# data[].attributes.headline
Breaking down the WHY, the WHAT and How of learning with UDL principles

# data[].attributes.subject
Breaking down the WHY, the WHAT and How of learning with UDL principles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

# data[].attributes.headline
Brain's ability to form new neural pathways

# data[].attributes.subject
Brain's ability to form new neural pathways

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After watching this, your brain will not be the same | Lara Boyd | TEDxVancouver

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning and memory under stress: implications for the classroom - npj Science of Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
npj Science of Learning - Learning and memory under stress: implications for the classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
September 2017 - Powered by PageTurnPro.com

# data[].attributes.body
Mind, Brain and Education at work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Mind, Brain, and Education Scienceis the "New" Brain-Based Education | Tokuhama-Espinosa | New Horizons for Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why Mind, Brain, and Education Scienceis the "New" Brain-Based Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Subtle "switching" costs cut efficiency, raise risk.

Doing more than one task at a time, especially more than one complex task, takes a toll on productivity. Although that shouldn't surprise anyone who has talked on the phone while checking E-mail or talked on a cell phone while driving, the extent of the problem might come as a shock. Psychologists who study what happens to cognition (mental processes) when people try to perform more than one task at a time have found that the mind and brain were not designed for heavy-duty multitasking. Psychologists tend to liken the job to choreography or air-traffic control, noting that in these operations, as in others, mental overload can result in catastrophe.

Multitasking can take place when someone tries to perform two tasks simultaneously, switch . from one task to another, or perform two or more tasks in rapid succession. To determine the costs of this kind of mental "juggling," psychologists conduct task-switching experiments. By comparing how long it takes for people to get everything done, the psychologists can measure the cost in time for switching tasks. They also assess how different aspects of the tasks, such as complexity or familiarity, affect any extra time cost of switching.

In the mid-1990s, Robert Rogers, PhD, and Stephen Monsell, D.Phil, found that even when people had to switch completely predictably between two tasks every two or four trials, they were still slower on task-switch than on task-repeat trials. Moreover, increasing the time available between trials for preparation reduced but did not eliminate the cost of switching. There thus appear to be two parts to the switch cost -- one attributable to the time taken to adjust the mental control settings (which can be done in advance it there is time), and another part due to competition due to carry-over of the control settings from the previous trial (apparently immune to preparation).

Surprisingly, it can be harder to switch to the more habitual of two tasks afforded by a stimulus. For example, Renata Meuter, PhD, and Alan Allport, PhD, reported in 1999 that if people had to name digits in their first or second language, depending on the color of the background, as one might expect they named digits in their second language slower than in their first when the language repeated. But they were slower in their first language when the language changed.

In experiments published in 2001, Joshua Rubinstein, PhD, Jeffrey Evans, PhD, and David Meyer, PhD, conducted four experiments in which young adults switched between different tasks, such as solving math problems or classifying geometric objects. For all tasks, the participants lost time when they had to switch from one task to another. As tasks got more complex, participants lost more time. As a result, people took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. Time costs were also greater when the participants switched to tasks that were relatively unfamiliar. They got up to speed faster when they switched to tasks they knew better.

In a 2003 paper, Nick Yeung, Ph.D, and Monsell quantitatively modeled the complex and sometimes surprising experimental interactions between relative task dominance and task switching. The results revealed just some of the complexities involved in understanding the cognitive load imposed by real-life multi-tasking, when in addition to reconfiguring control settings for a new task, there is often the need to remember where you got to in the task to which you are returning and to decide which task to change to, when.

According to Meyer, Evans and Rubinstein, converging evidence suggests that the human "executive control" processes have two distinct, complementary stages. They call one stage "goal shifting" ("I want to do this now instead of that") and the other stage "rule activation" ("I'm turning off the rules for that and turning on the rules for this"). Both of these stages help people to, without awareness, switch between tasks. That's helpful. Problems arise only when switching costs conflict with environmental demands for productivity and safety.

Although switch costs may be relatively small, sometimes just a few tenths of a second per switch, they can add up to large amounts when people switch repeatedly back and forth between tasks. Thus, multitasking may seem efficient on the surface but may actually take more time in the end and involve more error. Meyer has said that even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time.

Understanding the hidden costs of multitasking may help people to choose strategies that boost their efficiency - above all, by avoiding multitasking, especially with complex tasks. (Throwing in a load of laundry while talking to a friend will probably work out all right.) For example, losing just a half second of time to task switching can make a life-or-death difference for a driver on a cell phone traveling at 30 MPH. During the time the driver is not totally focused on driving the car, it can travel far enough to crash into an obstacle that might otherwise have been avoided.

Meyer and his colleagues hope that understanding switching costs and the light they shed on "executive control" may help to improve the design and engineering of equipment and human-computer interfaces for vehicle and aircraft operation, air traffic control, and many other activities using sophisticated technologies. Insights into how the brain "multitasks" lend themselves to a range of settings from the clinic, helping to diagnose and help brain-injured patients, to the halls of Congress, informing government and industrial regulations and standards.

This research is also taken into account by states and localities considering legislation to restrict drivers' use of cell phones.

Gopher, D., Armony, L. & Greenspan, Y. (2000). Switching tasks and attention policies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 308-229.

Mayr, U. & Kliegl, R. (2000). Task-set switching and long-term memory retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 1124-1140.

Meuter, R. F. I. & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(1), 25-40.

Meyer, D. E. & Kieras, D. E. (1997a). A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance: Part 1. Basic mechanisms. Psychological Review, 104, 3-65.

Meyer, D. E. & Kieras, D. E. (1997b). A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance: Part 2. Accounts of psychological refractory-period phenomena. Psychological Review, 104, 749-791.

Monsell, S., Azuma, R., Eimer, M., Le Pelley, M., & Strafford, S. (1998, July). Does a prepared task switch require an extra (control) process between stimulus onset and response selection? Poster presented at the 18th International Symposium on Attention and Performance, Windsor Great Park, United Kingdom.

Monsell, S., Yeung, N., & Azuma, R. (2000). Reconfiguration of task-set: Is it easier to switch to the weaker task? Psychological Research, 63, 250-264.

Monsell, S. & Driver, J., Eds. (2000). Control of cognitive processes: Attention and Performance XVIII. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Rogers, R. & Monsell, S. (1995). The costs of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 207-231.

Rubinstein, J., Evans, J. & Meyer, D. E. (1994). Task switching in patients with prefrontal cortex damage. Poster presented at the meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, March, 1994. Abstract published in Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1994, Vol. 6.

Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E. & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27, 763-797.

Yeung, N. & Monsell, S. (2003). Switching between tasks of unequal familiarity: The role of stimulus-attribute and response-set selection. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance, 29(2): 455-469.

American Psychological Association, March 20, 2006

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Subtle "switching" costs cut efficiency, raise risk. Doing more than one task at a time, especially more than one complex task, takes a toll on productivity. Although that shouldn't surprise anyone who has talked on the phone while checking E-mail or talked on a cell phone while driving, the extent of the problem might come as a shock.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online Learning Consortium Institute: Workshops: Log in to the site

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Should mobile devices be encouraged in class? Trinity College, CC BY-NC-ND

It's hard not to notice the connection of today's youth to technology.

Fused to their smartphones around the clock, they prefer screens to paper and text message to speech; they consider leaving voicemail an act of interpersonal aggression.

They seem to focus differently too: skimming and sampling their way through multiple streams of data, they look like they're taking it in all at once.

Some educators call them "digital natives," reflecting the idea that tech is at the core of who they are and how they function.

If living with technology really has rewired this generation for multitasking, what implications does this have for how we educate them? Should we tolerate - or maybe even encourage - mobile devices in class? And should we worry when we see students keeping an eye on social media or other diversions while doing homework?

Why attention matters for learning

As a professor who specializes in course design, I deal with these questions frequently as I help fellow faculty devise better strategies. In this work, I draw on my research background in cognitive psychology, a specialization focusing on mental processes such as reasoning, memory and attention.

Of those processes, attention is one that I tell teachers to be particularly attuned to. Research shows that memory - especially working memory, which holds information we're using in the present moment - is deeply intertwined with attention.

Without sustained focus, we retain surprisingly little, and that window of focus is much narrower than we may realize.

So, are the minds of digital natives - or any heavy tech users - better or worse when it comes to attention? It's a complicated question, partly because attention works in some paradoxical ways.

The function of attention is to prioritize where we put our limited cognitive resources at any given moment. One thing attention does is keep irrelevant information at bay. Like a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub, its job is to ensure that only the most important and relevant elements pass through into conscious awareness.

But at the same time, a well-functioning attention system has to stay open to information that's in the background and could be potentially useful. That mental bouncer has to constantly scan the crowd for anyone who might turn out to be a great addition to the party, pick them out and usher them inside.

What technology does to the ability to pay attention

Technology seems to have a bigger impact on that second side of attention.

Certain kinds of tech use - habitually consuming lots of online media at once, or playing certain kinds of video games - appear to boost the ability to efficiently pick up on peripheral information while keeping up with a main task.

And although long-term studies are lacking, there is a growing body of research on how tech-saturated environments shape the minds and brains of kids.

It's unlikely that video games or online media damage kids' ability to pay attention. But comparative research across high-tech and low-tech societies suggests that information processing is different in kids who grow up working with digital rather than physical tools. Neither group is better or worse across the board, but this research suggests that high-tech kids may be less inclined to learn by watching for extended periods of time.

That said, we should be cautious about concluding that today's students have developed the ability to juggle as much technology as they want. Technology has not reshaped the basic ways in which our brains process information.

As cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham points out, the impact of things like video games is relatively subtle. All they can do is tinker around the edges of our mental systems, rather than altering them at the core.

As Willingham says, something as fundamental as attention couldn't be deeply reshaped without a major overhaul of the brain - something that would be a function of evolution, not life experiences.

All of this means that college teachers should be skeptical of claims that their game- and tech-obsessed students process information completely differently. Compared to earlier generations, today's students are probably no more able to learn while simultaneously engrossed in Twitter, Facebook and texting.

College students and technology

There are other pitfalls to consider.

Research with young adults in college suggests that they are neither as enthusiastic about technology nor as adept at using it as we may assume. Sometimes, they intentionally opt for lower-tech approaches; in one study of California college students, most said that they preferred paper over a browser for their own studying.

This is something my faculty colleagues commonly observe as well - that although their students may use technology like social media casually throughout the day, it doesn't translate to other tech-based tasks, such as navigating a course's online homework system.

Students also get into trouble if they assume - because of the "digital nativism" idea, or simple lack of self-awareness - that they can master demanding coursework while engaged in digital distractions.

Evidence suggests that multitasking - such as tweeting in class - reduces learning, or at the very least makes it take longer.

Even sitting next to a classmate surfing the web on his or her own laptop hampers learning.

In sum, despite that appearance of being fused to their devices, today's students aren't immune to the distraction those devices cause. And they don't necessarily want technology in every corner of their educational lives.

How college teachers can help

College teachers need to include lots of tech support for online assignments and other kinds of educational technologies, because even students who have grown up with computers still get stuck when using them in new contexts.

