CDLA · Module 2 — Learning science for digital media
Roediger and Karpicke (2006): a recall test beats restudy on delayed retention. What to build instead of recap screens, and which forgetting figures not to quote.
About 18 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
Roediger and Karpicke had students either restudy a prose passage or take a free-recall test on it. On a test five minutes later, restudy looked as good or better. Two days and one week later, the students who had been tested remembered more. This is the testing effect. This academy will not quote a "70% forgotten in 24 hours" figure: it is not from this paper and usually distorts older memory research.
02
Looks busy, weak later: A click-through recap of the same slides. · Highlighting a PDF of the policy. · Watching the procedure video again "for confidence
Looks harder, stronger later: Close the notes and reconstruct the five steps. · A scenario next week that needs this week's rule. · Name the error code from the symptom, then check.
03
Format | Use it for | Watch out for
Scenario question | Applying a rule to a case | Options that can be guessed from wording
Free recall (type or say the steps) | Procedures with a fixed order | Marking: give a model answer to compare against
Spot the error | Checks, reviews, quality control | Errors that are too obvious
Spaced follow-up (email, WhatsApp, LMS nudge) | Keeping a rule alive after the course | Sending recap content instead of a question
04
Two refinements senior designers apply. First, retrieval without feedback can lock in errors: when a learner retrieves the wrong answer, show the correct one with the reason. Feedback after retrieval also helps correct answers given with low confidence. Second, successive relearning (Rawson and Dunlosky) combines retrieval and spacing: learners retrieve each item until correct in one session, then again in later sessions, each time to the same standard. Dunlosky and colleagues' 2013 review rated practice testing and distributed practice as the two techniques with high utility, and rated rereading and highlighting low.
05
In your review module, find one recap or "key takeaways" screen. Rewrite it as two retrieval questions with feedback, and draft one spaced follow-up message to send a week later. Add both to your design review.