As edtech and eLearning technologies have gone from a novelty to commonplace in education systems around the world, their use has been plagued by a common question: do they work as effectively as traditional instruction? While the question is far too broad to be useful to anyone, a group of researchers recently took a mostly unexplored approach. They wanted to see how learners with different working memory capabilities learned in an online context. What’s more, they identified numerous functions of online modules—such as learning time, repetition of material, and quiz performance—to see if it correlated with working memory.

While the research has intrinsic merits, the authors also believe their findings can be used to help design eLearning features to be more effective and more personalized for all learners. If educators can identify a learners’ working memory capabilities simply through how they learn online, then they can both adapt future online learning content and in-person instruction to better suit each student.

“Predicting Visiospatial and Verbal Working Memory by Individual Differences in E-Learning Activities” was authored by a team of researchers from Umea University and Linnaeus University in Sweden and Hypocampus, a Swedish eLearning developer. It was published in Frontiers in Education on March 17.

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Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00022/full?utm_source=F-NTF&utm_medium=EMLX&utm_campaign=PRD_FEOPS_20170000_ARTICLE

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