Teachers must also avoid the trap of adding tech to a class just because they assume digital native students want it. Educational technology can be highly effective, but only when it is tightly coupled to the teacher's goals.

Even better, teachers can help students understand for themselves how attention works - knowledge that everyone ought to have in today's distracting era. Without vilifying technology, teachers can work to raise students' awareness about how attention impacts learning more than we may realize, no matter what our age.

The effects of technology on cognition are intriguing, but they don't justify teaching millennials as if they were a new species. Teachers need to think twice about tolerating devices in class, except as part of structured activities that link to the lesson at hand.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can millennials pay attention to classwork while texting, tweeting and being on Facebook?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the look of it, the millennials appear to be very comfortable with technology. But are they as immune to the effects of digital distraction as some might assume - especially in the classroom?

# data[].attributes.body
Digital Natives

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The surprising habits of original thinkers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How do creative people come up with great ideas? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant studies “originals”: thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. In this talk, learn three unexpected habits of originals -- including embracing failure. “The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they’re the ones who try the most,” Grant says. “You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones.”

# data[].attributes.body
Way to Improve Learning and Memory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jeffrey Karpicke, PhD, is the James V. Bradley associate professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. He received a BA in psychology from Indiana University and a PhD in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. Karpicke's research sits at the interface between cognitive science and education, with the goal of identifying effective strategies that promote long-term learning and comprehension. Karpicke's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. Karpicke was the recipient of the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from Association for Psychological Science, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Author website.

The movie "Inside Out" (2015) takes us inside the mind of its young protagonist, an 11-year-old girl named Riley, and depicts memory in a way that is sure to resonate with many people. In Riley's mind, her memories are objects - globes colored with emotions - that are stored in a mental space, just as physical objects are stored in a physical space. When Riley experiences an event and creates a new memory, a new globe is produced in her mind, rolling down a ramp like a ball returning in a bowling alley. When Riley re-experiences a past event, a globe is placed in a projector and events are replayed, projected on a screen in her mind. Cognitive psychologists refer to the mental processes involved in the creation of new memories and the recovery of past memories as encoding and retrieval, respectively.

The depiction of the mind in "Inside Out" follows centuries of thought on how mind and memory work. Throughout history, scholars have used a common metaphor to talk about memory: The mind is a vast storehouse or space; memories are objects stored in that space; and retrieving a memory is akin to searching for and finding an object in a physical space (Roediger, 1980). To learn something new, according to this view, the challenge lies in getting knowledge "in" one's mental space. Getting it back "out" when needed is important, too, but learning is usually identified with the encoding of new knowledge in memory. Retrieval is assumed to be neutral for learning; retrieval is needed to assess what a person has learned, but retrieval processes themselves are not thought to produce learning.

Recent advances in the science of learning and memory have challenged common assumptions about how learning happens. Specifically, recent work has shown that retrieval is critical for robust, durable, long-term learning. Every time a memory is retrieved, that memory becomes more accessible in the future. Retrieval also helps people create coherent and integrated mental representations of complex concepts, the kind of deep learning necessary to solve new problems and draw new inferences. Perhaps most surprisingly, practicing retrieval has been shown to produce more learning than engaging in other effective encoding techniques (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011). This approach, which recognizes the central role of retrieval processes in learning and aims to develop new learning strategies based on retrieval practice, is referred to as retrieval-based learning.

Retrieval Creates Learning

Research dating back a century has shown that retrieval contributes to learning (for a historical review, see Roediger & Karpicke, 2006a), but the past decade has seen a renewed, intense focus on exploring the benefits of retrieval for learning. This recent research has established that repeated retrieval enhances learning with a wide range of materials, in a variety of settings and contexts, and with learners ranging from preschool ages into later adulthood (Balota, Duchek, Sergent-Marshall & Roediger, 2006; Fritz, Morris, Nolan & Singleton, 2007).

A word-learning experiment illustrates some key points about retrieval-based learning. In the experiment (Karpicke & Bauernschmidt, 2011), students learned a list of foreign language words (e.g., Swahili vocabulary words like "mashua - boat") across cycles of study and recall trials. In study trials, the students saw a vocabulary word and its translation on the computer screen, and in recall trials, they saw a vocabulary word and had to recall and type its translation. The students studied a list of vocabulary words, then attempted to retrieve the whole list, studied it again, retrieved it again, and so on across alternating study and retrieval practice blocks.

There were several different conditions in the experiment. In one condition, students simply studied the words once, without trying to recall them at all. In a second condition, students continued studying and recalling the words until they had recalled all of them once. After a word was successfully retrieved once, it was "dropped" from further practice - the students did not see it again in the learning session.

Other conditions in the experiment examined the effects of repeated retrieval practice. Once a word was recalled, the computer program required the students to practice retrieving the items three more times. One repeated retrieval condition had the three recall trials happen immediately, three times in a row. This condition, referred to as massed retrieval practice, is akin to repeating a new piece of information over and over in your head right after you experience it. Finally, in the last condition highlighted here, the students also practiced retrieving the words three times, but the repeated retrievals were spaced throughout the learning session. For instance, once a student correctly recalled the translation for mashua, the program moved on to other vocabulary words, but prompts to practice retrieval of the translation for mashua would pop up later on in the program. In this way, the retrieval opportunities were spaced throughout the learning session.

The key question in this research was, how well would students remember the vocabulary word translations in the long term? Figure 1 shows the proportion of translations that students remembered one week after the initial learning session. Merely studying the words once without ever recalling them produced extremely poor performance (average recall was 1 percent, barely visible on the figure). Practicing until each translation was recalled once was much better. But what about the effects of repeated retrieval practice? Massed retrieval - repeating the translations three times immediately - produced no additional gain in learning. Repeated retrieval enhanced learning only when the repetitions were spaced, and indeed, the effects of repeated spaced retrieval were very large. In a single experiment, simple changes that incorporated spaced retrieval practice took performance from nearly total forgetting to extremely good retention (about 80 percent correct) one week after an initial learning experience (see also Karpicke & Roediger, 2008; Pyc & Rawson, 2010).

Figure 1. Data from Karpicke & Bauernschmidt (2011).

Retrieval Practice is Underappreciated as a Learning Strategy

If retrieval practice is such a potent learning strategy, one would hope that many learners would practice retrieval to learn many different things in many situations. However, as noted earlier, retrieval is not typically considered an important part of the learning process, and unfortunately, many learners do not practice retrieval as often or as effectively as they could.

An emphasis on getting knowledge in memory shows up on surveys of students' learning strategies. In one survey (Karpicke, Butler & Roediger, 2009), college students were asked to list the strategies they use while studying and to rank-order the strategies. The results, shown in Figure 2, indicate that students' most frequent study strategy, by far, is repetitive reading of notes or textbooks. Active retrieval practice lagged far behind repetitive reading and other strategies (for a review of several learning strategies, see Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham, 2013). A wealth of research has shown that passive repetitive reading produces little or no benefit for learning (Callender & McDaniel, 2009). Yet not only was repetitive reading the most frequently listed strategy, it was also the strategy most often listed as students' number one choice, by a large margin.

Why don't learners use repeated retrieval practice more frequently? Many students view retrieval as a "knowledge check"; they test themselves to see if they know something, rather than out of the belief that practicing retrieval itself will help them learn. This means that many students will use a "one-and-done" strategy: If they can recall something once, they believe they have learned it, so they remove it from further practice. Many students study this way when they regulate their own learning (Karpicke, 2009), even though their long-term learning will not benefit from repeated retrieval practice. Instead, a one-and-done strategy will produce long-term performance similar to the recall-once condition in Figure 1. There is some evidence that instructing learners about the benefits of retrieval leads students to report using retrieval practice more frequently when they study on their own (Einstein, Mullet & Harrison, 2012), but the best ways to influence students to practice retrieval remain to be discovered.

Practicing Retrieval Promotes Meaningful Learning

Perhaps another reason retrieval practice is not used more widely is because repeated retrieval may seem like "rote learning." Rote learning - simple memorization based on repetition - is short-lived, poorly organized and does not support the ability to transfer knowledge, make inferences or solve new problems. The outcome of rote learning is obviously not what students and educators aim for. Meaningful learning is essentially the opposite of rote learning: It is long-lasting and durable, coherent and well organized, and supports transfer, inferencing and problem solving. In fact, the past decade of research on retrieval-based learning has firmly established that retrieval practice promotes meaningful learning.

Retrieval-based learning may be a more effective means of achieving meaningful learning than other popular active learning strategies. In one example of this (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011), students studied educational texts about science topics using one of two strategies. In a retrieval practice condition, students read a text, then set it aside and spent time recalling and writing down as much as they could remember from it (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b). They then reread the text and recalled it a second time. In a second condition, students created concept maps while they read the texts. Concept maps are node-and-link diagrams that require learners to think about the relational and organizational structure of materials (Novak, 2013). The students spent the same amount of time studying in the two conditions; the difference was whether they created concept maps or practiced actively retrieving while learning.

Figure 3 shows the results of two different final assessments given one week after the learning session. On one assessment, students answered two types of short-answer questions aimed at measuring meaningful learning: verbatim questions, which assessed concepts stated directly in the texts, and inference questions, which required students to make new connections across concepts. On another assessment, the final assessment involved creating a concept map, because concept mapping is often used as an assessment of the coherence and integration of students' knowledge. On the final verbatim and inference questions and on the final concept map assessment, practicing retrieval during learning produced the best performance, even better than studying the material by making concept maps.

Several additional studies have established that retrieval practice promotes meaningful learning. Retrieval practice enhances the learning of educationally relevant materials, including educational texts, multimedia presentations, material explained in classroom lectures and a variety of other complex concepts (Jensen, McDaniel, Woodard & Kummer, 2014; Johnson & Mayer, 2009; Larsen, Butler, Lawson & Roediger, 2013; Lyle & Crawford, 2011; Roediger, Agarwal, McDaniel & McDermott, 2011). Retrieval practice also supports students in making inferences, solving new problems and transferring knowledge (Butler, 2010; Chan, 2009; Hinze & Wiley, 2011; McDaniel, Howard & Einstein, 2009; Smith & Karpicke, 2014). Retrieval-based learning is an effective method for improving meaningful learning.

Creating Retrieval-based Learning Activities

Perhaps the best aspect of retrieval-based learning is that it is free. Although there are sophisticated tools that can be used to implement retrieval practice, like classroom clicker systems (Roediger et al., 2011) and other computer-based learning systems (Grimaldi & Karpicke, 2014; Lindsey, Shroyer, Pashler, & Mozer, 2014), retrieval practice does not require special equipment or technology. The essence of retrieval-based learning is taking material you are trying to learn, setting it aside, and spending time actively retrieving the information.

Existing educational activities can be converted into retrieval-based learning activities. For instance, answering questions and taking quizzes are effective ways to practice retrieval. In some circumstances, students might answer questions on quizzes or practice worksheets by looking up answers in their notes or books, rather than by attempting to retrieve the answers. One study directly compared this type of open-book questioning to closed-book conditions in which students were required to retrieve the answers to questions rather than looking them up (Agarwal, Karpicke, Kang, Roediger & McDermott, 2008). Answering questions in open-book conditions led to more forgetting over one week than did attempting to retrieve the answers, closed-book and then studying the answers. In other words, closed-book quizzes, which required retrieval practice, were more effective than open-book quizzes, which did not require learners to engage in retrieval.

