The Best Learning Strategies for Professionals and Students

The Best Learning Strategies for Professionals and Students

University students are typically expected to learn course material independently outside of lectures. Nonetheless, several studies have shown that a large percentage of college students rarely or never use efficient learning strategies. In the part that follows, we go over some of the most innovative and successful evidence-based learning strategies. A growing corpus of learning science research supports these. By utilizing these techniques, students can change their learning activities to be more effective (resulting in learning that is more thorough and lasts longer) and efficient (making better use of time).

Other professionals could also use these strategies effectively.

Drawing from numerous years of scientific research on learning, the two most successful approaches found thus far are:

Spaced practice / distributed practice - Learning that takes place over several sessions at various times is known as spaced practice or distributed practice (reviewing a textbook chapter once every three days, for instance). This method describes when you should be studying for your course exams, which should be done in various sessions over a few weeks.

To begin with, get going early. First, review the syllabus for your course. A timeline of the various topics that will be taught in the course, together with the dates of each quiz and test, is usually included in the syllabus. You can create a schedule where exam preparation starts several weeks ahead of time and continues consistently until the exam day by using that syllabus. Exam preparation should ideally take up an hour or two of your schedules, either every other day, every Monday and Friday, or at some other predetermined time. You should also try to review the course contents more than once. For instance, you can review the information you gained in Weeks 3 and 4 after having studied it in Week 1.

Adhere to your strategy after you've developed a "spaced" learning schedule. Make sure you follow the plan and don't miss any sessions. Discipline—that is, avoiding distractions and dedicating yourself to your study activities consistently—will be necessary for this, but when test day comes around, you'll be more prepared to do well.

In conclusion, when utilizing spaced practice, you ought to:

Prepare a "spaced" learning schedule in advance. Using the syllabus as a guide, make a timetable in which you begin studying for the test early (preferably weeks in advance) and continue to do so regularly until the exam day. The learning should be spread out over a few days or weeks.

Allocate time for the course preparation on a regular, periodic basis. Then, stick to your schedule and finish several learning sessions on time. In contrast to cramming, each session should be relatively short and cover the entirety of the course material; instead, break the material up throughout the sessions.

Pay attention to both new and old materials. As you study for the test, make sure you cover both. Review previously taught material as well as new ones. This keeps your memories "fresh," which helps prevent forgetting. Setting aside a specific amount of time for new versus old materials can be beneficial (e.g., 75% for new items and 25% for old ones).

Practice retrieval and practice testing: - rather than just going over the material again, try to remember it (for example, by taking a practice test). This method describes how you should test yourself using practice exams or other recall-based methods to become ready for course exams.

There are numerous approaches to practice information retrieval. It can be as easy as the example given above: set aside your course materials and just attempt to recall the topic either mentally or on paper. Additional applications for retrieval practice include:

Use practice exams: create your own practice questions, share them with a study partner, use the instructor's or a textbook's practice questions, or use questions from the internet (like Quizlet).

Creating flashcards usually entails writing questions and answers on one side of index cards. Additionally, you can use flashcard software programs or create flashcards on a computer and print them out.

Copy your lecture slides, cover them, try to remember what you learned, and then uncover them to double-check. This strategy has the benefit of requiring little to no additional effort before you begin retrieval practice, like the method covered in a previous section of this page.

It can also be beneficial to practice retrieval using questions that are comparable to the course exam or to concentrate on recalling similar sorts of information (e.g., names, dates, or instances, depending on the course). Consider adding application questions to your retrieval practice exercises if the course test includes problems like determining how a concept connects with a hypothetical example.

All things considered; retrieval practice makes it more likely that you will be able to recall pertinent information on your next big test.

Retrieval practice deals with how to "study," whereas spaced practice deals with when to do so. They work best when combined (you can utilize retrieval practice during each session and a spaced practice program to help you prepare for your examinations).

Furthermore, retrieval practice spread over several days maximizes your ability to remember the information for extended periods. This is achieved by practicing recalling the information until you reach 100% accuracy, a process known as successive relearning.

Finally, there are a few more learning strategies that you might want to attempt in addition to spaced and retrieval practice. Among these were self-explanation, interleaved practice, and others.

In my upcoming blog, we'll examine further learning strategies. Watch for the update.