Every once in a while, my past and current lives collide in a way seemingly intended to make a point. Not too long ago, I was reminded in a directly visceral fashion of the power of the spaced practice effect.
“Spaced learning, sometimes called the spaced practice effect or the distributed practice effect, is the finding in the research that if you repeat something over time versus repeating it immediately, that people remember a lot more. And if you repeat something after a longer interval instead of after a shorter interval, people remember a lot more.”
Will Thalheimer, from an interview about spaced learning
My son, Benjamin, was returning from college for a break. He and some friends wanted to create an additional performance opportunity in preparation for their upcoming recitals. Benjamin asked if I would accompany him on piano as he performed Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces, Opus 73, arranged for Trombone and Piano. I agreed, very happy to have the opportunity to make music with my elder son. What could be better?
I did ask Benjamin to provide me with the music as soon as possible, reminding him that I really don’t play piano regularly anymore. About two months later, I received the piano part. As you might be guessing by now, it was not an easy part, and we were only five weeks away from the performance date.
Every evening after dinner, I sat down and learned a new section, and then returned to the section I had learned the night before. I worked my way through this challenging music, drawing on all the techniques I remembered from my many years as a piano student and teacher. My family kindly refrained from comment as I grasped at decades-old skills, long unused. By the time the concert day arrived, we were prepared to perform the first two pieces.
So, what is the relevance of this experience to e-learning and instructional design?
Simply this: a reminder that spaced practice is critical to learning, remembering, and, in the end, applying new skills. This is why successful software companies are committed to providing software to learners, enabling them to practice and to be ready to apply their new skills on the job as programmers and analysts.
If you’re a course author or instructional designer, the time you spend planning and writing activities and practices for your learners is time well spent! Both research and experience, as well as feedback from learners, tell us that this piece of their training is critical. So, take the time to choose real-life scenarios and data that will help your learners master real-life programming and data science skills.
If you’d like to learn more about spaced learning, which involves more than the basic practice I’ve described in this article, below is a list of useful resources.
#instructionaldesign #elearning #spacedpractice
Resources
Will Thalheimer, Spacing Learning Events Over Time: What the Research Says.
Will Thalheimer, Does elearning work? What the scientific research says!
Mike Taylor, Spaced Learning: An Introduction & Some Tools to Help You Get Started
Mulcahy, R. S. (2020). Creating Effective eLearning to Help Drive Change. Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, 27(6), 362-368.
In particular: “A common impulse among subject matter experts (SMEs) is to sacrifice practice in order to cover all the material. If the length of a course is predetermined, and the SME wants to add important new material, they will often replace active learning with lecture so they can cover more. Or if an instructor is running short on time, they will skip interactive pieces in order to achieve coverage. Since active learning is more effective than listening, cutting interactivity to cover more material is likely to result in learners remembering less.”
Connie Malamed, The Power of Retrieval Practice For Learning. An Instructional Strategy for Long-term Retention
Jane Bozarth, Nuts and Bolts: Continuous Learning Campaigns
Satyabrata Das, Spaced Learning: A Neuroscience-Based Approach To Maximize Learning Outcome