Another study (Blunt & Karpicke, 2014) examined the effectiveness of using concept mapping as a retrieval practice activity. In the experiment, students read texts about science topics and then created concept maps either with or without viewing the texts. In other words, some students created maps while studying the texts whereas other students had to engage in retrieval to create their maps. On a short-answer assessment one week after the learning session, students did better when they had learned by creating concept maps without viewing the texts, as a retrieval practice activity, than by creating maps while studying the texts. Thus, educational activities can be enhanced when they involve retrieval-based learning.

Take Home Points About Retrieval-based Learning

This article has made the case for four take-home points about retrieval-based learning:

Retrieval is a learning event. Practicing retrieval is a simple and effective way to enhance long-term, meaningful learning.

Some effective learning strategies, like retrieval practice, are underutilized. Conversely, the most popular learning strategy among college students - repetitive reading - leads to very limited levels of learning.

When practicing retrieval, retrieve more than once and space your retrievals, rather than massing them all together. Self-testing as a knowledge check is a good idea, but don't stop at just one successful retrieval (one-and-done). Two or three additional spaced retrievals will bolster long-term learning.

Retrieval can happen in a variety of ways, and many existing activities may be converted into retrieval-based learning activities. The key ingredient is to spend time actively retrieving when trying to learn something new.

References

Agarwal, P.K., Karpicke, J. D., Kang, S.H.K., Roediger, H.L., & McDermott, K.B. (2008). Examining the testing effect with open- and closed-book tests. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22(7), 861-876. doi:10.1002/acp.1391.

Balota, D.A., Duchek, J.M., Sergent-Marshall, S.D., & Roediger, H.L. (2006). Does expanded retrieval produce benefits over equal-interval spacing? Explorations of spacing effects in healthy aging and early stage Alzheimer's disease. Psychology and Aging, 21(1), 19-31. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.21.1.19.

Blunt, J.R., & Karpicke, J.D. (2014). Learning with retrieval-based concept mapping. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(3), 849-858. doi:10.1037/a0035934.

Butler, A.C. (2010). Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(5), 1118-1133. doi:10.1037/a0019902, 10.1037/a0019902.supp.

Callender, A.A., & McDaniel, M.A. (2009). The limited benefits of rereading educational texts. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34(1), 30-41. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2008.07.001.

Chan, J.C.K. (2009). When does retrieval induce forgetting and when does it induce facilitation? Implications for retrieval inhibition, testing effect, and text processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 61(2), 153-170. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2009.04.004.

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, M.J., & Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266.

Einstein, G.O., Mullet, H.G., & Harrison, T.L. (2012). The testing effect: Illustrating a fundamental concept and changing study strategies. Teaching of Psychology, 39(3), 190-193. doi:10.1177/0098628312450432.

Fritz, C.O., Morris, P.E., Nolan, D., & Singleton, J. (2007). Expanding retrieval practice: An effective aid to preschool children's learning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(7), 991-1004. doi:10.1080/17470210600823595

Grimaldi, P.J., & Karpicke, J.D. (2014). Guided retrieval practice of educational materials using automated scoring. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(1), 58-68. doi:10.1037/a0033208.

Hinze, S.R., & Wiley, J. (2011). Testing the limits of testing effects using completion tests. Memory, 19(3), 290-304. doi:10.1080/09658211.2011.560121.

Jensen, J. L., McDaniel, M.A., Woodard, S.M., & Kummer, T.A. (2014). Teaching to the test ... or testing to teach: Exams requiring higher order thinking skills encourage greater conceptual understanding. Educational Psychology Review, 26(2), 307-329. doi:10.1007/s10648-013-9248-9.

Johnson, C.I., & Mayer, R.E. (2009). A testing effect with multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(3), 621-629. doi:10.1037/a0015183.

Karpicke, J.D. (2009). Metacognitive control and strategy selection: Deciding to practice retrieval during learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(4), 469-486. doi:10.1037/a0017341.

Karpicke, J.D., & Bauernschmidt, A. (2011). Spaced retrieval: Absolute spacing enhances learning regardless of relative spacing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(5), 1250-1257. doi:10.1037/a0023436.

Karpicke, J.D., & Blunt, J.R. (2011). Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping. Science, 331(6018), 772-775. doi:10.1126/science.1199327.

Karpicke, J.D., Butler, A.C., & Roediger, H.L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17(4), 471-479. doi:10.1080/09658210802647009.

Karpicke, J.D., & Roediger, H.L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966-968. doi:10.1126/science.1152408.

Larsen, D.P., Butler, A.C., Lawson, A.L., & Roediger, H.L., III. (2013). The importance of seeing the patient: Test-enhanced learning with standardized patients and written tests improves clinical application of knowledge. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 18(3), 409-425. doi:10.1007/s10459-012-9379-7.

Lindsey, R.V., Shroyer, J.D., Pashler, H., & Mozer, M.C. (2014). Improving students' long-term knowledge retention through personalized review. Psychological Science, 25(3), 639-647. doi:10.1177/0956797613504302.

Lyle, K.B., & Crawford, N.A. (2011). Retrieving essential material at the end of lectures improves performance on statistics exams. Teaching of Psychology, 38(2), 94-97. doi:10.1177/0098628311401587.

McDaniel, M.A., Howard, D.C., & Einstein, G.O. (2009). The read-recite-review study strategy: Effective and portable. Psychological Science, 20(4), 516-522. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02325.x.

Novak, J.D. (2013). Concept mapping. In J. Hattie & E.M. Anderman (Eds.), International Guide to Student Achievement (pp. 362-365). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Pyc, M.A., & Rawson, K.A. (2010). Why testing improves memory: Mediator effectiveness hypothesis. Science, 330(6002), 335. doi:10.1126/science.1191465.

Roediger, H.L. (1980). Memory metaphors in cognitive psychology. Memory & Cognition, 8(3), 231-246. doi:10.3758/bf03197611.

Roediger, H.L., Agarwal, P.K., McDaniel, M.A., & McDermott, K.B. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in the classroom: Long-term improvements from quizzing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17(4), 382-395. doi:10.1037/a0026252.

Roediger, H.L., & Karpicke, J.D. (2006a). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(3), 181-210. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00012.x.

Roediger, H.L., & Karpicke, J.D. (2006b). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x.

Smith, M.A., & Karpicke, J.D. (2014). Retrieval practice with short-answer, multiple-choice, and hybrid tests. Memory, 22(7), 784-802. doi:10.1080/09658211.2013.831454.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or policies of APA.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A powerful way to improve learning and memory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jeffrey Karpicke, PhD, is the James V. Bradley associate professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. He received a BA in psychology from Indiana University and a PhD in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. Karpicke's research sits at the interface between cognitive science and education, with the goal of identifying effective strategies that promote long-term learning and comprehension.

# data[].attributes.body
Thinking about one's thinking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cite this guide: Chick, N. (2013). Metacognition. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/.

Thinking about One's Thinking | Putting Metacognition into Practice

Thinking about One's Thinking

Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one's understanding and performance. Metacognition includes a critical awareness of a) one's thinking and learning and b) oneself as a thinker and learner.

Initially studied for its development in young children (Baker & Brown, 1984; Flavell, 1985), researchers soon began to look at how experts display metacognitive thinking and how, then, these thought processes can be taught to novices to improve their learning (Hatano & Inagaki, 1986). In How People Learn, the National Academy of Sciences' synthesis of decades of research on the science of learning, one of the three key findings of this work is the effectiveness of a "'metacognitive' approach to instruction" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p. 18).

Metacognitive practices increase students' abilities to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and tasks (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 12; Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Scardamalia et al., 1984; Schoenfeld, 1983, 1985, 1991). They do this by gaining a level of awareness above the subject matter: they also think about the tasks and contexts of different learning situations and themselves as learners in these different contexts. When Pintrich (2002) asserts that "Students who know about the different kinds of strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving will be more likely to use them" (p. 222), notice the students must "know about" these strategies, not just practice them. As Zohar and David (2009) explain, there must be a " conscious meta-strategic level of H[igher] O[rder] T[hinking]" (p. 179).

Metacognitive practices help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses as learners, writers, readers, test-takers, group members, etc. A key element is recognizing the limit of one's knowledge or ability and then figuring out how to expand that knowledge or extend the ability. Those who know their strengths and weaknesses in these areas will be more likely to "actively monitor their learning strategies and resources and assess their readiness for particular tasks and performances" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 67).

The absence of metacognition connects to the research by Dunning, Johnson, Ehrlinger, and Kruger on "Why People Fail to Recognize Their Own Incompetence" (2003). They found that "people tend to be blissfully unaware of their incompetence," lacking "insight about deficiencies in their intellectual and social skills." They identified this pattern across domains-from test-taking, writing grammatically, thinking logically, to recognizing humor, to hunters' knowledge about firearms and medical lab technicians' knowledge of medical terminology and problem-solving skills (p. 83-84). In short, "if people lack the skills to produce correct answers, they are also cursed with an inability to know when their answers, or anyone else's, are right or wrong" (p. 85). This research suggests that increased metacognitive abilities-to learn specific (and correct) skills, how to recognize them, and how to practice them-is needed in many contexts.

Putting Metacognition into Practice

In " Promoting Student Metacognition," Tanner (2012) offers a handful of specific activities for biology classes, but they can be adapted to any discipline. She first describes four assignments for explicit instruction (p. 116):

Preassessments-Encouraging Students to Examine Their Current Thinking: "What do I already know about this topic that could guide my learning?"

The Muddiest Point-Giving Students Practice in Identifying Confusions: "What was most confusing to me about the material explored in class today?"

Retrospective Postassessments-Pushing Students to Recognize Conceptual Change: "Before this course, I thought evolution was... Now I think that evolution is ...." or "How is my thinking changing (or not changing) over time?"

Reflective Journals-Providing a Forum in Which Students Monitor Their Own Thinking: "What about my exam preparation worked well that I should remember to do next time? What did not work so well that I should not do next time or that I should change?"

