The Learning Hub
The goal of training is getting learners to remember and apply the new information and skills they learn. Simply exposing learners to that information is not enough to ensure that they remember it, though.
What research shows is that learners must be exposed several times to the same information, ideally with time gaps between exposures — spaced repetition — to successfully build long-term knowledge retention that undergirds successful learning.
In the 1880s, a German psychologist by the name of Hermann Ebbinghaus was studying memory. Testing himself, he performed a series of experiments on how long he could remember lists of nonsense words.
Ebbinghaus is remembered primarily for the concept of the “forgetting curve,” which arose from that research. He found that learners will forget up to half of what they’ve just learned within one hour of completing training. After a week, they’re likely to have forgotten nearly everything!
This forgetting of most information is essential; the sheer amount of information the average human encounters in a day or a lifetime is immense, and no one could possibly need or want to remember it all.
Researcher Benjamin C. Storm found that “it appears that thinking and remembering rely at least in part on a process that underlies forgetting” — and that’s partly because recalling salient information can only happen if recall of other, unimportant, information doesn’t “interfere.”
Storm also found that “retrieval practice causes the retrieval-induced forgetting of non-practiced exemplars.” The brain focuses on remembering the material that is repeated or that the learner is asked to use — and forgets information that is not repeated.
To remember information over the long term, then, a learner must be exposed to that information multiple times and repeatedly practice recalling or retrieving that information.
Because of the way humans’ memories work, information that is encountered multiple times is more likely to be fixed into long-term memory. Information that is encountered only once is discounted as unimportant; it thus never moves from short-term recall into long-term memory.
That’s why exposing learners to important training content multiple times improves their retention. It’s even better to ask learners to recall or use information in different ways. In different repetitions, a learner might be asked to define a term, retrieve it in a matching or fill-in-the-blank activity, or explain how they would use the concept in various work-related scenarios. This enhances long-term retention by helping the brain build connections between related bits of information.
Researchers Diane Halpern and Milton Hakel call this type of “practice at retrieval” the “single most important variable in promoting long-term retention and transfer.”
Multiple studies have found that repetition of content with breaks is a highly effective way to build retention. Learners who study in short sessions, with breaks of varying lengths, outperform those who study in a single long “massed learning” session. This is true whether the learners are exposed to new material or the spaced repetition reviews material they have learned more conventionally, in a lecture or eLearning course, for example.
Tabibian et al. found that ability to remember a piece of information depends on three factors:
When information is new, repetitions should be closer together; as memory becomes stronger, the repetitions can be spaced farther apart.
According to Make It Stick, each spaced-apart attempt to recall information reminds the brain that the information is important and renews the “consolidation process” of connecting that information with other information, making sense of it, and storing it in long-term memory. And the harder it is to recall the information — by spacing out learners’ efforts to remember it and by asking them to recall and use it in different ways — the stronger the learner’s retention becomes.
Whether learners need to recall, practice, and retain information they’ve learned in a comprehensive eLearning course or a 3-day workshop or they need to learn and remember new information, microlearning is a great tool for spaced repetition.
Microlearning is generally mobile-friendly and available on demand, and each lesson is short. These characteristics increase the odds that learners will actually complete the repetitions.
Many microlearning platforms can deliver content automatically, on a “drip delivery” or everboarding paradigm that conditions learners to spend a few minutes every day or several times per week learning. Those sessions provide ample opportunities for spaced repetition. And using an adaptive learning algorithm ensures that each learner gets the content they need most on the schedule that optimizes their recall practice — and maximizes long-term retention.
Make learning stick and build long-term retention with spaced repetition. Add a continuous microlearning knowledge retention campaign to your existing training — or teach new information using this proven paradigm. Either way, spaced repetition is a great way to improve the effectiveness and impact of your training.
For a deeper exploration of this and related topics, download the Cognitive Science behind OttoLearn whitepaper.
Games
Simple games layered on top of content
Scenario-based games that use the content
Leaderboards, competition
Fan excessive competition among employees or teams by offering large prizes for top performers and/or shaming those with lower scores
Challenge employees to beat their own past performance, or design a leaderboard that shows each employee only the four scorers above and below them
Points, rewards, badges
Award points or levels for completing sections of training or playing for a set number of minutes
Award levels, badges or points for recalling or applying content correctly, demonstrating mastery
As Neovation's Manitoba Territory Manager, I'm continually reminded of the resiliency, innovation, and initiative of Manitoba’s business community. Seeing these budding entrepreneurs develop and present their business plans reinforces that Manitoba is a great place to do business.
– Gord Holmes
Custom eLearning Development
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Introduction to Online Training
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Building Your eLearning Team
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Subscribe to our mailing list for all of the latest eLearning articles and Neovation news, delivered right to your inbox.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.
Evaluation Tip
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.