Adaptive retrieval practice with multiple‐choice questions in the university classroom.
Retrieval practice promotes retention more than restudying (i.e., the testing effect) and is applied to many educational settings. However, little research has investigated means to enhance this effect in educational settings. Theoretical accounts assume retrieval practice to be the most effective w...
| Published in: | Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 799 - 810 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Dec2020
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=147049855&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 147049855 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 02664909 6M1 jtl: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning issn: 02664909 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2020 vid: 36 iid: 6 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 147049855 147049855 147049855 10.1111/jcal.12445 147049855 ppf: 799 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Adaptive retrieval practice with multiple‐choice questions in the university classroom. aug: au: Greving, Sven Lenhard, Wolfgang Richter, Tobias affil: University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany sug: subj: Colleges and Universities Learning Environment Competency Assessment Methods Human Funding Source Academic Performance Student Attitudes Information Retrieval Teaching Methods Learning Methods Exploratory Research Power Analysis Descriptive Statistics Adolescence Adult Data Analysis Software Comparative Studies Analysis of Variance Multimethod Studies Linear Regression Factor Analysis Odds Ratio One-Tailed Test Two-Tailed Test Post Hoc Analysis Confidence Intervals Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years ab: Retrieval practice promotes retention more than restudying (i.e., the testing effect) and is applied to many educational settings. However, little research has investigated means to enhance this effect in educational settings. Theoretical accounts assume retrieval practice to be the most effective whenever retrieval is difficult but successful. Therefore, we developed a novel retrieval practice procedure, which adapts to learners' abilities and can be applied irrespective of learning content. This adaptive procedure aims to make retrieval gradually easier whenever students provide an incorrect answer. In a field experiment, students read book chapters as part of a weekly university course. In three consecutive weeks, they then practiced reading assignments by (a) adaptive testing, (b) non‐adaptive testing and (c) restudy. In Week 4, a surprise criterial test took place. Restudy outperformed both testing conditions, whereas adaptive testing performed equally well as non‐adaptive testing. However, exploratory analyses revealed that with increasing retention intervals, the superiority of restudy disappeared. Furthermore, whenever participants fully read the assignments and retention intervals increased, adaptive testing outperformed non‐adaptive testing. In sum, adaptive retrieval practice did not prove to be generally superior, but retention interval and students' preparation for class might be conditions rendering adaptive retrieval useful in educational settings. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Testing is a commonly used technique to assess progress in computer‐assisted learning environmentsStudents often benefit from the testing effect, that is practicing retrieval of information (testing) from memory benefits long‐term retention compared to restudyingCurrently, empirical evidence how to enhance the benefits of this technique in educational contexts is scarce What this paper adds: We propose a new approach to increase the benefit of the testing effect: For each question in retrieval practice the individual ability to retrieve this information from memory is consideredTo do so, cue informativeness of retrieval cues adapts to the individual ability level and thus makes the tests cognitively effortful but solvableThis adaptive approach is put to test in a higher education context and by using multiple‐choice questionsIn sum, adaptive retrieval practice did not prove to be generally superior to non‐adaptive retrieval practice or restudy However, retention interval and students' preparation for class might be conditions rendering adaptive retrieval useful in educational settings Implications for practice and/or policy: Findings can be implemented in educational contexts when multiple‐choice questions are used to enhance learningLearning can be optimized in computer‐assisted learning environments that allow adaptive testingWe advise adaptive retrieval only when students are well prepared for practice and when time between practice and final assessment exceeds two weeks pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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