Next are recommendations for developing a "classroom culture grounded in metacognition" (p. 116-118):

Giving Students License to Identify Confusions within the Classroom Culture: ask students what they find confusing, acknowledge the difficulties

Integrating Reflection into Credited Course Work: integrate short reflection (oral or written) that ask students what they found challenging or what questions arose during an assignment/exam/project

Metacognitive Modeling by the Instructor for Students: model the thinking processes involved in your field and sought in your course by being explicit about "how you start, how you decide what to do first and then next, how you check your work, how you know when you are done" (p. 118)

To facilitate these activities, she also offers three useful tables:

Questions for students to ask themselves as they plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking within four learning contexts-in class, assignments, quizzes/exams, and the course as a whole (p. 115)

Prompts for integrating metacognition into discussions of pairs during clicker activities, assignments, and quiz or exam preparation (p. 117)

Questions to help faculty metacognitively assess their own teaching (p. 119)

Weimer's " Deep Learning vs. Surface Learning: Getting Students to Understand the Difference " (2012) offers additional recommendations for developing students' metacognitive awareness and improvement of their study skills:

"[I]t is terribly important that in explicit and concerted ways we make students aware of themselves as learners. We must regularly ask, not only 'What are you learning?' but 'How are you learning?' We must confront them with the effectiveness (more often ineffectiveness) of their approaches. We must offer alternatives and then challenge students to test the efficacy of those approaches." (emphasis added)

She points to a tool developed by Stanger-Hall (2012, p. 297) for her students to identify their study strategies, which she divided into " cognitively passive" ("I previewed the reading before class," "I came to class," "I read the assigned text," "I highlighted the text," et al) and " cognitively active study behaviors" ("I asked myself: 'How does it work?' and 'Why does it work this way?'" "I wrote my own study questions," "I fit all the facts into a bigger picture," "I closed my notes and tested how much I remembered," et al). The specific focus of Stanger-Hall's study is tangential to this discussion, ¹ but imagine giving students lists like hers adapted to your course and then, after a major assignment, having students discuss which ones worked and which types of behaviors led to higher grades. Even further, follow Lovett's advice (2013) by assigning "exam wrappers," which include students reflecting on their previous exam-preparation strategies, assessing those strategies and then looking ahead to the next exam, and writing an action plan for a revised approach to studying. A common assignment in English composition courses is the self-assessment essay in which students apply course criteria to articulate their strengths and weaknesses within single papers or over the course of the semester. These activities can be adapted to assignments other than exams or essays, such as projects, speeches, discussions, and the like.

As these examples illustrate, for students to become more metacognitive, they must be taught the concept and its language explicitly (Pintrich, 2002; Tanner, 2012), though not in a content-delivery model (simply a reading or a lecture) and not in one lesson. Instead, the explicit instruction should be "designed according to a knowledge construction approach," or students need to recognize, assess, and connect new skills to old ones, "and it needs to take place over an extended period of time" (Zohar & David, p. 187). This kind of explicit instruction will help students expand or replace existing learning strategies with new and more effective ones, give students a way to talk about learning and thinking, compare strategies with their classmates' and make more informed choices, and render learning "less opaque to students, rather than being something that happens mysteriously or that some students 'get' and learn and others struggle and don't learn" (Pintrich, 2002, p. 223).

Metacognition instruction should also be embedded with the content and activities about which students are thinking. Why? Metacognition is "not generic" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 19) but instead is most effective when it is adapted to reflect the specific learning contexts of a specific topic, course, or discipline (Zohar & David, 2009). In explicitly connecting a learning context to its relevant processes, learners will be more able to adapt strategies to new contexts, rather than assume that learning is the same everywhere and every time. For instance, students' abilities to read disciplinary texts in discipline-appropriate ways would also benefit from metacognitive practice. A literature professor may read a passage of a novel aloud in class, while also talking about what she's thinking as she reads: how she makes sense of specific words and phrases, what connections she makes, how she approaches difficult passages, etc. This kind of modeling is a good practice in metacognition instruction, as suggested by Tanner above. Concepción's " Reading Philosophy with Background Knowledge and Metacognition " (2004) includes his detailed "How to Read Philosophy" handout (pp. 358-367), which includes the following components:

What to Expect (when reading philosophy)

The Ultimate Goal (of reading philosophy)

Basic Good Reading Behaviors

Important Background Information, or discipline- and course-specific reading practices, such as "reading for enlightenment" rather than information, and "problem-based classes" rather than historical or figure-based classes

A Three-Part Reading Process (pre-reading, understanding, and evaluating)

Flagging, or annotating the reading

Linear vs. Dialogical Writing (Philosophical writing is rarely straightforward but instead "a monologue that contains a dialogue" [p. 365].)

What would such a handout look like for your discipline?

Students can even be metacognitively prepared (and then prepare themselves) for the overarching learning experiences expected in specific contexts. Salvatori and Donahue's The Elements (and Pleasures) of Difficulty (2004) encourages students to embrace difficult texts (and tasks) as part of deep learning, rather than an obstacle. Their "difficulty paper" assignment helps students reflect on and articulate the nature of the difficulty and work through their responses to it (p. 9). Similarly, in courses with sensitive subject matter, a different kind of learning occurs, one that involves complex emotional responses. In " Learning from Their Own Learning: How Metacognitive and Meta-affective Reflections Enhance Learning in Race-Related Courses" (Chick, Karis, & Kernahan, 2009), students were informed about the common reactions to learning about racial inequality (Helms, 1995; Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 1997; see student handout, Chick, Karis, & Kernahan, p. 23-24) and then regularly wrote about their cognitive and affective responses to specific racialized situations. The students with the most developed metacognitive and meta-affective practices at the end of the semester were able to "clear the obstacles and move away from" oversimplified thinking about race and racism "to places of greater questioning, acknowledging the complexities of identity, and redefining the world in racial terms" (p. 14).

Ultimately, metacognition requires students to "externalize mental events" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, p. 67), such as what it means to learn, awareness of one's strengths and weaknesses with specific skills or in a given learning context, plan what's required to accomplish a specific learning goal or activity, identifying and correcting errors, and preparing ahead for learning processes.

--------

1 Students who were tested with short answer in addition to multiple-choice questions on their exams reported more cognitively active behaviors than those tested with just multiple-choice questions, and these active behaviors led to improved performance on the final exam.
References

Adams, Maurianne, Bell, Lee Ann, and Griffin, Pat. (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

Bransford, John D., Brown Ann L., and Cocking Rodney R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Baker, Linda, and Brown, Ann L. (1984). Metacognitive skills and reading. In Paul David Pearson, Michael L. Kamil, Rebecca Barr, & Peter Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of research in reading: Volume III (pp. 353-395). New York: Longman.

Brown, Ann L. (1980). Metacognitive development and reading. In Rand J. Spiro, Bertram C. Bruce, and William F. Brewer, (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading comprehension: Perspectives from cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and education (pp. 453-482). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Chick, Nancy, Karis, Terri, and Kernahan, Cyndi. (2009). Learning from their own learning: how metacognitive and meta-affective reflections enhance learning in race-related courses . International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(1). 1-28.

Flavell, John H. (1985). Cognitive development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hatano, Giyoo and Inagaki, Kayoko. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In Harold Stevenson, Azuma, Horishi, and Hakuta, Kinji (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan, New York: W.H. Freeman.

Lovett, Marsha C. (2013). Make exams worth more than the grade. In Matthew Kaplan, Naomi Silver, Danielle LaVague-Manty, and Deborah Meizlish (Eds.), Using reflection and metacognition to improve student learning: Across the disciplines, across the academy. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Salvatori, Mariolina Rizzi, and Donahue, Patricia. (2004). The Elements (and pleasures) of difficulty. New York: Pearson-Longman.

Schoenfeld, Alan H. (1991). On mathematics as sense making: An informal attack on the fortunate divorce of formal and informal mathematics. In James F. Voss, David N. Perkins, and Judith W. Segal (Eds.), Informal reasoning and education (pp. 311-344). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Weimer, Maryellen. (2012, November 19). Deep learning vs. surface learning: Getting students to understand the difference. Retrieved from the Teaching Professor Blog from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/deep-learning-vs-surface-learning-getting-students-to-understand-the-difference/.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Photo credit: wittygrittyinvisiblegirl via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Helga Weber via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: fiddle oak via Compfight cc

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Nancy Chick Print Version Cite this guide: Chick, N. (2013). Metacognition. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/metacognition/. Thinking about One's Thinking | Putting Metacognition into Practice Thinking about One's Thinking Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Science of Learning - How does learning transfer to new situations in/outside of the classroom?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is ‘Transfer of Learning’ and How Does It Help Students?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I was wrapping up a presentation on memory and learning when a colleague asked, "How do we help students learn in courses where there's a lot of memorization?" He explained that he taught introductory-level human anatomy, and although the course wasn't all memorization, it did challenge students' capacity to retain dozens of new terms and concepts.

The question itself is tricky because most teaching professionals are heavily invested in the idea that learning isn't about being able to regurgitate facts on an exam. We also worry, and with good reason, that emphasizing rote learning steals time and effort away from the deeper thinking that we want students to do. But in my work I've come to realize that memorization deserves some airtime because it is one important route to building content knowledge and expertise. Furthermore, acquiring content knowledge doesn't have to detract from critical thinking, reasoning, or innovation-rather, it can complement all these. Cognitive scientists are making new discoveries all the time about the connections between memory and processes such as drawing inferences, making predictions, and other skills that make up the ability to think like an expert in a discipline.

So what techniques target this specific teaching and learning challenge? We're all familiar with mnemonics such as the first-letter technique-using a word such as RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) or a catchy phrase (Every Good Boy Does Fine) to remember a sequence of information. Mnemonics are one good tool, but what else can we offer?

Learning isn't about being able to regurgitate facts on an exam, but memorization deserves some airtime because it is one important route to building content knowledge and expertise

For starters, we should convey to students (and keep in mind ourselves) that memorization challenges nearly everyone because the mind simply isn't set up to take in reams of disjointed facts. Our memory systems evolved to be picky about what we remember, selecting the information that is most relevant to our goals and discarding the rest. Understanding this helps us and our students have realistic expectations about the level of effort needed to succeed.

It also helps to understand how we create memories for words, because many memorization tasks involve scientific terms, foreign language vocabulary, and the like. How we do this has been hotly debated among researchers, but one view is that we rely on a special piece of mental machinery called the phonological loop that holds speech sounds.

If you've ever muttered a phone number to yourself while you ran around looking for a pencil to write it down with, you've experienced the phonological loop in action. But recycling phone numbers isn't the phonological loop's main reason for existing. Rather, its real job kicks in when we run into a word we haven't heard before. When this happens, the phonological loop grabs onto the sequence of sounds and keeps it fresh while other memory systems set up representations of what the new word means. The catch is that phonological loop capacity varies fairly substantially from individual to individual. This means that words of three, four, or more syllables overwhelm some people's ability to learn new words on the fly.

With these two points in mind-that memory doesn't handle disjointed facts well and new vocabulary hinges on one sometimes-shaky mechanism within memory-here are some ways to help students manage memorization:

Emphasize context and purpose. Ask yourself why students are being asked to memorize these facts in the first place. If students can readily answer that question and if they can picture future situations in which they will use the information, they will be better primed to remember it.

Break down new vocabulary words, especially those that are more than two syllables long. Allow time to rehearse and remember the first couple of syllables before tacking on later ones. Also keep in mind that this process will be easier for some students than others due to wide variation in phonological loop capacity; you may want to design in a "mastery learning" or other individualized approach for vocabulary so that students can move through at their own pace.

Visualize information. For most people, imagery is highly memorable, perhaps because so much of the brain is devoted to visual processing. Memory champions, such as the ones populating the best seller Moonwalking with Einstein, use elaborate visualization strategies to achieve incredible feats of memorization. Similarly, strategies such as the keyword mnemonic work by linking word sounds to images (such as using an image of a cowboy on a horse to remember the Spanish word "caballo," which sounds a bit like "cowboy").

