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nent storage requires careful organization of data
and correlation of new information with existing
knowledge so that information to be shifted from
short-term to long-term memory.
The designer of an online learning environment
should focus on the stimulation of students'
senses, focusing the learner's attention by high-
lighting important and critical information, rea-
soning each instruction, and matching the cogni-
tive level of the learner (Modritscher, 2006). This
can be achieved by following a designing ap-
proach, which engage students' attention on im-
portant information and encourage searching of
knowledge. Designers should also organize in-
formation in such a way that students are able to
connect new information with existing concep-
tual models in some meaningful way (Ertmer &
Newby, 1993). Hence, information should be
connected with experiences from real life so that
students can easily understand and assimilate the
provided knowledge. Strategies requiring the
learner to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate
should also be used to promote deep processing
of information and higher-level learning. More-
over, according to (Meyer, 1998), the teaching
strategy should enforce learners to use their
meta-cognitive skills by reflecting on what they
learn, collaborating with other learners or check-
ing their progress. In any case, however, overload
of information should be avoided, since it inevi-
tably leads to a conceptual saturation, which means
that information is not stored into the long-term
memory.
The effectiveness of cognitivism theory in
online learning process is widely recognized. A
cognitive design of a web-based virtual learning
environment should be based on the previous
knowledge of learner, while the acquisition of
new knowledge requires an active mental process
from the learner's side.
Constructivism
Constructivism theory moves one step further
than cognitivism considering that knowledge
is constructed by learners themselves based on
their personal experiences. Thus, learners acquire
an active role within the learning process, since
they not only absorb information, but also con-
nect it with previously assimilated knowledge,
constructing so their own interpretation (Cheek,
1992). Therefore, in constructivism learners are
not just passive recipients of external stimulus,
but they are also able to search, choose, adapt
and finally interpret information according to
their conceptual background. Figure 4 depicts
the graphical representation of Constructivism
model (Dietinger, 2003). Hence, learning can be
seen as an active process, and knowledge cannot
be received from outside or from someone else.
Figure 3. The learning model of cognitivism
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