Weekly Bookmarks (9/19/2010)
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Spaced education improves the retention of clinical knowledge by medical students: a randomised controlled trial – Kerfoot – 2006 – Medical Education – Wiley Online Library Annotated
Research summary on spaced education for medical students. The e-learning included emailed scenarios and questions. The summary and conclusion talk about medical knowledge, but since this is about scenarios it seems like there might be some decision-making skills being reinforced here too.
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Conclusion Spaced education consisting of clinical scenarios and questions distributed weekly via e-mail can significantly improve students’ retention of medical knowledge.
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Science Links Japan | The Durability of the Effect of an Optimal Spaced Learning Methode, the Modified Low-First Method: Demonstration and Development of a Predictive Model. Annotated
Research summary on a specific model for spaced learning which the author found effective for improving recall
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The Modified Low-First Method is an optimal spaced learning method which was derived from a reactivation theory of spacing effects and was designed to be effective by setting as advantageous spaces as possible for all items and for any learners with various working memory capacities. It consists of three principles; the first is to sort all items by their probabilities of recall in ascending order at the end of each learning session for the subsequent session, and the second is to omit items whose probabilities of recall have reached a certain level, and the third is to transit to a new learning session when the number of unrecalled items in a session have reached a certain number.
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MIT Press Journals – Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience – Early Access – Abstract Annotated
Abstract of neuroscience research attempting to determine why spaced learning is effective. This seems to be just testing recognition and memorization, not any higher level thinking.
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Spaced learning usually leads to better recognition memory as compared with massed learning, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive.
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Recognition memory tests afterward revealed a significant spacing effect: Participants recognized more items learnt under the spaced learning condition than under the massed learning condition.
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Emerald | Industrial and Commercial Training | Enhancing coaching skills and emotional intelligence through training Annotated
Research comparing training spaced over multiple weeks versus an intense burst of training in two days. Not a controlled study, but promising results for spaced learning.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the impact of a long-term (13-week, spaced learning) with a short-term (two-day, block intensive) coaching skills training programme on participants’ coaching skills and emotional intelligence.
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Findings – Participation in the 13-week training course was associated with increases in both goal-focused coaching skills and emotional intelligence, whereas the two-day block intensive training was associated with increased goal-focused coaching skills, but not emotional intelligence. Further, the magnitude of the increase in goal-focused coaching skills was less for the two-day programme than for the 13-week programme.
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SpringerLink – Journal of General Internal Medicine, Volume 23, Number 7
Research on interactive spaced education with med students. Seems to be more knowledge focused than skills focused, but positive results with both knowledge transfer and student recommendations.
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Learning Benefits of On-Line Spaced Education Persist for 2 Years Annotated
Summary of follow-up research on online spaced education with medical residents showing that the benefits could still be detected 2 years later.
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On-line spaced education can generate improvements in learning that are retained 2 years later. Although the effect size is modest, the persistence of detectable knowledge differences between educational interventions after such a long duration is exceedingly unusual.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
I think a hybrid approach might be a good idea. If you start with ILT, then do online learning reviews or some options for informal learning. And if you start with online learning to a dispersed audience, then provide the next level of instruction in a distance format that allows for discussion. (These are just examples.)
This is excellent information, Christy, and I will tweet and FB your post. It’s great to see you back it up with Cog Sci research. Now we just have to figure out how to implement it!
Best,
Connie
Thanks Connie! I got into a good debate with a coworker who says he can’t possibly do training one day a week spread out over multiple weeks. I promised I’d find him some of the relevant research, and this post is the result of my initial pass.
The challenge for me now is two-fold: convincing this trainer that it is possible to do this successfully (even though this has failed for him in the past) plus figuring out how to design the content to work effectively in a spaced model. It’s going to be an interesting project.