Information Overload
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What is information overload?
And what can be done by students, teachers, and especially
teacher-librarians in order to reduce it?
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This page explains what information overload is, how it affects students and teachers, and what can be done to minimise its occurrence and effects. Teacher-librarians are ideally positioned to both raise awareness and provide information or training on how to combat information overload.
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Information overload is "when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity" (Gross, 1964, in Interaction Design Foundation, n.d.). Teachers need to pay attention to potential information overload, because:
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"Once capacity is surpassed, additional information becomes noise and results in a decrease in information processing and decision quality. ... [H]aving too much information is the same as not having enough" (Ruff, 2002, p.4).
What is information overload?
Rising Above the Fog:
Strategies to Combat Information Overoad
(Prezi presentation created by Shannon Thiessen Burton, 2019)
Where does this come from? References and Resources:
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Interaction Design Foundation. (n.d.). Information overload, why it matters and how to combat it. Retrieved from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/information-overload-why-it-matters-and-how-to-combat-it
Learning Mind. (2019). 10 symptoms of information overload and how it affects your brain & body. Retrieved from https://www.learning-mind.com/information-overload-symptoms/
OSLIS Elementary Videos. (2017, October 2). Evaluating websites (for elementary students). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y-1cpnIZxs
Pillay, S. (2017, June 7). The ways your brain manages overload, and how to improve them. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-ways-your-brain-manages-overload-and-how-to-improve-them
Ruff, J. (2002). Information overload: Causes, symptoms and solutions. Harvard Graduate School of Education's Learning Innovations Laboratory (LILA), 1-13. Retrieved from https://workplacepsychology.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/information_overload_causes_symptoms_and_solutions_ruff.pdf
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TeachThought. (2017, February 14). 10 tips & tools to deal with information overload. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/10-tips-and-tools-to-deal-with-information-overload/
Wellmon, C. (2012). Why Google isn’t making us stupid…or smart. The Hedgehog Review, 14(1). Retrieved from https://iasc-culture.org/THR/THR_article_2012_Spring_Wellmon.php
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All images in Prezi have permission for noncommercial reuse in Creative Commons, with thanks to Lewislbonar and j4p4n (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0), from Wikimedia Commons.