Introduction: The Forgetting Curve for Corporate Trainers
The forgetting curve tells us that if you are a corporate trainer, your trainees are forgetting 90% of what you train them on within a week 📆. Top companies across the world 🌍 have been researching how to address this to help them develop their people faster and more efficiently. If you aren’t tracking this problem, not to worry.
In this post, we’ll touch on some of the science 🔬 behind the forgetting curve as well as a few tools you can add to your toolbox 🧰 to help address it. Then we’ll chat through some strategies for deploying the tools effectively and how to measure their impact.
The Science Breakdown of The Forgetting Curve for Corporate Trainers
In 1885, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus published the results of a limited and incomplete memory experiment 🧠 he ran on himself. What he found will rattle even the most steadfast educators. He found that in just one hour of learning something new, people forget up to 50% of the information ⏳. Then, on the next day, that number jumps to 70% and by the end of the week, learners only retain about 25% of what was originally learned.
Of course, naysayers will call out the “limited and incomplete” language used to describe the experiment above, and they’d be right to do so! That’s why in 2015 Murre and Dros replicated the experiment, and they reported that the results were similar to Eppinghaus’ original data. Additionally, they concluded that the attempt to replicate the experiment was successful ✅, positioning the forgetting curve as a fundamental truth about how human memory works. Not just a dusty old academic theory.
Three Tools to Combat the Forgetting Curve for Corporate Trainers
Now that we understand a little bit about the history of the forgetting curve, let’s talk about a few of the tools 🛠️ you should have in your toolbox that can soften the forgetting curve for your learners.
1. Spaced Repetition
First up, spaced repetition 🔁. While it is highly effective, it isn’t the most practical approach for some trainers, especially if your instructional design team controls the content. Just like the name suggests, spaced repetition repeats the key points at increasingly longer intervals to help solidify the information into long-term memory.
For instance, after your initial training, you may send a follow-up video 🎥 that revisits the key points that learners covered in the initial training. Then, at the three-day mark, they could be assigned an eLearning module, at the six-day mark, a quiz, and at the 10-day mark, an email. By following this approach, you’re reinforcing key points from the training five times in ten days. Subsequently, your learners are much more likely to remember them.
2. Active Recall
Second, active recall ❓. Simply put, this is the act of testing your learners on key points that were covered in the material. Putting your learners in a situation where they aren’t just listening to you explain something or watching you demonstrate it. Instead, they are the ones answering questions about the topic, explaining the topic to you or the class, and delivering the demonstrations.
This approach places your participants in a position where they are much more “hands-on” 👐 with the content. When combined with some of the planned steps for a spaced repetition approach, it enhances the effectiveness of both.
3. Microlearning
Third and last, we have microlearning. This approach, similar to active recall, can be some or the planned steps for a spaced repetition approach. Microlearning breaks long training sessions down into smaller chunks, ideally less than 10-15 minutes. Some are even less than a minute.
Microlearnings are a great option for quick and simple training. When I worked at Apple 🍏. Micro learning was often used to train representatives quickly on a single feature for one of their products. Additionally, if you are an iPhone user, the “Tips” app from Apple is a great example of microlearning.
Implementation Strategies for Corporate Trainers
Some of you own the responsibility of only classroom training 🏫, others own the training from build, through communications 📢 to delivery, and others of you own a combination of all of those. While your scope of ownership may limit your ability to use some of these three tools, there are strategies that can work for everyone. Here are a few implementation strategies for before the training session.
Pre-training session implementation strategies.
- Prework – Assign some light reading materials 📖, an online video, or a quiz about the key takeaways to help prime your learners. The prework is assigned to them prior to the live session, and with plenty of time to complete it prior.
- Drip Campaign – Sending daily emails 📧 for a set period of time, such as a week, with one or two bullet points about the key concepts.
- eLearning – This could also fall into the Prework category, but assigning participants an online course before the live instructor-led session is an effective way to reinforce the content. Similar to the email drip campaign, it could also be delivered daily over a week in the form of several micro-learnings.
Live training session implementation strategies.
- Question and Answer – Informally ask questions ❓ about key points and topics, then challenge the participants to respond. Potential placements for this exercise include after returning from a break, as a transition from one topic to another, or as a wrap-up technique.
- Reflection and Commitment – Allow participants time during a session to reflect on their experiences, encourage them to write it down ✏️, and then invite them to connect these reflections to actions they can take between this session and the next.
- Teachback – Asking participants to spend some time developing a quick explanation, demonstration, or presentation covering key points to train the rest of the class on 🎤.
- Assessment – Assigning a formal quiz to participants during or at the end of the session.
- Simulation – Assigning participants to role-play 🎭 and act out new behaviors in a simulated environment.
Post-training session implementation strategies.
- Pre-training session implementation strategies – Anything listed in the pre-training session implementation strategy can be used. Prework just becomes postwork.
- Observations and feedback – Observing participants 👀 implementing the new behaviors in a live environment or in the field, then providing feedback. A trainer, a leader, a peer, or a combination of the three can perform this.
- Roundtable – Holding a round table discussion 🗣️ where participants come back together after the training session to discuss key takeaways and share best practices.
While this is not an exhaustive list of implementation strategies by any means, it should provide a solid starting point. By comparing it to a session you are currently delivering, you may start to see areas where you are less heavy on spaced repetition. For instance, you may be heavy on repetition in the live classroom environment, but not do much pre- or post-session repetition.
Measuring Impact of the Forgetting Curve for Corporate Trainers
I know we don’t often have the time or budget to run a demo, much less A/B tests to measure the impact of implementing some of these strategies. 📊 To that end, I suggest measuring where you are at now. Calculate how many of these strategies you are currently implementing on a course that could use some updates or refreshing. Create follow-up quizzes and send them at 1 hour, 1 day, and 1 week after the training. Document the results. Implement the new strategies, repeat the follow-up quizzes, and compare results.
If we’re to believe the science, you should see a jump 📈 in how much more is remembered after the changes versus prior.
Conclusion:
Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve may be a feature, not a bug, but that idiom doesn’t make a corporate trainer’s life any easier. Remember that people forget up to 50% of new information after just one hour of learning, the next day that number increases to 70%, and by the end of the week, learners retain only about 25% of what they initially learned.
Spaced repetition, active recall, and microlearning can serve as helpful tools to combat the forgetting curve when implemented strategically. Start by considering what strategies you can implement before your training begins. Then do the same for planning both your live session and post-session follow-up. Finally, measure the results.
Your participants and stakeholders will thank you 🙌 when you report the improvements you have achieved. Reducing training time and boosting productivity will confirm that your training was successful, so be sure to report your results.
Until next time.
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