Retrieval Practice and Online Learning

Abstract

An educator’s goal is to create experiences that provide students with opportunities to learn. This goal is the same whether the opportunities are presented face-to-face, fully online or hybrid formats in both formal and informal educational settings. All of the examples presented in this chapter come from experiences in a R1 university, however, the information presented is just as valid in any educational setting. For more than a decade, the authors have used knowledge checking to help students test their understanding of the content whether it is using clickers in large-enrollment lectures or embedding questions directly into the course content online. Knowledge-checks and other types of low-stakes quizzing are examples of a learning strategy called retrieval practice. This chapter briefly reviews the rich history of retrieval practice and what the research says about it, mainly that students benefit when they take time as they learn to practice retrieving stored information (Roediger & Butler, 2011). Examples from current courses as well as a fictional case study illustrate how retrieval practice can be used in online courses to keep students engaged and give them opportunities to practice retrieving information that they have learned.

Good pedagogy is good pedagogy whether being taught in a traditional brick and mortar building, fully online using a course management system or leveraging the best of both formats using a hybrid model. Retrieval practice is an example of this. In this chapter, the authors will provide a brief history and literature review on retrieval practice. Following our literature review, the authors provide examples of how different retrieval practice options have been incorporated into the online courses they design at Penn State, as well as a case example of a course redesigned with retrieval practice in mind.

Citation

Millet, A., Turcotte, N. and Yan, S. (2021), "Retrieval Practice and Online Learning", Hoffman, J. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) International Perspectives in Online Instruction (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 40), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 95-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120210000040007