Ashford 3: - Week 2 - Journal

Extraneous Processing
The textbook refers to extraneous processing as an important aspect to consider in learning.
Explain what this concept means, how it relates to the effectiveness of a lesson, and how JIT
training/learning solutions target this concept especially. Then, identify at least three strategies
youve learned so far that can minimize extraneous processing. Are there areas of this course that
have led to extraneous processing for you? If yes, describe briefly.
Extraneous processing refers to the consideration of the loss of the instructional message in the
midst of wordy text. Important lesson themes may be lost in translation when extraneous wording is
not edited from learning instruction Mayer and Clark (2011) states, we recommend against extraneous
words added for interest, for elaboration or for technical depth (p.168). The effectiveness of a lesson
suffers from coherency when the instruction designer fails to consider the how the wording is perceived
by the learner even though the instructor may maybe had good intentions. Thus, the three strategies I
use are as follows:
1.

Write

2.

Review

3. Re-write
If I am still not sure if I have overdone on elaboration, demonstration or decoration, I repeat the process
of reviewing and re-writing. Sometimes, I use others (peers) opinions before I do the final copy.
In this course I experience the extraneous process whenever I write because I am talkative and
write elaborately. Thus, knowing my tendencies to elaborate and go into detail I scrutinize my usage of
words. In turn, review lends itself to editing and subsequently re-writing. The instructions for the
weekly journals in the EDU 656 at Ashford University allow room for elaboration but the extraneous
processing must be understood as the cleaning up of the wordiness in order to preserve conciseness.
References
Clark, R. C. & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the science of instruction (3rd ed). San Francisco.
Pfeiffer.
Ashford 3: - Week 2 - Discussion 2