Can you recall three takeaways of the last training session? How about the order of procedure from the lengthy manual you just read? If you’re stuck, it’s normal. This phenomenon is what psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus coined as ‘the forgetting curve.’
In the aim to understand learning and forgetting, Ebbinghaus pioneered the experimental study of memory where he conceptualised the forgetting curve. The curve shows how information is quickly forgotten over time without attempting to retain it. Within 24 hours, people will have forgotten an average of 70 percent of new information, and within a month, 90 percent of it!
So, how do you ensure they are engaged when learning and can apply their knowledge when it comes to actual performance? Here’s our take:
Experience. Experience is the best teacher. No wonder immersive learning emerged as a global training trend. This training method allows individuals to experience a realistic work scenario within a physical or virtual environment without impacting on the real business processes.
Engage. Stay connected. Design your training in such a way that keeps one’s interest. One of the benefits of virtual training is you can optimise your staff’s visual learning and the interactive design keeps them engaged.
Exercise. Practice facilitates retention. Exercise or repeated practice sharpens memory and enforces recall (information retrieval) and even reflection (deliberate examination). By letting your staff exercise on their terms, you also instill confidence in them which then translates to work performance.
The forgetting curve is a human phenomenon. It was a concept born in the 19th century, but until today we strive to break it by reinventing and advancing the ways in which we acquire knowledge.
As work becomes more complex in this present Information Age, we can turn to smart learning technologies to improve knowledge and skills acquisition, apply constant retraining, and counter the forgetting curve.
Do you want to create immersive e-learning?
Create immersive courses rapidly and import them to any LMS.
Looking for a staff training solution?
Have a look at our latest sample of a training module created with our V360E platform.
V360E is a cloud-based authoring platform for creating customisable training modules. It lets your staff train in a virtual environment accessible on their smart devices for their ‘anytime, anywhere’ training.
We’d be glad to help you implement virtual training.
Contact us at info@v360e.com to request a demo or get a free trial.
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