Germane cognitive load is a measurement of the intensity of engagement in mental work required to process new information for inclusion in long-term memory. A less technical way of saying that is: no pain, no gain. In order for learners to effectively build new mental muscles, they must be actively engaged in mental work.4 Germane cognitive load me

Do they already have the schemas they need, so you are now just going to help them put some additional new information into their existing mental storage bins? Or are you going to have to help them build entirely new mental storage bins from scratch (which takes more work on the student’s part and more guidance from you)?

First, clarify the transformation the module delivers. (The module’s transformation must lead directly to the overall transformation for the course as a whole.)

Right after you present the instruction by teaching the new content that is the heart of the lesson, it is important to help students practice using the content with your guidance. Guided practice will look different depending on the domain of learning. For example, if you are teaching verbal information, guided practice could look

Even though the instructor has already processed and labeled the information, the student needs to process and label it again for her own brain’s storage area. That’s because when we process, label, and store information, we relate it to what we already know and then store it according to how our own mind works. If you’ve ever had someone else come

It means that in order for your course to deliver real transformation, it’s not enough for you to simply tell your course participants what you already know. That would not be teaching, but merely exposing people to information. In order to teach others what you already know, you must take them through a structured series of steps that make it poss

What will my course participants be able to do after completing my course that they can’t do now? It can be harder than it seems to answer that question.

overall learning goal, they may decide to skip it, using a rationale such as, “I want to learn meditation, not breathing! I already know how to breathe. I’ll just skip ahead to the next video.”

Mark Twain (among others) has been credited with saying that he once wrote a long letter because he didn’t have time to write a short one.1 A long letter (or long talking-head video) is a first draft. It’s useful for getting thoughts out of our heads and onto the page or screen, where we can see them. It helps us look at the contents of our own men