Week 9

This week you will continue working on your project according to your timeline.  Be sure to remember to reflect about what you are learning, doing, accomplishing. I do not require a great deal - can be stream of consciousness - but you need to reflect weekly in your wiki.  We will NOT be meeting on Wednesday but please use this time if you need to meet with others in your team.  You will also be responsible for reading and synthesizing Brain Rule #8: Stress. 

• Week 9 Materials - this page, Brain Rule#8 and any research you may need to conduct based on your client's needs.
  

The actions you need to complete this week as well as directions for each activity follow.

Read Brain Rule #8 and watch the videos below.  This brain rule closely aligns with last week's brain rule on sleep.  We are all victims of too much to do in too little time. Graduate school certainly does not help the formula.  As trainers and developers of courses and learning materials, we have to be cognizant of the impact of stress on learning.  If we produce materials that are in and of themselves stressful, then we are diminishing the learning that can occur. From some of the brain rules you have already studied, think of how you can develop stress-free learning.

Seemingly simple things can make a huge difference in how you structure your learning environment.  For example, if you produce presentations that are text dense and difficult to read, then you are creating a brain stressor - asking the learner to gain understanding in a way that is counterintuitive to the way that the brain works.  If you have a presentation that is replete with grammatical errors, then you are creating a stressor to those who know good grammatical rules. If you use background and text that are not high in contrast, then you have created a stressor for those with limited vision or who are color-blind.

If indeed, your goal as an instructional designer is to ensure that your audience learns the content you are presenting, then you need to be aware of everything that can cause stress - which diminishes learning.  Understanding how the brain works in tandem with understanding what makes for good instructional design is critical. Having this knowledge and being able to apply will serve you well in the profession.

The video below talks about how stress impacts learning.

Cortisol and Stress

This brief video talks about what happens when you are stressed and how it can impact learning.

What Stress Does to your Body

OK - the danger here is that watching a video about how your body reacts to stress will stress you out.  This very brief video shows the impact of stress on the whole body. While somewhat disconcerting, it is still important for you to understand the impact of stress.

Effects of Stress on Memory

This video discusses the long-term effects of stress on the cognitive domain. Think about any stresses that may come from your online courses and how you can diminish the stressors.

How to Instantly Relieve Stress & Increase Happy Hormones

A short exercise to reduce stress quickly.  Does it work for you?  Could you have some little exercise at the beginning of training to de-stress the learner and perhaps increase gains in learning?

What a wonderful way to decrease stress in the classroom. 

Could you find a  way to include this in online instruction?

And finally - another great stress reducer is graduating!!!!  However, try to find some way to reduce stress while still in graduate school and think about how you can reduce stress for the learner.

That's all folks.  Hear you on Wednesday, October 30 at 8:00 PM.