Learning Myth #5: People Process Visual Information 60,000 Times Faster Than Text

If you have been following our series on learning myths you know that some “myths” are not really myths but are exaggerations or vendor hype grounded on some level of evidence. When I first saw this claim a few years ago the dial on my myth detector flew off the scale.  Surely no one actually …

Learning Myth #4 — Millennials Have the Attention Span of Goldfish

Does anyone seriously believe this? Unfortunately, yes. We’ve seen countless articles that begin with this premise, as if it were a canonical fact. If we are going to talk about attention span we first need to define what it is. (It’s interesting that none of the aforementioned articles that use the “goldfish” statistic ever actually …

Learning Myth #3: Overhyping and Misapplying Microlearning

Some Q&A about microlearning: Q: Is microlearning a myth? A: No. Q: Is it being hyped by everyone in the learning community? A: Definitely. Q: Is it being overhyped by many in the learning community? A: For sure. Q: Is it being applied effectively to maximize learning and learning retention? A: Often, no. What Problems …

Learning Myth #2: Dale’s Cone of Experience

Many of us in the learning field have encountered the following claim: We remember 10% of what we hear, 50% of what we see and hear, and 90% of what we do. It’s widely believed, but is it true? Unlikely. The claim is based on Dale’s Cone of Experience. We usually encounter it in a …

Learning “Myth” #1: Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve is one of the best-known results in learning theory. The Curve demonstrates that what humans remember after a learning event drops steeply soon after completion of the event. In fact, within a month, they will forget up to 80% of what they have learned: So, what do we mean when we …

Learning Myths, Pseudo-Myths, Exaggeration and Hype

If the profession of cognitive psychology and its application to learning is a science (as some of us think it is or should be), then there needs to be research evidence to back up our claims about which learning strategies work and which do not. Unfortunately, the profession of adult learning is prone to myths, …

Low Competence/ High Confidence: There’s a Name for That

In our implementation of confidence-based learning we classify each test taker into one of four categories of confidence accuracy: Green  -- this is the goal state. The employee is both knowledgeable and confident. Yellow – the employee is knowledgeable, but is not confident in his/her knowledge Orange – the employee is neither knowledgeable nor confident. …

The Final Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles?

In my workshop on the “Science and Practice of Modern Learning” I like to occasionally throw in a learning myth – things we think we know about learning, but that turn out not to have any research basis. One of the most pernicious myths is that of Learning Styles -- the idea that all individuals …

Answering Questions Out Loud Helps Your Learners to Remember

I recently came across an interesting study about the value of answering questions out loud. Victor Boucher of the University of Montreal tested student’s ability to memorize lists of words under four conditions. First, the students studied a list of words on a computer. He then divided the students into four groups and had each …

What is the Optimal Spacing for Review?

Continuous learning encompasses a number of learning strategies, one of which is spaced review after the completion of a course. This review can be in the form of adaptive questioning exercises, subscription-based micro-lessons, or some combination of the two. Which raises a question: For long term retention what is the optimal period of spacing for …