Types of Retrieval Practice Activities

By incorporating regular retrieval practice into your online course, you can ensure that key takeaways are actually being taken away by students to use in the future rather than being left behind due to lack of use. The following are some specific activities that can help move learners from a hazy recollection of something toward more clarity and permanence.

Leverage the testing effect by strategically placing low-stakes quizzes throughout your course to foster spaced, repeated retrieval practice. For example, short low-stakes quizzes administered weekly in a university course have been shown to boost student performance on the final exam by as much as 30% (Fortino & Lowrance, 2019).

Frame the quizzes to students as formative assessments that contribute to the learning process rather than serving simply as evaluative tools. Giving quizzes low point values and permitting multiple attempts can reduce pressure on students, encouraging them to view the quizzes as learning aids rather than strict assessments. Lowering the stakes may also motivate learners to try answering the questions from memory instead of being tempted to look up the correct answer to get it right on the first attempt. Although this will result in students spending more time on the quizzes, explain to them that it will save them time in the long run, as they will not need to study the material as much in the future.

When choosing the format for each quiz question, think about whether students will need to be able to recognize or recall information in real-world contexts. The benefits of retrieval practice have been shown to be robust across different kinds of materials and test formats (Butler, 2010; Carpenter & Kelly, 2012; McDaniel et al., 2012, 2013; Rohrer et al., 2010). For example, Fortino and Lowrance (2019) found that short-answer quizzes of the fill-in-the-blank type were as effective as the more difficult-to-construct multiple-choice quizzes. Recall questions (e.g., short answer or essay prompts) are cognitively more effortful for students than recognition (e.g., multiple-choice, matching, or true/false questions) but can be more time-consuming to grade for instructors. If time is a concern, consider providing a document with suggested answers to short-answer questions and requiring students to self-assess their answers and reflect on the concepts they have fully grasped and those they are still struggling to understand.

It is also valuable to intersperse questions or concepts from previous modules, though we recommend limiting the amount of old material. For example, a Module 3 quiz might have 10% of its questions addressing content from Module 1 and another 10% addressing Module 2 content. In addition, multiple short quizzes can be placed throughout a module—rather than clustered at the end—to encourage spacing. Another option is to have students generate their own quiz questions to further engage them in the retrieval process.

Beyond more formal quizzes, we recommend nesting opportunities for active learning throughout each module. There are many possible formats for knowledge check questions that can be built into a learning management system (LMS) to provide immediate feedback to learners, enabling them to gauge their understanding of the material. These include flashcards, matching activities, or click-and-reveal questions, which encourage students to actively engage with course content.

You may also choose to incorporate polls into your course, where students can view how their classmates responded. This can help normalize feelings of insecurity if students are not yet fully comprehending the content. Poll questions also allow instructors to identify concepts for which many students need clarification and to provide additional instruction or resources to help fill those gaps, such as through an announcement or optional synchronous session. Such polls can be especially useful immediately following an assigned reading or video and have been shown to increase student engagement.

An easy activity to incorporate, especially at the beginning or end of a module, is simply asking students to retrieve everything they can that they learned in the previous module. This can be in the form of a stream-of-consciousness brain dump into a short answer question (graded for completion) or an ungraded poll. You can also consider allowing students to write or sketch their answers on physical paper and upload a photo of their product. Encourage them to not just recall words and definitions but also explain how things are related or different from each other and include concrete examples (Rawson et al., 2015).

Before and after practicing retrieval, encourage students to rate their current level of comprehension for each concept. Oftentimes, students initially have an inflated confidence in their understanding of concepts due to the illusion of familiarity. They may recognize a term and remember having learned about it, but when actually forced to recall it from memory, they realize they’ve retained less than expected. Adding a reflection component to any retrieval practice activity can encourage students to look up the correct answer and identify any misconceptions or knowledge gaps. It may also motivate students to later return to the material they struggled to retrieve and to continue practicing until they solidify their knowledge. Even if you choose not to require responses, consider including questions that encourage students to pause and reflect, such as the following:

• What was the most interesting thing you learned in this module?
• How might you apply something you learned to your life?
• What questions do you still have?