Take advantage of the "Big Three" applied memory principles-testing, spacing, and interleaving. Briefly, these refer to the facts that quizzes are a great way to study and that we do best when we spread out our study sessions and alternate between different topics. Tackling a big memory project such as human anatomy means we need every advantage we can get, and dozens of research studies have supported these three as producing the biggest memory payoff for the time invested.

Avoid the rereading trap. Students tend to fall into passively reviewing material, and in doing so they miss the key advantage of techniques such as testing: retrieval practice. Retrieval practice strengthens memory, but it works only when we actively challenge memory. Flash cards, a favorite student strategy, are fine as long as students use them to actively quiz themselves.

It's okay to expect students to learn the facts and terms needed to become experts in a discipline. With an understanding of memory and some strategies to share, we can make this side of learning productive and maybe even painless-but certainly at least less painful.
Michelle Miller is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Northern Arizona University.
Reprinted from The Teaching Professor, 28.9 (2014): 3. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Helping Students Memorize: Tips from Cognitive Science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Although there is more to learning than regurgitating facts on an exam, memorization is an important route to building content knowledge and expertise.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How well do students learn when a lesson is mainly in PowerPoint? Henrik Berger Jørgensen, CC BY-NC-ND

For a brief period in the history of teaching, using PowerPoint automatically qualified you as a tech-savvy professor - an innovator who wouldn't settle for the usual combination of staticky black-and-white overhead films and hand-scrawled chalkboard notes.

Now, it's hard to believe that PowerPoint was once considered innovative by anyone. Popular criticism includes everything from tongue-in-cheek comments about death by PowerPoint to serious claims that it fundamentally degrades how we think and communicate.

But much of today's college instruction isn't in face-to-face classrooms, a setting in which PowerPoint was traditionally used. It's in the burgeoning field of online learning.

So if more learning is moving online, does that mean that teaching with PowerPoint is becoming a thing of the past?

Surprisingly, the answer is no.

Passive learning through PowerPoint?

Even though there's little research that directly addresses whether PowerPoint affects learning in college students, critics have questioned its value in educational settings.

Some ask whether PowerPoint might indirectly undermine the quality of teaching by reinforcing a passive learning approach.

We know that lecturing is less effective than alternative methods. It therefore makes sense for teachers in face-to-face classrooms to question how much of their class time ought to be spent on slideshows.

But the fact is "slideshows" remain a popular method for presenting content in today's online courses.

Technically, these are often not PowerPoints, but decks generated using other types of specialized programs.

And they may differ from standard in-class PowerPoint presentations in important ways.

For example, taking advantage of the increased flexibility of the online environment, they give students more control over how quickly to go through the material and when to backtrack. They can also have more interactive features, such as quizzes, that ask students to apply material while they are learning it.

Even so, the basic - and flawed - idea is the same: put the material in front of students, and learning will happen.

What's wrong with slideshows in online courses

As a psychologist specializing in teaching techniques and course design, when I talk to faculty about teaching effectively with technology, I sometimes tell them to follow the ABS principle: anything but slideshows.

I'm only half-kidding with that blanket statement.

After all, we learn with the same brains in online environments as we do face-to-face; the principles of learning don't change just because the medium changes. And today's learning theorists agree: active involvement trumps passive viewing.

Students need to grapple with challenging problems, practice skills, discuss and defend viewpoints. But for this kind of active learning to happen, instructors need to ensure they do not rely too heavily on slides.

There are alternatives: simulations, problem-based learning, even educational games are all proven methods for drawing students in. They also transplant well into online learning.

Using slideshows the right way

So do slideshows have any place in a well-designed online course? Possibly.

They can be used strategically for things they are best at: giving students an overview of new material, or providing a refresher on concepts students will need for an upcoming activity.

Slides are also great for for integrating visual illustrations. This is important because visuals - diagrams, figures, photos and the like - have a powerful impact on learning.

Visual information is almost always more memorable than sound, text or other modalities.

This isn't because of the now-debunked idea that some people are "visual learners," but more likely stems from how the brain codes images. There are separate systems for representing verbal and visual information in the brain. When we save information in both places, it is easier to recall.

Teachers don't have to stick with static images, either. Even basic animations can illuminate conceptual relationships - such as cause and effect, or the unfolding of a process over time - in ways that text can't.

Furthermore, as University of California, Santa Barbara researcher Richard Mayer has discovered, visuals and the spoken word pair up in powerful ways, so that audio plus visuals produce better learning than either alone.

Research also tells teachers some things not to do with visuals. Instructors should avoid purely decorative graphics, as these can actually hamper learning.

They should also eschew reading text verbatim, instead using a conversational, natural speaking style for voiceovers and verbal explanations.

What this means in the larger context of online learning

In sum, slideshows can be a useful part of online instruction, when used for the right things and designed in the right way. But they shouldn't be the main, or the only, method of instruction - any more than lectures should dominate face-to-face classes.

But it's not just instructors who need to hear this message.

Publishing and educational technology companies, who provide many of the tools that educators rely on, can do more to develop products that push beyond familiar formulas and draw on the latest learning science.

We need tools that make it easy to create assignments that ask students to apply what they have learned, in scenarios that are as realistic and challenging as possible.

These learning tools also need to be adaptive, adjusting the material and pace to the individual learner. This kind of educational technology does exist, but far more can be done to expand the available options.

Teaching in the age of technology comes with its own set of opportunities as well as challenges. And online education presents educators and tech developers with a rare opportunity to fundamentally rethink what we do.

Will we use it to explore new avenues for learning, or will we fall back on the the same old techniques that don't work well in face-to-face classrooms?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning from PowerPoint: is it time for teachers to move on?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Slideshows, when designed right, can be a useful part of online instruction. But they shouldn't be the main, or the only, method of instruction.

# data[].attributes.body
Learning strategy on retrieving info

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Retrieval practice is a simple research-based teaching strategy that dramatically raises students' grades. When students retrieve and bring information to mind, this mental challenge produces durable long-term learning. Easy learning leads to easy forgetting. Stop cramming, reviewing, and re-teaching. Instead, simply ask students what they remember. No prep, no grading, just powerful teaching.

The science of learning exists. It's time to unleash it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Retrieval Practice: Unleash the Science of Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Harness powerful teaching strategies, unleash the science of learning, and transform your classroom with resources by cognitive scientists.

# data[].attributes.body
Retrieval Practice Strategy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listen to my interview with Pooja Agarwal ( transcript):

Sponsored by Raymond Geddes and Kids Discover

We've talked about retrieval practice two other times on this site: First in 2015, when we read the book Make it Stick. Then in 2016, I interviewed cognitive psychologists Megan Smith and Yana Weinstein about the Six Powerful Learning Strategies You Must Share with Students.

In both cases, I noticed that although we were discussing collections of techniques, retrieval practice was at the core of both groups. Because it's such a powerful technique, I would think that by now it would have really taken off, that I'd hear teachers talking about it and see the term crop up in lots of education spaces, but I don't see that happening.

So I wanted to give it one more push by carving out a designated spot for it here. My goal is to help retrieval practice become a regular part of classroom practice and part of our common vocabulary as teachers. To help with this cause, I interviewed Pooja Agarwal, Ph.D., cognitive scientist and founder of RetrievalPractice.org.

What is Retrieval Practice?

Retrieval practice is the act of trying to recall information without having it in front of you. Suppose you're studying the systems of the human body-skeletal, muscular, circulatory, and so on. You could do retrieval practice by attempting to name those systems without looking at the list. Once you've listed all you can remember, you'd open up your book or notes and check to see if you got them right.

You might be thinking, This is nothing new. The whole concept of flashcards is built on retrieval practice, and flashcards have been around forever, right?

What's new is the research: In recent years, cognitive psychologists have been comparing retrieval practice with other methods of studying-strategies like review lectures, study guides, and re-reading texts. And what they're finding is that nothing cements long-term learning as powerfully as retrieval practice.

The Research

Agarwal and her colleagues studied the effects of retrieval practice with students in a middle school social studies course (McDaniel, Agarwal, Huelser, McDermott, & Roediger, 2011). Over the course of a year and a half, while the teacher continued teaching as normal, students were regularly quizzed on the material with no-stakes quizzes, meaning they wouldn't count against their grades. These quizzes only covered about one-third of what was being taught. The teacher left the room for every quiz, so she had no knowledge of what was included in the quizzes.

On end-of-unit exams, students scored a full grade level higher on the material from the quizzes than on any of the other material. The other concepts had been taught and reviewed by the teacher as they normally would; the only difference was that some things also appeared on the no-stakes quizzes, and those were the concepts students retained more fully when tested on the exam.

The very act of being quizzed actually helped students learn better.

Here's what this means for teachers: When we teach something once, then want to do something else to help students learn it better, instead of just reviewing the content, we're much better off giving something like a quiz instead. In other words, if we do more asking students to pull concepts out of their brains, rather than continually trying to put concepts in, students will actually learn those concepts better.

To read about other studies on retrieval practice, click here. For now, let's look at some ways you can incorporate retrieval practice into your instruction.

Ways to Use Retrieval Practice in the Classroom

Think-Pair-Share
This quick, low-maintenance strategy can be used at any time to have students recall information, then share it with a partner. You can use think-pair-shares with single-answer questions, or make them more open-ended, like "Think of one thing you learned yesterday about cells." Be sure to have students think on their own before turning to a partner. "It's important for students to retrieve individually as much as possible," Agarwal advises. "If you jump right into pairs, then we all know as educators that some students are retrieving and some may not be." One way to make sure all students retrieve is to have them jot responses down on paper before sharing them with a partner.

Low-Stakes Quizzes
These can be given on paper, in a Google Form, with an individual response system like clickers, Plickers, or Poll Everywhere; or by using a game like Kahoot or Quizziz. It's important to note that these quizzes are a learning strategy: Ideally, students wouldn't get scores on them at all, but if you must give some points, make them an almost negligible part of students' overall class grade.

Brain Dumps
Have students get out a sheet of paper and, within a certain length of time, write down everything they know about a topic of study. This can be done at the beginning of a unit (similar to how you'd use a K-W-L Chart), partway through as a way to reinforce learning, or near the end of a unit. Once students have completed theirs, they can exchange them in a think-pair-share or use them to compile a whole-class brain dump. Then they can return to their texts to see what they missed or what needs correction.

Flashcards
These can be a powerful retrieval tool in class or at home, but students need to be taught to use them correctly:

Once a card has been mastered, keep it in the deck a while.
Research has shown that students tend to "drop" cards out of their decks too soon after they have mastered them (Karpicke, 2009). Ideally, a fact should be successfully retrieved three times before a student moves on from it.

Actually retrieve.
Karpicke's research also found that when students see a familiar prompt on a flashcard, they have a tendency to tell themselves they know it, then flip it over to see the answer, rather than taking a few extra seconds to actually recall the answer-and ideally, say it out loud-before flipping the card over. The difference in timing is subtle, but important: Students will not get the same benefits from flashcards unless they actually retrieve the answer before seeing it.

