information saturation

Higher Ed: Information Overload

With so much information available to us so quickly and easily these days, it might feel as if there is just too much to learn. But encountering massive amounts of information is not the same as actually discerning and then learning what is essential. In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss information saturation. “Gossip gone amok.” That’s what Ed calls some of the information that we can access with just a few keystrokes or swipes. He makes an important distinction between the sheer volume of information we are exposed to on a daily basis and actually learning and processing what is essential. But with so much out there, how do we figure out what is critical to learn? And how do we filter out the rest? In this episode, Ed and Jennifer discuss managing information overload and developing effective gatekeeping functions. You will want to classify this episode as essential information and listen for the solution to last episode’s puzzler about the endless chess board.

This episode was recorded Jan. 18, 2018.