Ideas for Educators
  • Home
  • Idea Blog
  • Professional Learning Topics
  • Books & Videos
  • Free Resources

The Importance of Chunking for Virtual Instruction

4/22/2020

0 Comments

 
Are you a memory champion? If not, you are probably like the rest of us – you have fairly good recall when you are attentive and engaged. However, if your mind wanders or you attempt to multi-task or you are anxious, etc., your ability to recall what you are learning diminishes.

Try the following exercise, without scrolling down the page! Give yourself 30 seconds to attempt to memorize the following display of 15 symbols. After 30 seconds, look away and write down as many, in order, as you can remember. Then check your accuracy. 


Picture

​How well did you do? If you got all 15 correct, you may have the makings of a memory champion! You should be quite pleased with yourself. Most of us, though, don’t do all that well. We need our information to be chunked in order to remember it better. Now try the following exercise, with the same approach – 30 seconds to memorize, look away and write down as many as you can. 

 



Picture
I’d bet real money on your improvement. When information is presented and studied in chunks, it is much easier to make sense of and remember. This “chunking” is essential for virtual instruction because so many distractions abound. The refrigerator calls, others in the house are making noise, no one is watching, etc. Most experts suggest that virtual lecture should not last more than 3-5 minutes before providing students with an opportunity to process, discuss, retrieve or in some way interact with the information. This is especially important for students who might have a learning disability or attention deficit disorder.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite, simple ways to add processing time with any content:
​
  • Silent written reflection
  • Draw a symbolic representation
  • Write a one-sentence summary
  • Create a slogan for our content​
  • Sort info and name the categories
  • How would your fav celebrity summarize this?
  • Compose a #hashtag
  • ​Create a quiz question and answer

Before your next virtual lesson  review your plan and check to see if you have chunked the content, allowing processing and interaction every 3-5 minutes. Not only will you increase your student engagement, you will increase student outcomes!
 ​​
0 Comments

    Anne M. Beninghof

    Anne's mission is to improve instruction through collaboration and the sharing of creative, practical ideas for educators.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    Accessibility
    Accommodation
    Acquisition
    Activator
    Attention
    Automaticity
    Collaboration
    Connections
    Cooperative
    Co Teaching
    Co-teaching
    Differentiation
    Engagement
    Higher Order Thinking
    Inclusion
    Literacy
    Math
    Memory
    Metaphor
    Movement
    Multi Sensory
    Multi Sensory
    Multi-sensory
    Novelty
    Organization
    Planning
    Questioning
    Reflection
    Review
    Special Education
    Special Education
    Summarization
    Technology
    Visual Supports
    Visual Supports
    Vocabulary

    RSS Feed