Testing Effect

My buddy Andrew, hit on something that is a cultural problem for our learners. Testing and quizzes, especially the negative views that come with them.

So often our learners shut down and off with the idea of tests or quizzes. They begin thinking of nothing more than passing the test or quiz rather than on the learning. I would love to get to a point where the quiz and test are seen as a tool of learning rather than the end of learning. The testing effect is a tremendous technique to improve learning outcomes. I recently heard on a LinkedIn Learning module about the testing effect that "the extra effort it then takes to recall the information actually makes the memory stronger" (Pulichino, 2017). The opportunity to have to remember the knowledge and apply it locks it in place in our memory, yet so often we don't use testing effectively. 

One thing my organization has done in the past few years is start to increase the amount of testing and quizzing that we do, but we've called it something else to get away from the terminology with a bad connotation; ie. Testing or Quizzing. We now have non-graded pre-tests before our training and knowledge checks scattered throughout the course. These tools are all non-graded but they provide the same testing effect memory development as an actual quiz or test. We are also working with iterative learning, or flashcard style quizzes. An entire module that is nothing but quiz questions designed to stimulate the testing effect for the learner. 

For a tool that is so powerful in creating long term memories, I think that testing and quizzing gets a bad rap. 

Reference

Pulichino, J. (2017, Sep. 5). Brain-based elearning design. [Video]. LinkedIn Learning https://www.linkedin.com/learning/brain-based-elearning-design/the-testing-effect (Links to an external site.)