Tips for Chunking Content

Andrea.T.735

Broadly speaking, “chunking” is the strategy of dividing content into smaller, easily digestible pieces. This helps to lighten a learner’s cognitive load because they can store the information in these chunks instead of as individual pieces of information. But it isn’t as simple as just divvying up the content into smaller pieces; chunks need to be intentional. So how do we ensure our content is chunked effectively? Here’s a few tips.

1. Start with the big picture: Effective chunking isn’t just important at the lesson level. How you organize course modules, and the lessons within those modules, is equally important. Content needs to follow a logical order, and related content should be grouped together.
2. Consider what your learners can handle: Different groups of learners may require different-sized chunks. Consider prior knowledge; when learners have less prior knowledge to draw on, they may require smaller chunks to avoid overload and will need foundational information clearly laid out first.
3. Include activities: Chunks should build on each other and provide opportunities to make connections to reinforce learning. Including questions, activities, and feedback to strengthen these connections will help learners process the content more deeply and effectively.
4. Chunk information within content pages: Once you get to the topic level and individual content pages, you can still chunk content further. When used appropriately, headings, lists, accordions, tabbed panels, callouts, and other ways of chunking content at a small scale will help learners to better remember and use what they have learned. Brightspace's HTML templates and Creator+ have elements that can help you do this.
5. Keep it simple: Use simple language and eliminate non-essential information. If there is something interesting, but not essential to the learning, you can link out to it instead for those that are interested.

What tips do you have for chunking content effectively?

References:

• Frost, R. Quora. (2021, June 30). What makes chunking such an effective way to learn? Forbes. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Malamed, C. (2022, February 26). Chunking information for instructional design. The eLearning Coach. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Shank, P. (2018, November 15). What Research Tells Us About Chunking Content. eLearning Industry. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash