Oliver Caviglioli’s Cognitive Load Theory Resources

 

Cognitive Load Theory, developed by John Sweller and colleagues, is an increasingly influential learning theory among teachers who are engaging with educational research. It is the area that I am studying as part of my postgraduate research.

At present, there are few easily accessible guides to the theory. I wrote a piece for The Conversation that acts as something of an introduction. However, the best summary is probably an article by John Sweller himself that describes the evolution of the theory from the first few experiments.

As a student, I have access to an excellent textbook written by Sweller, Kalyuga and Ayers. I don’t actually have a copy because it is quite expensive but I am able to download a DRM protected pdf that expires after a few days. The fact that it expires, and that I therefore need to keep downloading it, is a little frustrating but I am aware that I am in a better position than most of you who have no access and can’t splash out that kind of money on a book.

I think it would be good if Springer released a paperback version. Although it is an academic text, it is written plainly and I guess that many teachers would be able to follow the arguments. Better still would be a popular text that covers the same ground.

In the meantime, we can thank the excellent Oliver Caviglioli for producing a set of visual chapter summaries. These give concise access to the ideas in the book.