Quarantinotes Series #5 – Curriculum Bloat, Interleaving, and the Forgetting Curve

I will share with you two strategies to consider for both mitigating drift/bloat, as well as helping students actually learn. (By learn, I mean remembering the information AFTER your class is over, not just acing the final and forgetting it all.)

Knowing More About Less

For those of you creating workshops of your own, we found some amazing benefits to practicing what we preach.  This is a major differentiator for the Institute, actually leveraging brain science, learning research, and more as we learn and contextualize.  We utilized the most effective practices from cognitive science, persuasion, and perception strategies in each session.  From Interleaving to pattern finding to intentional creation of norepinephrine / dopamine / endorphin moments, we saw the power behind these learning frameworks.  Participants had the opportunity to review and reflect often.  Attendees also networked like crazy, establishing a community of practice that will follow them home.  In other words, I am confident in saying that we all learned.  I am also confident that learning will stick. 

Learning Is No Joke

Unfortunately, we have a lot of historical baggage to contend with, making real learning much harder than it needs to be.  We have generations of practitioners doing the only thing they know how to do (that which was modeled by former instructors), despite so much research and evidence suggesting a major pivot is in order.  But we’re getting there.