I have been reading the book about learner cognition titled Making it Stick. The researchers review many of the activities that have been shown to enhance memory and offer proposals that learners of all ages and educators might apply based on these activities. These activities include retrieval practice (i.e., the testing effect), spaced repetition, interleaving, elaboration, and reflection. These tactics have all been covered in my posts over the years. In addition, the authors explain that self-perceptions often lead learners astray because other study tactics seem more productive when in fact these tactics (e.g., rereading) generate an illusion of knowing. The less-used but more productive tactics involve desirable difficulty which is sometimes related to the the illusion of knowing associated with the more demanding tasks. The more productive tactics are also simply more work.
In the section on recommendations for educators, the authors translate the productive practices demonstrated through careful research into proposed classroom activities. For example, retrieval practice could involve a short writing assignment at the end of a class period or a quiz covering the reading material for the week. Spaced repetition could involve periodic tests that were cumulative rather than simply covering the most recent material that had been covered.
After reading this material, I wondered about the actual use of these concepts which are fairly easy to translate into concrete classroom experiences. For example, those in the College of Education would certainly be aware of the research on the science of learning and would be more likely to be making use of such activities than say the faculty in the College of Engineering. Aside from short in-class writing tasks, it has been my observation that this is not the case. If you consider your own college experiences, test this observation against your own experiences.
Aside from what I wonder about the relationship between an understanding of educational research and applications, are productive methods avoided because these applications result in push-back from students? Again, students may be unaware that recommended strategies actually result in better retention and understanding, but these same activities are also more demanding (desirable difficulty) and require constant attendance. Students do not like regular quizzes and complain about practices such as cumulative final examinations. Faculty members sensitive to their own popularity and instructor evaluations may avoid more demanding, but productive activities. How much students learn is seldom quantified, but instructor ratings are omnipresent.
The authors of Make it Stick comment on this issue without directly describing potential student resistance. They urge transparency when explaining why the tactics they advocate are used and when possible making the activities low stakes. This works fine for frequent quizzes but is not practical for a cumulative examination.
Reference
Brown, P. C., Roediger III, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.