Shuffle the deck.
Keeping the cards in the same order makes them predictable. Once a deck has been gone through a few times, it should be shuffled to make it more challenging.

For more tips, take a look at College Info Geek's excellent post on effectively using flashcards.

Tips and Cautions

Retrieval practice is not the same thing as assessment.
Although some retrieval activities might allow you to formatively assess student understanding, remember that retrieval practice is a learning activity. Again, if you must assign points for practices, make sure they will have a very low impact on student grades.

Space your practice.
Retrieval practice is even more effective if it's done in short bursts over time, rather than in a single long session. This spacing causes students to forget some of the material, and the struggle involved in trying to recall it strengthens their long-term learning.

Include feedback.
If students retrieve the wrong information, the practice won't be much good unless they find out the right information, so be sure to give them feedback as they go. This can be as simple as providing the correct answer or letting students check their texts after they have attempted to retrieve. "Part of that isn't just so students know if they got their answer correct or incorrect," Agarwal says, "but it adjusts students' metacognition," helping them get "better at estimating or judging what they know and what they don't know."

Match your practice to your assessment.
If your summative assessment for a chunk of content will be basic recall of facts, then the retrieval practice can be that simple. But it you're going to include some higher-order questions as well, then be sure to ask those same types of questions in retrieval practice.

Does it Fit with Inquiry Learning?

If your classroom is built around more hands-on, inquiry-driven approaches to learning that don't prioritize retaining specific content-structures like Genius Hour and project-based learning -you might wonder whether retrieval practice is relevant to your teaching.

Consider this: Within any of those frameworks, students still have to learn and retain discrete information. Take, for example, a student who has decided to learn Arabic as his focus for Genius Hour, or students who are studying soil pH as part of a gardening project. Both students will need to study and remember concrete information in order to make progress, so even if your instruction isn't set up in a traditional way, understanding how retrieval practice works can help you help your students learn better.

A Little Goes a Long Way

Agarwal's final piece of advice is to start small. "If a student just writes down two things or one thing they learned, and then you move on, that's okay," she says. "You'll still get benefits of retrieval without spending five minutes in a classroom discussion."

It can be a bell-ringer. An exit slip. A sponge activity. Something you do while students stand in line for lunch. Don't overthink it. Agarwal advises teachers to ask themselves this: "What is one way we can flip from reviewing information to students retrieving information? What can we do tomorrow?"

What will you do tomorrow? ♦

Learn More

Dr. Agarwal and her colleagues have put together this comprehensive guide to using retrieval practice. Visit RetrievalPractice.org/download to get a free copy for yourself. And be sure to follow Retrieval Practice on Twitter at @RetrieveLearn.
References:
Karpicke, J. D. (2009). Metacognitive control and strategy selection: deciding to practice retrieval during learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(4), 469.

McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger III, H. L. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in a middle school science classroom: The effects of quiz frequency and placement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 399.

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You're Not Using

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nothing cements long-term learning as powerfully as retrieval practice. Learn how to incorporate it into your classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Interview with Megan Smith and Yana Weinstein ( transcript):
What does the word "study" mean to you?
Have you ever told your students to study for a test? Have you ever actually taught them how to study?

It turns out studying can be taught. And t wo cognitive psychological scientists, Yana Weinstein and Megan Smith (whose name has changed since this post to Sumeracki), have made it their mission to teach people how to study better. On their new website, The Learning Scientists, they use infographics and videos to share strategies and other insights about how we learn.

Here we will explore six research-based learning strategies that Weinstein and Smith teach on their site. If we can work these methods into our instruction, and teach students how to use them on their own, our students stand a much better chance of actually remembering our material.

One final note before we dig in: Although performance assessments and project-based learning allow students to show what they know with more depth and authenticity, most content areas still need to measure some learning with tests. When you are teaching that kind of content, these six strategies will help your students perform better on the test AND retain that information long after the test is over.
Space out your studying over time.
Far too many students wait until the night before a test to study for it. Similarly, teachers often wait until the day before a test to review. When enough students score well on the test, it appears they have learned the material. But a few weeks later, most of that information has vanished from students' minds. For more durable learning, the studying has to take place in smaller chunks over time.

"Every time you leave a little space, you forget a bit of the information, and then you kind of relearn it," Weinstein explains. "That forgetting actually helps you to strengthen the memory. It's kind of counterintuitive, but you need to forget a little bit in order to then help yourself learn it by remembering again."

Teachers can help students apply this strategy by helping them create a studying calendar to plan out how they will review chunks of content, and by carving out small chunks of class time every day for review. In both cases, plan to include current concepts AND previously learned material: Many teachers know this as "spiraling."
Practice bringing information to mind without the help of materials.
Many people think of "studying" as simply re-reading notes, textbooks, or other materials. But having the information right in front of us doesn't force us to retrieve it from memory; instead, it allows us to trick ourselves into thinking we know something. Recalling information without supporting materials helps us learn it much more effectively.

"Put your class materials away, and then write out or maybe sketch or speak everything you know and try to be as thorough as possible, and then check your materials for accuracy," Smith advises. "You're bringing information to mind almost like you're testing yourself; though it can be a practice test, it doesn't have to be. You can just sort of go through and explain what you know, or teach a friend or a pet or even an inanimate object everything that you learned in school. By bringing that information to mind, you're changing the way that information is stored so that it's easier for you to get to later on."

Teach students how to do retrieval practice in class: Have them turn off their devices, put all their notes and books away, then ask them to write everything they know about a particular term or topic, or share their thoughts in a think-pair-share. When the practice is done, have students check their understanding by revisiting their materials and discussing misconceptions as a class. Once they learn how to do this in school, they can then apply it at home.
Explain and describe ideas with many details.
This method asks students to go beyond simple recall of information and start making connections within the content. Students should ask themselves open-ended questions about the material, answer in as much detail as possible, then check the materials to make sure their understanding is correct.

Here's how Smith and Weinstein explain elaboration:

Teachers can apply this strategy by having brief class discussions where these kinds of questions are explored and asking students to work elaboration into their own study plans.
Switch between ideas while you study.
Common knowledge tells us that to learn a skill, we should practice it over and over again. While repetition is vital, research says we will actually learn that skill more effectively if we mix our practice of it with other skills. This is known as interleaving.

"Let's say you're doing a bunch of math problems," Weinstein says. "What's fairly typical is ... five of the same problem, or 10 of the same problem. Instead of doing that, try different problems in different orders." So if students are learning to calculate the area of a triangle, instead of having them do 20 problems with triangles, have them do one of a triangle, then one of a circle, then a triangle, then a square.

"The thing about that," Weinstein notes, "is that it's actually harder. So they'll be getting more wrong, they'll be making more errors, but they'll also be learning something very important, which is how to choose a particular strategy for each problem, as opposed to just repeatedly doing the same thing."

When planning exercises for students, resist the temptation to have them repeat the exact same process multiple times in a row. Instead, have them do a few of the new process, then weave in other skills, so that the repetitive behavior is interrupted and students are forced to think more critically. Explain this strategy to students so they can apply interleaving to their own studying.
Use specific examples to understand abstract ideas.
Most teachers already use this strategy in their own teaching; it's a natural part of explaining a new concept. But what we don't necessarily do is help students extend their understanding by coming up with examples of their own. Here's how Weinstein and Smith explain this broader use of concrete examples as a study practice:

Teachers can apply this strategy by using concrete examples when teaching abstract concepts, then asking students to come up with their own, correcting any examples (or parts of examples) that aren't quite right, and looking for more. Encourage students to continue this practice when they study.
Combine words and visuals.
When information is presented to us, it is often accompanied by some kind of visual: An image, a chart or graph, or a graphic organizer. When students are studying, they should make it a habit to pay attention to those visuals and link them to the text by explaining what they mean in their own words. Then, students can create their own visuals of the concepts they are learning. This process reinforces the concepts in the brain through two different paths, making it easier to retrieve later.

"And when we say visuals," Smith explains, "we don't necessarily mean anything specific, so it depends on the types of materials. You could have an infographic, a cartoon strip, a diagram, a graphic organizer, timeline, anything that makes sense to you so long as you're sort of depicting the information both in a way with words and a way with pictures."

"This isn't just for students who are good at drawing," Weinstein adds. "It's not about the quality of the drawing. It really just needs to be a visual representation as you can depict it."

In class, regularly turn students' attention to the visuals used in textbooks, on websites, and even in your own slideshow presentations. Have students describe the visuals to each other and make connections with what you're learning. Then have students create their own visuals of the content to further reinforce it. Remind students to include diagramming, sketching, and creating graphic organizers when they study at home.

Two more pieces of advice on how to maximize these strategies for learning:

Combine them. These strategies don't necessarily work in isolation. You can space out your retrieval practice, and when doing retrieval practice, try to recall concrete examples, elaborate, or sketch out a concept. When doing retrieval practice, you can interleave between different concepts.

Make them part of your class vocabulary. If you just use these strategies in your teaching, you'll see improvement. But if you actually explain the research to students, teach them the terminology, and use that terminology when teaching-"Okay, we're going to spend a few minutes on retrieval practice"-students will not only have a clearer understanding of why you're doing what you do, but they may be more likely to carry those skills with them into future classes.

The Learning Scientists site is full of useful information about how people learn, and more is being added every week. To learn more, visit learningscientists.org, and to download this free chart and other materials about the strategies, click the image below.
Other resources mentioned on the podcast:
Learning Scientists on Twitter: @acethattest

Learning Scientists on Facebook: facebook.com/acethattest

Make It Stick, The Science of Successful Learning, by Brown, Roediger & McDaniel
Teaching How2s simpleshow.com

Learn something new every week.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll also get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Powerful Learning Strategies You MUST Share with Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Studying can be taught. Learn how retrieval practice, interleaving, elaboration, and other research-based study strategies can help your students learn better.

# data[].attributes.headline
Six Habits of Highly Successful Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Six Habits of Highly Successful Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are cognitive psychological scientists interested in research on education. Our main research focus is on the science of learning. (Hence, "The Learning Scientists"!). Our Vision is to make scientific research on learning more accessible to students, teachers, and other educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Downloadable Materials - The Learning Scientists

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Please use our materials and pass them along to others for educational purposes! We ask that you attribute us when you use the materials, and that you do not use portions of the materials or remove information from the materials. The materials may not be used commercially.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching for Long-term Retention and Transfer

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching for Long-term Retention and Transfer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Learning to Learn Series | Academic Affairs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Frequent self-testing is one of the most commonly used and effective retrieval practice strategies. A variety of study questions, sample problems and practice exams are typically available for students to use. Alternatively, students can create their own questions, preferably in a format similar to the types of questions used on the course assessments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How students react when they are faced with challenges in their learning, is determined by their mindset. Students can be taught to develop a growth mindset. Instructors should praise effort, strategy and process rather than focusing on talent and intelligence to promote a growth mindset.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Learning to Learn Series | Academic Affairs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To interleave while studying, students should choose several topics and spread them throughout their study sessions. The topics can be from the same or different subjects, but some experts believe that this strategy is most beneficial when the subjects are related in some way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Handout Evidence from Neuroscience for Education.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using retrieval practice to improve learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Adult Learning highlights that adult learners are fundamentally different in their methods of learning in comparison with children. As an L&D professional, you need to understand these differences and figure out the best ways to apply them to meet your learner's needs.

