Online learning is booming. Now researchers have found a way to get students to pay more attention, take more notes and retain more of what's presented: constant testing.
In experiments reported in a new paper, students were told to watch an online lecture and asked if their minds were wandering. They said yes about 40% of the time. But when students were tested between segments of the lecture (which was divided into four parts), their minds wandered less and they retained more. Testing between segments proved more effective than allowing students to restudy the lecture material before a final exam.
The researchers said testing gave the students an incentive to focus and, as a bonus, reduced testing anxiety. They said more research is needed to see if similar short tests might have the same effect in a classroom setting.
"Interpolated Memory Tests Reduce Mind Wandering and Improve Learning of Online Lectures," Karl K. Szpunar, Novall Y. Khan and Daniel L. Schacter, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (April)
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