Marking key terms, summarising the gist of the learning material, learning text passages off by heart – these learning strategies (and others) are often applied by students to deal with the subject matter. But are these particular strategies actually effective and do they help with long-term learning success? And how can effective strategies be fostered? The use of effective strategies is critical for academic learning success (Biwer, oude Egbrink, Aalten & de Bruin, 2020). What makes learning strategies effective is if they have the potential to improve learning long-term and in different contexts. In one review, Dunlosky et al. (2013) studied 10 learning strategies frequently used by students and categorised them according to their effectiveness. The following table summarises the results in an overview. Effective learning strategies Learning strategies such as retrieval practice or distributed learning seem to be the most effective when it comes to long-term learning. With retrieval practice, such as using old exams or quiz questions for practice, students have to retrieve and apply knowledge actively, which makes it easier to store in the long-term memory (Biwer, et al., 2020).The strategy of distributed practice is more about setting up a plan for learning than about a certain … Continue reading Effective learning strategies – and how they can be fostered