With adult learners, you will encounter unique expectations, demands, and challenges. The key is to accommodate to these and design training and eLearning courses in a manner that is most effective and engaging for them.

While there are multiple methodologies to make this happen, there is a model proposed by Lila Davachi, Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University that is known to be effective. Known as AGES (Attention-Generation-Emotion-Spacing), this model highlights four key elements that are essential for effective adult learning to happen.

Let us go through the four parts in detail now.

"Learning that happens while multitasking cannot be generalized- and does not result in understanding or the ability to recall when needed." --The Maritz Institute

The first and foremost step in any learning process is to gain the attention of the learner. While a little distraction is good in some situations, during learning, it is important that the learner is single-mindedly focused. This is especially true when a person is trying to learn something new. Research has revealed that though it is physically possible to multitask, the efficiency and effectiveness or the time taken to complete a task gets impacted negatively during multitasking.

In fact, Edward Hallowell, MD, Director of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health has reiterated that true multitasking is only but a myth. Though we are inclined to believe that we are doing multiple things at the same time, it is nothing but a misconception. This is because the cerebral cortex in the brain can focus on only one thing at a time. What happens is that the mind shifts from one thing to the other very quickly and in the process, the effectiveness of both is lost.

The importance of managing the attention of learners effectively cannot thus, be undermined. You need to design eLearning courses that capitalize on the way brain science works.

Read: The Science of Attention (And Why eLearning Professionals Should Care)

"Self‑directed learning is more in tune with our natural processes of psychological development." --- Malcolm Knowles

Once you have managed to gain the attention of a learner for a particular task, an idea is generated in the working memory. However, the important thing now is to decide how to maximize the likelihood of these memories forming. Research has proved that repetition has a limited impact on creating learning that lasts. By repeating something for ten times, you are not necessarily creating the desired learning impact.

is totally different from the way children learn. While children learn from their surroundings without being choosy, adults learn in a more Adult learning selective manner. They tend to capitalize on what they already know and build upon it. They take responsibility of what they need to and want to learn which is why self- directed learning is a hit with adults. Self- directed learning allows the learners to control what they learn and to an extent, how they learn. It provides a foundation for transformative learning - using critical thinking to challenge and question what students have learned earlier and thereby, form conclusions on what they learn.

Now, why and how is this more effective? The brain depends on experiences, both individual and social for its growth. Whenever the human brain is actively involved in the learning, it is more effective and efficient.

Read: Self-Directed Learning: A Key Component of Adult Learning Theory

"The role of emotions is critical in adult learning as they are closely linked with the construction of meaning and knowledge." --- Dirkx, 2001; Shuck et al., 2007

It is a well-known fact that emotion and memory are interlinked. Research has shown that emotionally active events form a place in our memory for a longer span of time than the events that are slightly on the neutral side.

Emotions create memories - both negative and positive. Each time you get an emotional cue, neurons get activated in the brain and remind you of things associated with that particular emotion.

It is quite obvious by now that there is more to an effective eLearning course than just looking modern, attractive and well-functioning. Your eLearning courses should spark the right emotions in the learner to aid the learning process. If we can connect with learners from the outset - establishing the need for a particular eLearning course, taking them through the course and also, connecting post learning, and then the desired result can be achieved. Not only will you have more rates of completion but also would have enabled a good learning experience.
Read more:
How to Drive Engagement with Emotionally Charged eLearning Courses

Improve Learner Engagement by Using Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

"Repeating the information over a longer interval - say a few days or a week later, rather than in rapid succession - sends a stronger signal to the brain that it needs to retain the information." --- Tara Parker-Pope, NYTimes Article

If you expect the learners to go through 40 slides of content in an eLearning course or sit through a classroom session for eight long hours with just lunch and refreshment breaks, you are definitely not giving them the scope to learn. The human brain has limited cognitive power, and overloading information isn't every going to ensure learning. As eLearning designers, it is important that you realize this and design courses that keep this in mind.

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, came up with a theory called the Forgetting Curve. It refers to the period just after learning has taken place when we start to forget what we have learned. According to the findings, we tend to forget almost 50-80 percent of all new information we have learned within a few days after the learning event has occurred. But we tend to recall more and forget less when the learning is spaced across time and repeated during the teaching session. According to these same findings, learning using the spaced repetition method, improves long-term retention by 200 percent.

Learning designers should hence, design learning programs that space the reiteration of content delivered to the learners. When you distribute the learning in spaced stages, it ensures long-term memory, thus making the learning effective and more impactful.

Read more: Use These 5 Instructional Design Strategies to Create an Effective eLearning Course

REFERENCES:

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT PAGEUP PEOPLE WHITE PAPER

Christina Angelaki, Ilias Mavroidis.Communication and Social Presence: The Impact on Adult Learners' Emotions in Distance Learning

The Science Behind The Learning Process, CLOMEDIA (accessed November 01, 2015).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 4 Adult Learning Elements You Should Include in Your eLearning Courses

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Adult Learning highlights that adult learners are fundamentally different in their methods of learning in comparison with children. As an L&D professional, you need to understand these differences and figure out the best ways to apply them to meet your learner's needs. With adult learners, you will encounter unique expectations, demands, and challenges.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can They Do It in the Real World? Designing for Transfer of Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why do we build instruction? Seems like a "duh" kind of question for those of us who build instructional materials for a living, but it actually deserves more thought than you might expect. Editor's Note: Parts of this article may not format well on smartphones and smaller mobile devices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The cognitive load of an eLearning module-that is, the amount of brainpower it demands of learners so that they can process and understand the information-varies. Some of the factors are under the control of the instructional designer; some are not. Cognitive load is an intersection of:

Intrinsic cognitive load-the inherent complexity of a learning task-is not directly controlled by the designer. However, some approaches to eLearning design can help reduce cognitive overload, even when teaching complex processes and concepts.

Germane cognitive load refers to activities and presentation of material that enhance learning. Instructional designers have considerable control here. One factor they do not control, but can make allowances for, is the level of expertise of learners using the eLearning.

Extraneous cognitive load, also a function of the presentation of the material and activities required, impairs learning. Extraneous cognitive load is created when learners are asked to do tasks that are not connected to the learning goals. This is entirely a function of design.

Designers can create dynamic and engaging eLearning using these seven popular approaches, while also reducing cognitive load:

1. Microlearning or chunking-In the lingo of cognitive-load theorists, material that has "high-element interactivity" is high in intrinsic cognitive load: It's complex, multistep, and the pieces must all be mastered before the material as a whole becomes comprehensible. However, each step or element can become a separate "schema" or element of learning. Once a learner has mastered a series of schemas-chunks-a different eLearning activity can pull the pieces together into a coherent process or unit of information.

2. Multimodal presentation-Humans process information differently if they are seeing it versus hearing it. Presenting some material visually, via text, diagrams, color schemes, or icons, and presenting additional material verbally, using narration, reduces cognitive load and allows many learners to process the information better.

3. Content curation-Rather than include everything, even the kitchen sink, in an eLearning course, offer curated content as supplementary material. Novice learners can focus on the essential information, presented clearly in the eLearning; expert learners can explore more deeply by reading linked content, watching optional videos, and engaging in advanced activities.

4. Just-in-time learning or job aids-Provide some instruction, particularly instructions for short procedures or fact sheets on products, in handy, easily accessible (mobile-friendly) formats: short videos, checklists, or flash cards. Learners can easily find and use these at the moment they need the information. By reducing the amount learners are expected to memorize or learn at once, designers can reduce the potential for cognitive overload.

5. Ease off on the bells and whistles-Game mechanics or interactivity are appropriate for some eLearning, but not all. If the subject matter has a high intrinsic cognitive load, the presentation should probably tend toward the simple; save the special effects for livening up topics that might be important but that are not inherently engaging.

6. Keep activities relevant-Ask learners to apply learning in activities that make sense and reflect how they will actually use the information on the job. A simulation where learners practice actual skills and are required to generate their own response to a prompt is more helpful (and realistic) than a multiple-choice quiz where they select from a list of canned-but improbable-responses.

7. Simplify, simplify, simplify-Use plain English and make sure to include simple, complete, and clear instructions. Keep the design clean and logical, with navigation elements like buttons obvious. Use large, clear fonts. In short, don't make learners work so hard to get into and understand the workings of the eLearning that they have no brain power left to tackle the actual material.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Design eLearning to Reduce Cognitive (Over)Load

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The cognitive load of an eLearning module-that is, the amount of brainpower it demands of learners so that they can process and understand the information-varies. Some of the factors are under the control of the instructional designer; some are not. Cognitive load is an intersection of:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Managing Cognitive Load is a Delicate Act of Balance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Managing the cognitive load of an eLearning course is a delicate act of balance. You need to optimize the use of working memory capacity and avoid cognitive overload.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We’ve compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Low-stakes assignments are forms of evaluation that do not heavily impact students' final grades or other educational outcomes. The purpose of low-stakes assignments is to provide students with an indication of their performance while taking a course and give students an opportunity to improve their performance prior to receiving a final grade, either on an assignment or in a course.

As Vincent Tinto writes in Completing College: Rethinking Institutional Action (2012), "To be effective, assessments must be frequent, early, and formative." At colleges and universities recognized by the National Survey on Student Engagement for their success in promoting student's active engagement in their learning: "Feedback from faculty to students is timely and frequent, as documented both by NSSE data and by interviews with students and faculty members" (Kuh, et al. 2010).

Low-stakes assignments tend to work best when they generate formative feedback regarding where students are in the course, what they are doing well, and where they may need development to ultimately succeed in the class. At DePaul, there is a general expectation that students will be given feedback early in the quarter or term, and low-stakes assignments are a powerful method of doing so.

For students in their first year, whether as freshmen or transfers, such feedback is especially important in order to help them understand the expectations at DePaul. Early feedback also enables faculty to use DePaul's BlueStar system to identify students who may need additional assistance and share that information with the students and their academic advisors.

Benefits of Low-Stakes Assignments

Low-stakes assignments

Give students a realistic idea of their performance early in the term, enabling them to seek appropriate resources as needed

Open up lines of communication between students and their instructors, and may increase students' willingness to ask for help

Provide feedback for instructors on how well students are absorbing information and progressing in their skill development

Allow instructors to direct students to resources if they need further assistance or support

Give students an opportunity to be active participants in the evaluation of their own learning

Increase the likelihood that students will attend class and be active and engaged

Low Stakes-Assignments in Online and Flex Modality Courses

While all classes can benefit from frequent low-stakes assignments, it's especially important in online and Flex modalities. In a face-to-face classroom, instructors may assess student learning in informal ways using nonverbal cues-a puzzled look or an affirming nod, for example. In a online and Flex courses, instructors may have more difficulty picking up these cues from students, especially if they don't always have their cameras on or you're not meeting synchronously. In Flex classes, it can also be more challenging to pick up on nonverbal cues among in-person students if also trying to monitor engagement and participation among remote students at the same time. ​​

D2L Tools for Low-Stakes Assignments

​D2L tools will help you to implement low-stakes assignments in all types of courses and course modalities.

