Overview: Cognitive
Engine
A platform for the discovery, learning and practice of knowledge. The Cognitive-Engine (CE) is a self-learning, self-regulating platform that adopts insights from cognitive science, embodied learning, social-emotional learning and andragogy. Our platform design and engineering principles provide for seamless experience, across all devices.
The Cognitive Engine is a self-learning custom platform providing educational and learning experiences that are Universal, Decentralised, and AI-enhanced. Our vision is to maintain an intuitive, ubiquitous platform that is efficient for distributed learning and development. The Cognitive Engine allows user communities to access its bespoke algorithms designed to enhance recall and rapid development. We offer transformative learning techniques and innovations that makes knowledge and learning accessible to everyone. The engine was built for emancipatory ideals, facilitating freedom of thought, via reduction of bias and dogma. Self-development is vital to all individuals, and thus sees distributing knowledge, to be a noble and necessary act of empowerment.
We adopt innovations from the systemic sciences, to enhance educational and learning experiences. It is an evolutionary approach to learning, that offers direct value across both our content and our platform: ⠀ (1) Curated expert content8 - critically curated and referenced scientific material. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ (2) Platform design using a range of recall and memorisation enhancement factors, like: Colours, Gestalt Design7, Curve of Forgetfulness2, Cognitive shortcuts6, Timed- breaks3, Rich-pictures1, and Rewards. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ These twin value propositions are unique features that provide superior and efficient absorption of subject matter. It empowers the entire stakeholder community, be it institutions, individuals and learners.
Learning Challenges
We are proud to offer an evolutionary type platform to assist vital user community needs, offering enhanced learning tools that includes: Repetition, Dynamic scheduling, Timed lags, Leaner responses, all of which enable better personalised learning.
Importantly, by self-adjusting to unique learner responses, the platform allow for custom lesson delivery, to suit each user. This amplifies study outcomes, and represents a transformative learning method, mimicking cognitive cues that shape our neural pathways. In this way we intend to assist entrepreneurs, professionals, and post-graduates to access the best thinking, the best tools and the best methodologies to resolve real-world problems.
We distance ourselves from classical Learner Management Systems (LMS) thinking and design, towards an embodied learner-experience platform, supporting both pedagogy and andragogy. It encourages the holism of andragogy, as it departs from mechanical modes of learning. We design flexibility, inter-leaving, natural and fluid user experiences, endorsed under Social-Emotional-Learning (SEL).
The potential misinterpretations and unreliability of our sensory perceptions (e.g. hearing, sight, touch), dictates learning tools to compliment these deficits, as far as possible. Our platform is designed for scientific reliability and trust, allowing us to share Intellectual Property to support communities of practice in an efficient and quality-rich landscape offering some of the following built-in values:
Cognitive biases – humans have a few cognitive biases, that may be gainfully employed to enhance recall and memorisation;
Scheduling and repetition to counter the “forgetfulness curve”.
Neural pathway widening and densification (new pathways encouraged via trans-disciplinary connections).
Pattern-seeking – employing rich-picture rapid learning in design of platform and content.
Why Cognitive Engine?
Research confirms personal instruction yields superior results (Bloom, 1984), but since personal instruction has become very expensive, and tends to be inefficient for scaling that are demanded by modern society, we opted to design the Cognitive-Engine to meet these demands. Core attributes of personalised learning is infused into our delivery engine, ranging from instant feedback, reinforcement, reminder settings, reward dashboards all of which serve to imitate a personal teacher. Our self-learning and self-assessment innovations are key milestones in moving toward andragogy, as it removes the anxiety of pedagogical duality.
Adaptive algorithms of the Cognitive-Engine?
By accurately ranking scores or answers, learners produce unique patterns, that generates an adaptive reveal of the cards, thus facilitating active recall and memorisation practices (Brame & Biel, 2015), known to yield long-term retention of new constructs (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011), or conceptual learning.
