A Recipe for Learning and Remembering
It can be hard to know what amount of training is
just right for your employees. Some learners get
too little training. They sit through a few classroom sessions, see some slides, and get very little help at actually doing their job. Others get
too much training. The list of required eLearning courses is too long, and actually takes them away from their responsibilities. The learning and remembering ends up happening outside of, or in spite of, the training requirement.
Most organizations invest heavily in training their employees, yet employees still do not retain the critical knowledge they need to be successful. This is why some of our research has focused on
why employees forget. How do our brains respond when we learn new information? Is there a pattern to forgetting?
Think about learning and remembering as a recipe.
The elements required for learning and remembering can fit together into a repeatable process. When used correctly, this process, or “recipe,” can yield our desired outcomes. Here’s a look at the entire recipe for learning and remembering:
What elements are required to learn?
Before we can remember anything, we have to first learn it! Research (and experience) tells us that motivation, relevant practice, and specific, timely feedback are all required for learning … but that’s not the whole story. These are all essential parts of the learning process, but we have to take remembering into consideration to complete our recipe.
What elements are required to remember?
When you really want learners to remember your message, call on these four strategies:
- Spaced intervals
- Repetition
- Feedback
- Stories
One reason spacing works is that it eliminates the “glop.” When it comes to curriculum, too much = nothing. If you overload the learner with information, none of it will stick. Space the learning out and use repetitions to cement the content.
Story, on the other hand, helps create context and an emotional response in the learner, both of which are proven to increase retention. This is one of the reasons that games can be such a powerful learning tool.
So, what’s the real recipe for learning and remembering?
Here are the ingredients:
1. Motivation: Employees/players/learners need to be motivated to learn. The most obvious way to do this is to incentivize them, and that can work, but that provides only extrinsic motivation. The best learning happens when the learner is intrinsically motivated. Think about what your learners might need to want to participate in the training. Could you make it more fun? Do they want to compete?
2. Relevant Practice: It is crucial that your learners practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” might be cliché, but it’s true. Think about ways you can encourage practice over time … and make sure it’s relevant to the goals you set.
3. Specific, Timely Feedback: Feedback is one of the most essential ingredients because it allows your learners to correct mistakes and stops them from building bad habits or repeating incorrect information. Behavioral psychology shows time and time again, however, that feedback must be specific and it must be quick, so that the learner can make the connection between the correct feedback and their mistake.
4. Spacing and Repetition: Now we’re getting into the ingredients that are crucial to long-term retention. Without repetition at strategically spaced intervals, learners will forget 30 – 90% of what they learn within 2-6 days’ time. Spaced repetition is the secret to fighting this “forgetting curve.”
5. Story: As stated above, story gives the learner context. It also creates an emotional element that will help them retrieve the information later. For example, it’s easier to remember safety guidelines when they’re delivered by a cartoon alien, whose mission is to keep your lab safe from invaders, than it is to remember those same guidelines when they’re given to you in a straightforward PDF.
Curious about applying these techniques for learning and remembering in your own organization? We’d love to chat! Reach out to learn more at 859-415-1000 or with the Let’s Talk! form below. 
