Glossary · 3 · Understanding
Advance organizer
Also known as: Advance organiser
German: Advance Organizer
In educational psychology and technical communication, an advance organizer is introductory material presented before new content, at a higher level of abstraction and generality, that relates the new information to what readers already know so that they can anchor and organize it (David Ausubel, 1960).
- Applied cognitive psychology
- Understanding
In one sentence
An advance organizer is introductory material at a higher level of abstraction that links new content to what readers already know (Ausubel, 1960).
Example
Before the tasks for a format change on a case packer, a short concept topic explains that a format consists of change parts, a recipe and a test run, and how this differs from the manual changeover operators know from the previous machine.
Rests on
- Cognitive schema and Long-term memory: in Ausubel's assimilation theory, new material is learned meaningfully when it can be related to existing, more general ideas; the organizer supplies or activates them.
- Situation model: readers who know in advance what a system does and how its parts relate build a coherent model of the text more easily.
How it applies
- Concept before task: A DITA concept topic or overview that explains the purpose and structure of a function before the tasks that use it.
- "What you will do" statements: At the start of a procedure, a sentence on purpose, result and prerequisites ("This procedure resets the line after a zone stop. You need …").
- Comparative organizers: When readers know a similar product, state how the new one relates to it ("Unlike the previous controller, the recipe is stored on the line server.").
- Software documentation: An overview of the object model or architecture before the API reference.
Advance organizer vs. summary
An advance organizer comes before the content and is more general than it; it gives a frame, not the details. A summary repeats the main points after the content, at the same level. An overview that only lists the headings that follow is neither.
Limits
- The evidence is mixed. Barnes and Clawson (1975), reviewing 32 studies, did not find a consistent benefit; the meta-analysis of Luiten, Ames and Ackerson (1980) over 135 studies reported a facilitative effect on learning and retention, generally small. Effects depend on the material, the readers' prior knowledge and how the organizer is built.
- An organizer is no substitute for the information in the steps themselves; safety-related information belongs at the point of use, not only in an introduction.