Linear loads of scaffolding and the Cognitive-Engine
A known challenge of passive studying is that material are hard coded into a linear order, which can be tedious, introducing boredom and disinterest since the average number of items we retain in working memory is ”between 5-7” (Miller, 1956). The CE counters this limit, by reshaping concepts originally presented in books, in much more flexible formats, thus focusing upon critical and specific constructs. It allows users to push learning boundaries, beyond current levels of understanding (McLeod, 2014), via inter-leaving (switching between topics), thereby reducing the cognitive load and increasing the desire to continue (Weidman, 2015).
Deepening stimulation and the Cognitive-Engine?
A holistic understanding of complex learning processes promotes learners to create their own cards and decks. The act of condensing data into short bursts of questions and answers engages deeper cognitive processes, to shape these questions and answers. The ability to author, create, edit, and reorder cards and decks to be shared therefore facilitates collaboration. The CE enriches learning by using rich pictures, known to be superior to text based learning alone.
Forgetfulness curve and the Cognitive-Engine?
The repetition system is a vital part of the CE experience, especially since the Forgetfulness Curve (Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885), reveals the decay of our memory. Typically we retain 100% of what we learn initially, but it steeply drops off since short-term memory is tenuous. It suggests the more or longer we remember something, the less likely we will forget it. In order to reduce the forgetfulness curve, our platform repeat cycles and individual scoring becomes a key strategy to “hack the brain”. We encode into algorithms, our time-based repetition, for long-term memory retention, especially when spaced appropriately (Janiszewski et al., 2003). Another feature is, by allowing the brain to refresh concepts, we lower the forgetting curve effects, as the brain builds neural connections (Schwindel, 2011), highlighting how spaced and timed repetition across knowledge areas yield direct gains (K.S.H, 2016; Roediger III, 2011).
Colour confidence algorithm and the Cognitive-Engine?
One of our key algorithms prohibits introducing new questions, unless the number of low-confidence cards exceeds a certain value. The closer the learners remain to this value, the more the algorithm repeats these questions until learners upgrade their confidence rating, thus keeping learners in the zone of proximal development. This is coupled to repeating cards having low scores, both of which intensifies reflection and learning. The platform accommodates for over-optimism (scoring high on cards), by virtue of 3 cycles, so as to ensure retention over time, despite error rankings, i.e., re-exposure of data via three cycles entrenches learning and deepens cognitive pathways. Since each rank option are associated with a colour, users choose more accurately over time, as it facilitates authentic self-reflection. Comprehensive security assurance - using a core of six dimensions, across database security, operating system security, network security, data security, data-centre security and terminal security, thus advancing security by lowering threats, fraud, data loss, data tampering and data interception All system and data located in-country, and on-server, thus no longer controlled by distant, faceless, foreign companies , thereby enhanc ing and ensur ing organisational security Rich application scenarios - with comprehensive functions of instant business, financial payments, Self-Sovereign-ID, and communications, it integrates application scenarios for all types of daily work, and/or Public and citizen-centric mobility Purposed to service various communities or citizen-life, by enabling social communication, cooperation and transaction more conveniently Robust integration performance - able to support millions of users simultaneously, adopting distributed cluster deployment. It features high availability and reliability, equipped with disaster recovery and backup mechanisms to ensure security and stability of services and data Customisable functions - ease of customisation and developed for various additional functions according to language, customs and social habits. Can be used to shape needs of information security for National, Provincial, or Organisational policy needs Federated business function - offers unique, secure federated business models, allowing for service delivery to be federated across providers via integrated governance and security. It improves collaboration and efficiencies under strict compliance and oversight set by organization
Who are the users of Cognitive Engine?
Who are the primary target audience? (Consumers and Educators)
Consumers and laypersons (corporate managers, leaders, etc.) are primary audience – the idea is that they need access to a platform designed with all the bells and whistles we are trying to embed into it, as it facilitates their development. Also, we do not want to complete with universities but allow them to be complimented by our platform? This means we move away from the classic learner management systems (LMS) type thinking, and more toward an experience platform designed to give the cognitive experience of easier recall, memorisation and ease of use?
What is the target age group?
Above 21 years old – remember entrepreneurs, school leavers, graduate starting their careers – at least currently the content is for post-grads because it is complexity, but the idea is to get it into the workplace and get users to adopt it for their personal escape trajectory from poverty or indeed any other form of social oppression and injustice?