CHUNKING STRATEGIES

STEPS TO CHUNKING INFORMATION

CHUNKING INFORMATION FOR ELEARNING
- WHY?

 Chunking refers to the strategy of breaking down information into bite-sized

pieces so the brain can more easily digest new information.
 Without an instructor to answer questions and to guide the learning
process, eLearning content has to be organized in a logical and progressive
way through chunking.
 it groups together conceptually related information. Content that is
conceptually related is meaningful, making it easier to understand.
FOUR STEPS TO CHUNKING INFORMATION

 Step 1: Start at the highest level.

 Use a chunking strategy while determining the content hierarchy of a course.
 Determine how modules, lessons and topics will be organized into a logical and progressive order.
 Start with large chunks of conceptually related content and use these as your modules.
 There are numerous organizational strategies, such as simple to complex, cause and effect, sequential, etc.
FOUR STEPS TO CHUNKING INFORMATION

 Step 2: Modules into lessons into topics.

 Divide modules into smaller related chunks and these will become your lessons.
 Continue with this process until content is broken down to the topic level.
 fine tune the internal structure.
FOUR STEPS TO CHUNKING INFORMATION

 Step 3: Chunk at the screen level.

 When you have a solid module-lesson-topic structure, organize the content so each screen consists of one chunk
of related information.
 Depending on how you design, this could be at the topic level, at the detailed learning objective level or at the
concept level.
 As a guiding rule, avoid introducing multiple topics, learning objectives or concepts at one time.fine tune the
internal structure.
FOUR STEPS TO CHUNKING INFORMATION

 Step 4: Do a working memory check.

 Do you really need to include all the content you have in front of you? If not, get rid of extraneous content. Less
is more.
 Will the chunk of content require the learner to hold more than a few things in memory at one time in order to
understand it? If so, break it down again.
 The visuals and text in multimedia courses can lessen the demands on working memory.
 Turn Bits into Chunks.
 chunk information in the opposite direction
 Use any strategy that turns individual bits of information into meaningful chunks such as, an analogy or
metaphor will work.

WHAT IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF UNRELATED If you have lots of unrelated facts, it’s possible that this is
INFO? extraneous content and you don’t need it.