thought this might answer the question. The take-away from this article is a set of implications for learning (summarized in the table below).
|
Recent Brain Research Finding |
Implications for Learning |
| Frequency and recency of neuron synapses increase memory | Increase frequency through practice and maintain fluency through use |
| Emotions strengthen memory | Appeal to and engage emotions while learning |
| Learning causes changes to the physical structure of the brain | Engaging in learning increases our ability to learn throughout our lives |
| Memories are stored in multiple parts of the brain | Engage all senses when learning |
| Our brains are programmed to focus on new and unusual inputs | Learning should tap into the brain’s natural curiosity and intrinsic motivation |
You can read the entire article here
Srinivas Krishnaswamy
