The Long Learn: Spacing for Retention

A key challenge inherent in a training event model is getting the content to stick over a period of time so that it can be used on the job. Knowledge and skill retention decays when learners don’t have opportunities to apply what they’ve learned immediately following a training event. In addition, many learners struggle with transfer and application of learned concepts back in their own work environment.

Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who is known for his work on the concept of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. The forgetting curve talks about the decline of memory over time especially when there is no effort to retain it. The spacing effect refers to our ability to more easily learn in small chunks over longer periods of time vs. large amounts over a short time.

Will Thalheimer, PhD is doing some great work around what he calls Subscription Learning that takes advantage of the spacing phenomenon. While the concept of spacing is an old one, current brain science has given us new insights for optimizing spacing to best effect including frequency and pattern of information that will have the greatest impact on retention.

http://mnemosyne-proj.org/

There are more software tools available now than ever for developers who want to take advantage of the spacing phenomenon with their learning content. One in particular is an open source project called the Mnemosyne Project which is a flash-card tool that is founded on the latest brain science related to spacing. Ultimately the science supports a learning approach that includes short format content delivered in the flow of the work day that sequentially builds a body of knowledge over time.

#Learning #ShortFormat #BrainScience