Information Process Theory (Online Resources)

If you look up just about any article on the information processing theory you will find the description of this theory to be the same in some shape or form. It compares the way people process information to that of a computer. In an article from BelievePerform.com, information processing looks at how information enters our system, how we interpret that information and make decisions, and how we put those decisions into action, and finally what we do with the new information our action generate. The article is informative in how the information processing theory can be used to learn skills in sports. Short term and long term memory are important when learning new skills. When talking about physical skills related to sports, they recommend imagery, rehearsal and practice, association and linking, simplicity, organization, chunking, positive reinforcement as means to help get the new learned skills into long term memory.





In another article about information processing, ExpertLearners.com uses a more traditional approach to explain the theory. If you are looking for an easy to understand explanation of this theory, I found this article very helpful. One thing that I like is the definition of terms associated with this theory.

When thinking about how a computer works, you have information input and output. For us, we get stimuli or input from external sources and the output is our behavior. The information process is everything that happens in between the stimuli and behavior. Take a look at these two resources to get a better understanding.   

References

An introduction to information processing system, memory and its role in sports (n.d.). In Believe Perform.com. Retrieved from http://believeperform.com/coaching/an-introduction-to-information-processing-system-memory-and-its-role-in-sports/

Cognitive Information Processing Theory (n.d.). In Expert Learners.com. Retrieved from http://www.expertlearners.com/cip_theory.php

Who is eLearning Industry?

For someone going into the instructional design field, eLearning Industry provides a lot of useful information. I learned about this site through Jirawat’s blog, http://jirawat-educ6115.blogspot.com/.

eLearning Industry was founded by Christopher Pappas and provides a variety of articles from how to improve online training to articles about top eLearning companies. The content is provided by professionals in the industry. One article I came across provided 24 tips to becoming an instructional designer. I thought this was interesting because 24 different instructional designers give their insight and tip about the profession.

With so many sites about the field of instructional design, this would definitely be one to bookmark. Along with the articles, there are links for authoring tools and learning management tools.

If you are already a professional in the field, a business looking into training strategies, or new to instructional design, this is a good place to find information about eLearning.

Resources for instructional design

In the field of instructional design there are many sites and blogs that one can go to get some insight about the profession as well as useful tools and what is new within the industry. Below are some sites that I think are a good source of information for instructional designers or anyone interested in this field.

1.       eLearning Brothers

This site, eLearning Brothers, was started by two brothers and provides templates, custom eLearning design, and training for eLearning professionals. Their blog has many articles about eLearning and using templates. I like this site because to only does the staff provide articles but they also have guests that contribute tips and information for new comers and professionals alike.   

2.      The Rapid E-Learning

Tom Kuhlmann created this blog site to share practical tips and tricks to help others in eLearning. One thing I like about his site is there are links for topics within the instructional design field like: Designing the right course, Instructional design, and Building scenarios for E-Learning to name a few. The articles contained in these topics could help anyone in the instructional design field.

3.      Experiencing E-Learning 

Want to know about a career in instructional design? Christy Tucker’s blog Experiencing E-Learning is the place to go. She provides a lot of good information about the profession itself like: job description, skills needed, getting started, and where to get certified. According to her site, she has been blogging for 9 years and her posts about careers in this field continue to grow views and comments.

4.      Journal of Applied Instructional Design

This journal was started in 2011 to encourage and nurture the development of the reflective practitioners as well as collaborations between academics and practitioners as a means of disseminating and developing new ideas in instructional design. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing reflective scholar-practitioners a means for publishing articles related to the field of Instructional Design. I added this site to the list because it could be used as a source for useful articles on a variety of topics.

If you Google ‘instructional design’ or ‘instructional design blog’, you’ll see there are plenty of sites. I hope you get a chance to visit these sites and get some benefit out of them.