Multimodal Literacies MOOC’s Updates

Cognitive Underload, Class Size and Community Forum (Wk 3, Update 6)

In this current pandemic situation, I can confirm for myself what Dr. Cope mentioned about "Cognitive Underload" that it is indeed a result of the classic classroom setup and I would say that this is neither an opportunity for the instructor nor the students rather, as one of multiple factors, based on the class size ("Class size can be a factor in a student’s course experience and outcomes, as well as in an instructor’s experience teaching a course (Lowenthal, Nyland, Jung, Dunlap, & Kepka, 2019).")

At this age and time where most schools (especially in the Philippines where lockdown is still in place), online learning is still the method used by schools, universities, and even companies that provide training to their employees. 

The question or challenge that comes to mind given the circumstances is whether this online classrooms effectively relay information and learning and successfully converts theory into application by students/trainees.

If we are to stick with the classic classroom setup wherein a teacher asks a question and only one student can answer at a time, the participation of the rest of the class might be lessened or worse, would not happen at all resulting to ineffective instruction and conversion of theory into application.

So this leads me back to the ever-changing recommendation of how big a class size should be to effectively meet the objective of ensuring students learn.

As the videos here suggests, (https://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-13/written-classroom-discussion-in-new-media), regardless of the class size, we can address "Cognitive Underload" if we can engage students/learners to participate through a community-like forum like Scholar which as mentioned by students in the video, makes them more mindful of the things they share, allows them to have time to think and compose their writing before posting (like in a social media) which eventually, makes for a meaningful dialogue and conversation with other learners and their instructors.