Imagine you have learned something new and are excited about it. What do you think about how much of that new information you will retain in the next few days? Not much. Yes, according to the forgetting curve, people usually forget 50% of new information within a day and more than 85% of all new information within a week.
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus introduced the forgetting curve, showing how we lose information over time without retention efforts. Many businesses face this challenge with their workforce forgetting training content. The key to success lies in a well-trained team that retains and applies knowledge effectively. Implementing knowledge retention strategies for eLearning can help bridge this gap by ensuring employees retain more of what they learn.
E-learning can help you achieve this with its ability to mold according to the requirements of every employee, allowing them to learn unrushed. Let us see how e-learning can help improve knowledge retention for your organization.
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E-learning's impact on contemporary education and training
This electronically delivered learning has quickly cemented its place in the education sector. Now, it is a popular option for educators and students as well, which offers flexible learning. E-learning has completely transformed our understanding of education. In classical times, learning was standardized. Learners used to show the knowledge they gained by taking a test after sitting in training sessions and lectures.
Now it has been modified by e-learning. Conventional training methods lacked the pace to match up with a dynamic, globalized society. Stepping into e-learning's modern approach has provided flexibility and freedom to learn anytime and from anywhere.
By supplementing your conventional classroom learning with online resources, you can use e-learning more effectively. This helps in boosting knowledge retention.
Understanding Knowledge Retention
The procedure of preserving information in your memory is called knowledge retention. Retaining knowledge is crucial, as it helps you use it later when needed most.
Key factors influencing retention
When learners forget something, it's not their fault alone. The presentation of information plays a big role and can seriously impact learning retention. Techniques like visual aids, association, and repetition boost memory retention. Engagement is also a key factor; it is not just about interest in the subject matter; it is also about cooperation and participation.
Usually, learners don't learn the information deeply when it’s not applicable to their day-to-day work. And when engage in conversations or hands-on activities while learning, they are more inclined to keep information compared to those who learn inactively. Building an interactive learning environment is key to promoting retention and engagement.
Benefits of e-learning for knowledge retention
Flexibility and convenience of e-learning
E-learning's flexibility allows learners to work out how and when they will learn by customizing their course according to their own potential. This way, they don’t put much pressure on them and retain information.
Compared to traditional methods, e-learning can enhance knowledge retention by a remarkable 60%, according to the latest study. Learners get more time to understand the material as most e-learning courses are self-paced and can be completed by learners themselves.
Interactive and engaging learning experiences
When learners get engaged and participate actively in e-learning, the retention rate will be better. The best way to encourage engagement and retention among learners is through interactive learning activities. Quizzes and evaluations and group discussion role-playing scenarios are examples of interactive learning.
Quizzes
You can test your learner's knowledge and assess their understanding of a subject by designing quizzes in several formats, like fill-in-the-blanks, multiple-choice, true/false, and others.
Group discussions
Group discussions encourage learners to share their point of view on the material. You can encourage learners to participate through online platforms or in person as well. When they discuss the material with others, it helps them retain the knowledge they gained.
Role-playing
A German writer, Goethe, has famously said, “In the end, we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.” This is still relevant. When learners apply their acquired knowledge practically, they retain the information much better. Role-playing helps learners apply their learned knowledge in real-world scenarios. This can be done in a fun and effective way, either in person or with virtual simulations.
Knowledge Retention Strategies for eLearning: Boost Training Success
Microlearning
Microlearning is a learning method that breaks down educational content into tiny, bite-sized units. These sections, or microlessons, focus on a particular topic and are usually brief. This content can be presented in several forms, like infographics, short videos, and podcasts. The main idea of microlearning is to provide information in short bursts so that the learners can easily grasp and retain it.
Research says effective microlearning modules are 50% more interesting and 20% more impressive as compared to conventional training methods. Microlearning grips the learner's attention and improves knowledge retention by delivering bite-sized information to learners.
Benefits of microlearning
Keeps the learners engaged
Engagement is the key to knowledge retention. And micro-learning modules are created with a learner-centric approach and are short-duration modules. Learners easily get engaged with these tiny nuggets and waive information overload.
Improves knowledge retention
Microlearning courses are brief and are created with one specific learning objective in mind. And the best thing is that it can be dispensed on several screens as two animation pages or video and animation. This helps learners understand things better and know what needs to be achieved through learning or what actions are required to be carried out. This leads to improved retention of knowledge. You can easily convert videos, quizzes, and short games to microlearning courses and implement them for effective learning procedures.
Gamification
Traditional learning methods were good but often failed to engage employees, and as a result, they struggled to retain information. The reason is that the educators do not know how people learn. But gamification has completely changed things; Now educators know the mechanisms of learning and how people learn best. Gamification taps into the brain’s natural tendency for learning and takes advantage of the human liking for reward and challenge. Applying game-based elements like badges and points to engage learners in an e-learning environment is known as gamification. Through gamification, the process of learning becomes more interactive and enjoyable, resulting in improved retention and a better understanding of course materials for employees. You can transform dull and boring learning into an effective and engaging one by incorporating popular game mechanics like leaderboards, points, challenges, and badges.
Spaced repetition
One-time learning is not sufficient for corporate training and leads to a loss of knowledge as well. Spaced learning is a strategy that helps people learn as quickly as possible. It is based on the idea that learning can be improved and retained when repeated periodically. You can also implement it in your lengthy employee training programs for better results. It breaks down the long training into various sessions of brief durations with spaced intervals in between. Then the sections of these sessions are reintroduced several times over a few weeks for learners to recollect information, which leads to long-term knowledge retention.
Multimedia
You can use multimedia tactically in e-learning to seize learners’ attention and improve their understanding of complicated notions, triggering enhanced retention and application of knowledge. Multimedia comprises several content formats, like images, text, video, and audio, merged into a unified learning experience. This multimodal way can serve many learning styles, like auditory, visual, reading/writing, and kinesthetic, making sure learning content is available to various audiences.
Looking ahead for future trends
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:
The furtherance of technology has unfolded the world of education at a rapid pace. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are revolutionizing education technology. These technologies are providing new prospects to educators and learners by redesigning the e-learning landscape.
Tailored learning paths
The best thing about AI and ML in e-learning is their aptness to design tailored learning paths for students. These technologies can suggest specific, customized courses according to individual needs by evaluating a student’s learning history, inclination, and performance. And this helps not only boost engagement levels but also improve knowledge retention.
Summing up
By just providing quality training for your employees, you can’t help your organization achieve its goals. They must also apply that knowledge to their work by retaining it. Therefore, knowledge retention is the key to attaining those goals, and the strategies mentioned above will help you attain them.