Quizzes are often used for multiple-choice or other objective question types because they can be graded automatically, allowing students to get feedback immediately. For low-stakes assignments, you may want to allow students to review the questions and their answers after they take the quiz. You can set up Submission Views to allow for this. Instructors can also view quiz statistics to see if the class is struggling with a particular concept and review that topic with them.

Discussions

Discussions allow students to share short pieces of writing or other media with you and their classmates. They work well for sharing rough drafts or other early-stage components of larger projects for peer review or for certain journaling assignments.

Submissions

Submission folders allow students to submit work privately to you. You may be used to using Submissions for major assignments like research papers. For shorter, less formal pieces of writing, you can change the Submission Type to "Text" to allow students to type their response directly into D2L rather than uploading a file from their computer.

Examples of Low-Stakes Assignments

Though given less weight, low-stakes assignments may be similar in type and kind to high-stakes assignments: they tend to reflect the kind of work students are going to be expected to do for a final exam, paper, or other summative project.

Components of a Larger Project

When assigning students a writing or research project, break down the elements of the project and use one or more as a low-stakes assignment. Require students to submit their works-in-progress so that they can receive early written feedback and a small grade, which could consist simply of a check or check-minus. Any one (or more) of the following elements could be collected and used as a low-stakes assignment:

Prospectus or proposal

Abstract

Thesis statement

Outline

Annotated bibliography

Specific sections of the final project (e.g., introduction, methods, lit. review)

Early-stage drafts of a paper

Early Drafts and Peer Review

Midway through a writing project, have students bring a full or partial draft of their paper to class and then exchange feedback with a peer. Students will receive valuable feedback that they can use to revise their work.

Try providing students with a rubric to help them give their peers targeted, assignment-specific feedback. Also, consider inviting Writing Center tutors to your class to model how peer review can be conducted effectively.

Mid-Project/Quarter Conferences

Around midterm or during the planning stages of a major course project, ask students to meet with you for conferences. If the class is too large for you to meet with each student individually, assign students to meet with you in groups, or one-on-one with their TA. The conference time might be dedicated to discussing the students' progress towards course goals or providing feedback on a particular project.

To get the most out of your conference time, ask students to complete and bring with them a self-assessment form or project proposal. Alternatively, ask students to write down one question they have about the course, content covered in class, or an assignment they are currently working on. Having a document to reference will keep the conversation on track and help put both you and your students at ease.

Group Work Planning and Reflection

When students are working in groups, require them to submit a statement outlining each group members' responsibilities and/or a timeline that measures their progress. Periodically throughout the group project, ask students to submit short reflections detailing their progress and any areas where they need support.

Weekly Quizzes

For a course where exams are the primary means of summative assessment, give students a quiz at the end of each week with questions based on content covered up to that point. Although the quiz might not count for credit (or might only count for a very small portion of the final grade), it will give students an idea of what they already learned and which concepts they need to spend more time with. Quizzes can be paper-based, conducted during class using Polling or posted online in D2L Quizzes.

Class Problem Solving

In a course where students learn new computational or mathematical concepts, have a problem posted on the board or screen at the start of each class, or in a collaborative document. Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to find the solution. Spend part of class going over the problem as a big group, or review the problem in a short video.

Course Concept Journals

Consider having students keep a regular journal where they can engage with and apply course concepts. For example, in an Introduction to Political Science course, ask students to read the politics section of the New York Times and keep a weekly concept-application journal. For each entry, students should select one article that they read, summarize it, and show how the article demonstrates a theoretical concept discussed that week in class. Review students' journals every other week or so and give each entry brief feedback.

Reading Journals

In a course where students are required to do weekly readings, assign a reading journal. Entries might require students to summarize and respond to the source, or to answer a set of questions provided by the instructor. Students can submit their journal entries through D2L, by handing in hard copies every other week, or by posting them on a course blog.

Short Writing Assignments

Give students a prompt that corresponds to a class reading assignment, concept, or activity and have them turn in a short written response. Return the students' responses with your brief feedback, indicating whether the students are on track or not (a simple "check plus" or "check minus" could be used). In large classes where you might not have time to give individualized written feedback to each student, share and discuss one or two anonymous students responses at the next class meeting or in a D2L News item or weekly introduction.

Discussion Questions

Post open-ended questions designed to promote engagement with the current course content or an upcoming project or assignment. Invite students to ask questions and identify areas of confusion, and answer the questions posted by their peers. See Facilitating Discussions for additional suggestions.

Support for Low-Stakes Assignments at DePaul

University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL)
Discuss how you can incorporate writing in a low-stakes assignment by contacting Matthew Pearson, Director of the UCWbL. You can also invite peer tutors to your classroom to demonstrate effective peer review before having your own students give feedback to one another.

University Libraries
If you're interested in using an element of a research project as a means of giving early feedback to students, connect with a university librarian. University librarians can offer feedback and resources for designing research projects for students.

Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
Have a question about integrating discussion forums in your classes? Not sure which platform might be best for setting up a course blog? Contact the CTL for help identifying and implementing a technology tool to help meet your goals.

Further Reading

Angelo, T., & Cross, K.P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Bean, J. C. (1996). Engaging ideas: the professors guide to integrating writing,critical thinking and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J.S., and Whitt, E.J. (2010). Student success in college: Creating conditions that matter. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Lang, J. M. (2013). Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Nilson, L. B. (2010). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tinto, Vincent. (2012). Completing college: Rethinking institutional action. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Warnock, Scott. (2013). Frequent, low-stakes grading: Assessment for communication, confidence. Faculty Focus. Madison, WI: Magna Publications.

​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Low-stakes assignments are forms of evaluation that do not heavily impact students' final grades or other educational outcomes. The purpose of low-stakes assignments is to provide students with an indication of their performance while taking a course and give students an opportunity to improve their performance prior to receiving a final grade, either on an assignment or in a course.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments

Both forms of assessment can vary across several dimensions (Trumbull and Lash, 2013):

Informal / formal

Immediate / delayed feedback

Embedded in lesson plan / stand-alone

Spontaneous / planned

Individual / group

Verbal / nonverbal

Oral / written

Graded / ungraded

Open-ended response / closed/constrained response

Teacher initiated/controlled / student initiated/controlled

Teacher and student(s) / peers

Process-oriented / product-oriented

Brief / extended

Scaffolded (teacher supported) / independently performed

Recommendations

Formative Assessment Ideally, formative assessment strategies improve teaching and learning simultaneously. Instructors can help students grow as learners by actively encouraging them to self-assess their own skills and knowledge retention, and by giving clear instructions and feedback. Seven principles (adapted from Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2007 with additions) can guide instructor strategies:

Keep clear criteria for what defines good performance - Instructors can explain criteria for A-F graded papers, and encourage student discussion and reflection about these criteria (this can be accomplished though office hours, rubrics, post-grade peer review, or exam / assignment wrappers). Instructors may also hold class-wide conversations on performance criteria at strategic moments throughout a term.

Encourage students' self-reflection - Instructors can ask students to utilize course criteria to evaluate their own or a peer's work, and to share what kinds of feedback they find most valuable. In addition, instructors can ask students to describe the qualities of their best work, either through writing or group discussion.

Give students detailed, actionable feedback - Instructors can consistently provide specific feedback tied to predefined criteria, with opportunities to revise or apply feedback before final submission. Feedback may be corrective and forward-looking, rather than just evaluative. Examples include comments on multiple paper drafts, criterion discussions during 1-on-1 conferences, and regular online quizzes.

Encourage teacher and peer dialogue around learning - Instructors can invite students to discuss the formative learning process together. This practice primarily revolves around mid-semester feedback and small group feedback sessions, where students reflect on the course and instructors respond to student concerns. Students can also identify examples of feedback comments they found useful and explain how they helped. A particularly useful strategy, instructors can invite students to discuss learning goals and assignment criteria, and weave student hopes into the syllabus.

Promote positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem - Students will be more motivated and engaged when they are assured that an instructor cares for their development. Instructors can allow for rewrites/resubmissions to signal that an assignment is designed to promote development of learning. These rewrites might utilize low-stakes assessments, or even automated online testing that is anonymous, and (if appropriate) allows for unlimited resubmissions.

Provide opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance - Related to the above, instructors can improve student motivation and engagement by making visible any opportunities to close gaps between current and desired performance. Examples include opportunities for resubmission, specific action points for writing or task-based assignments, and sharing study or process strategies that an instructor would use in order to succeed.

Collect information which can be used to help shape teaching - Instructors can feel free to collect useful information from students in order to provide targeted feedback and instruction. Students can identify where they are having difficulties, either on an assignment or test, or in written submissions. This approach also promotes metacognition, as students are asked to think about their own learning. Poorvu Center staff can also perform a classroom observation or conduct a small group feedback session that can provide instructors with potential student struggles.

Instructors can find a variety of other formative assessment techniques through Angelo and Cross (1993), Classroom Assessment Techniques (list of techniques available here).

Summative Assessment Because summative assessments are usually higher-stakes than formative assessments, it is especially important to ensure that the assessment aligns with the goals and expected outcomes of the instruction.

Use a Rubric or Table of Specifications - Instructors can use a rubric to lay out expected performance criteria for a range of grades. Rubrics will describe what an ideal assignment looks like, and "summarize" expected performance at the beginning of term, providing students with a trajectory and sense of completion.

Design Clear, Effective Questions - If designing essay questions, instructors can ensure that questions meet criteria while allowing students freedom to express their knowledge creatively and in ways that honor how they digested, constructed, or mastered meaning. Instructors can read about ways to design effective multiple choice questions.

Assess Comprehensiveness - Effective summative assessments provide an opportunity for students to consider the totality of a course's content, making broad connections, demonstrating synthesized skills, and exploring deeper concepts that drive or found a course's ideas and content.

Make Parameters Clear - When approaching a final assessment, instructors can ensure that parameters are well defined (length of assessment, depth of response, time and date, grading standards); knowledge assessed relates clearly to content covered in course; and students with disabilities are provided required space and support.

Consider Blind Grading - Instructors may wish to know whose work they grade, in order to provide feedback that speaks to a student's term-long trajectory. If instructors wish to provide truly unbiased summative assessment, they can also consider a variety of blind grading techniques.

Considerations for Online Assessments

Effectively implementing assessments in an online teaching environment can be particularly challenging. The Poorvu Center shares these recommendations.

References

Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006) Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education 31(2): 2-19.

Theall, M. and Franklin J.L. (2010). Assessing Teaching Practices and Effectiveness for Formative Purposes. In: A Guide to Faculty Development. KJ Gillespie and DL Robertson (Eds). Jossey Bass: San Francisco, CA.

Trumbull, E., & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding formative assessment: Insights from learning theory and measurement theory. San Francisco: WestEd.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments Formative Summative In-class discussions Instructor-created exams Clicker questions Standardized tests Low-stakes group work Final projects