Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

You expect me to remember what?

“You expect me to remember what?”: Knowledge Retention in Computer-based Training with Adult Learners

An eLearn205 presentation by Doug Reid, University of Wollongong, Australia; D. Michele Jacobsen, Larry Katz, University of Calgary, Canada

Were looking at trying to improve retention levels for adult learners
– studying learners that wanted to use MS Outlook better
– involved 32 adult learners for 60 days

The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of training and the effectiveness of different types of knowledge retention activities delivered by computer-based training programs. This study focused on a computer-based learning system called the Profound Learning Delivery System (PLS). This study used a pretest-posttest experimental design to compare adult learners’ knowledge of Microsoft Outlook (“Outlook,” 1997) before and after a computer- based training session. Participants were trained using two different computer-based instructional programs. This comparison involved three different formats for post-instruction retention activities that were; no review activities, user generated review activities, and program generated retention activities. Results indicate that despite random assignment, there was a significant difference between the groups 60 days after training. This result showed that PLS has potential worth exploring.

every day, people were doing knowledge retention activities
– test, testing, and retesting
– used Profound Learning System (PLS)
– and another system that is confidential
– and used Outlook

Reasons for study
– Profound Learning wanted to find out if their product worked
– they had a non-technological alogrithm currently
– best knowledge retention stuff I have read is about chess
– wanted to fill in a gap in the literature

Goals of study
– can we effect the quality of people’s knoweldge retention: would they remember it better 2 months down the road if they went through our processs
– was the difference significant

Used 2 little software programs with same content
– SoftWare training program
– CD based (for the nameless one)
– tests at the end as people went through and did activites
— there were no retention activities built in (people could go back and look at the CD, but most people don’t have the time for that)

PLS was Internet-based
– built-in retention activiaties
– program controlled rentention activities
– honor system learning rate

I stopped taking notes at this point…..

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