Training Reinforcement is the Key to Training Success

Training Reinforcement is the Key to Training Success

In order to use the new ideas, information and techniques from a training programme we must retain and retrieve that information from our memory. Since we lose more than 70% of that information within the first 24 hours, there must be a system of reinforcement that ensures that the new information is stored in our memory.​
There are 4 techniques that help us to memorise (retain) more of what we learn.

4 Methods

  1. Spaced or interval learning helps by breaking the training content into smaller, more manageable size, sessions that allow us to then put new information to work in our daily operation immediately, thus enhancing our retention.

  2. Follow-up mentoring reviews with the manager will help to remind us about the new ideas or techniques that were learned in a class.

  3. Free repeats of the training, which some training companies offer, are another way for people to review and relearn the new materials and ideas.

  4. The Leitner Learning Cards (flash cards) System is an effective way to reinforce, repeat and relearn the content and information from a training session.

There is now a 21st Century online version of this old learning card method that has been created by the Research Studios Austria (RSA) which is called KnowledgePulse®.

Here is how it works. If your computer sits unused for 5 to 30 minutes (depend-ing on your choice) then a Client Widget pops up to ask you if you want to answer a review question. If you signal ‘yes’ then a ‘learning card’ appears that asks you a question. When you answer the question the Widget tells you if you are correct and, if not, the correct answer appears. Then the Widget asks you another question.
You can set the programme to ask you 1, 3 or 5 questions at each period. A 3-card Widget session takes about 2 minutes and then the Widget disappears until the next time you are not actively working. The KnowledgePulse® system will ask each question until it is answered correctly 3 times.

The science behind this system shows that if we reinforce the information we have learned 3 or more times, our retention can reach as much as 90%, which allows us to retrieve the ideas every time we need to use them for our daily work. This Learning Card system when combined with the other more traditional learning techniques mentioned above can give us 4 to 6 repetitions of the information, which means 100% useful information retrieval.

If you are interested in more information about the KnowledgePulse® system, feel free to contact us.


Quotation of the month:

“We lose more than 70% of the new information
we learn within 24 hours.”

(Forgetting curve by
Hermann Ebbinghaus)