Spaced Learning

 I was surprised by a tidbit of information about retention and the short time it takes to move information from working memory to long term memory. At my work as well we created a spaced learning chat bot (see here, here and here) to test our users a week after their initial block learning event. Like you I wonder now if we had to wait a week.

What’s even more confusing, is that having read further this week, into Sousa’s there is an incredibly intriguing chart about spaced learning and practice weeks after the initial event. As the text cites mulitple studies that prove how effective spaced practice is in general and over time for helping with long term memory development and retention.

In those links above, I looked at several articles on space practice and finding the best interval for spaced practice to encourage learning. In that research I was surprised by the "latency" period they proposed as it was always around 24 hours with the longest I believe being 48 hours. Here I was expecting that weeks would be the best answer. Below are the links to those two papers on spaced retrieval practice (see here and here).

What I find incredible is that the idea of spaced practice is not seemingly in doubt as a valid technique for long term memory development, yet whenever I try to pitch the idea of using tools like our chat bot platform or microlearning platform to create this type of learning environment, ie one that has blocked learning followed by spaced practice, none of our members are at all compelled to provide this to their employees. It's frustrating to have the technology and the proof of effectiveness at our hands yet our industry is so locked in on block or massed learning as the delivery method that moving them to a more effective technique is difficult to the point of impossible. I think there needs to be more focus by teachers, facilitators, and trainers about the importance and effectiveness of spaced practice in long term memory to help learners and those who invest in learning, understand the important role in plays in retention. 

One thing that I look forward to trying is using our chat bot to test if learners remember more or less one day after the massed learning or one week after. It should be an interesting experiment if I can fine tune it and make it valid. Regardless, I was as surprised by that facet of spaced learning as you were.

Reference:

Sousa, D.A. (2016). How the brain learns, (5th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.