A great deal has been written about the impact of retrieval practice on memory. That’s because the effect is sizable, it has been replicated many times (Agarwal, Bain & Chamberlain, 2012) and it seems to lead not just to better memory but deeper memory that supports transfer (e.g., McDaniel et al, 2013; Rohrer et al, 2010).
(“Retrieval practice” is less catchy than the initial name–testing effect. It was renamed both to emphasize that it doesn’t matter whether you try to remember for the sake of a test or some other reason and because “testing effect” led some observers to throw up their hands and say “do we really need more tests?”)
Now researchers (Szpunar, Khan, & Schacter, 2013) have reported testing as a potentially powerful ally in online learning. College students frequently report difficulty in maintaining attention during lectures, and that problem seems to be exacerbated when the lecture occurs on video.
In this experiment subjects were asked to learn from a 21 minute video lecture on statistics. They were also told that the lecture would be divided in 4 parts, separated by a break. During the break they would perform math problems for a minute, and then would either do more math problems for two more minutes (“untested group”), they would be quizzed for two minutes on the material they had just learned (“tested group”), or they would review by seeing questions with the answers provided (“restudy group.”)