A recurring journal assignment, discussion board, mid-course check-in, or end-of-course reflection paper can be especially powerful for fostering metacognitive awareness and encouraging students to become more effective, intrinsically motivated, and autonomous learners. Providing prompts or guiding questions can help scaffold the reflection process and encourage deeper engagement with the course content.

Mind mapping tools, such as concept maps and hexagonal thinking, provide learners with a visual framework for organizing and retrieving course content (Schroeder et al., 2018). For these exercises to be maximally effective, instruct students to first create their maps from memory and then check their course materials for any inaccuracies or key content they may have missed.

• To create a concept map, ask students to identify all of the relevant main ideas they remember and then link them together with phrases that explain the relationships between the concepts. Important concepts, in the form of words and/or pictures, are generally enclosed in a circle or box and then connected to other concepts by a line that might include linking phrases such as “begins with,” “includes,” or “aids.” Research on “dual coding” (Meyer & Anderson, 1992) shows that combining verbal materials with visual materials (e.g., infographics, timelines, cartoon strips, diagrams, photos, sketches) can make the presented ideas more concrete and improve long-term memory retention, as this provides two ways of retrieving the information later on.
• Hexagonal thinking involves using hexagonal cards or digital tools such as PowerPoint or Google Slides to explore connections between ideas. Students list concepts on hexagons and arrange them based on cause-and-effect relationships,  similarities, or contrasts. This method can also be used as an assessment tool by prompting students to explain their thinking regarding the connections they create. 

Game-based learning experiences can infuse fun and competition into retrieval practice activities by leveraging game-like elements such as challenges, rewards, and progression systems. For example, incorporating interactive quizzes or puzzles can enhance motivation and engagement with course content in a dynamic manner, either individually or collectively as a class.

Integrating interactive case studies or branching scenarios immerses learners in real-world contexts, prompting them to apply their knowledge to solve complex problems. By actively engaging with “choose your own adventure” type scenarios and reflecting on their experiences, students retrieve and apply course concepts in a practical context, fostering critical thinking skills, allowing them to learn from mistakes in a low-stakes environment, and deepening their understanding of the material.

Discussion boards can encourage learners to engage in meaningful dialogue while actively retrieving course material. In these forums, instructors can pose thought-provoking questions or prompts related to the course content, requiring students to draw upon their knowledge and experiences to contribute to the discussion. By actively participating in these forums, students reinforce their understanding of the material while benefiting from diverse perspectives and insights. As always, encourage them to draft their post from memory first before referring to any notes. Here are a few specific examples of discussion prompts that can motivate effortful engagement:

• Pro-con debate: Present a controversial topic related to the subject matter and ask students to argue one or both sides.
• Case study debate: Provide a case study relevant to the course material and ask students to debate different approaches or solutions based on the theories and concepts learned.
• Problem-solving jigsaw: Divide a complex problem or case study into smaller components and assign each component to a different group of students. Each group must solve their assigned part of the problem and then come together to discuss their solutions and integrate them into a comprehensive answer.
• Expert group reports: Assign different topics or subtopics related to the course material to small groups of students. Each group becomes an "expert" on their assigned topic and prepares a report or presentation. Then, students are reshuffled into new groups where each member presents their findings, encouraging discussion and synthesis of information.
• Narrative reflections: Ask students to reflect on their personal experiences related to the course material and share them in a narrative format.
• Peer teaching and feedback: Integrating peer teaching and feedback assignments empowers learners to actively retrieve and articulate course concepts while contributing to a sense of belongingness in a learning community. In an online asynchronous course, this could involve assigning students to create and deliver short presentations or tutorials on specific topics and comment on each others’ posts. Through teaching others, students must retrieve information from memory and organize it coherently, strengthening their own understanding while providing valuable learning opportunities for their peers.

The following are some additional retrieval practice activities that are more suited for student-student interactions in online synchronous or in-person sessions.

• Think-pair-share: Pose a question or present a problem related to the course material and first give students a few moments to think about their responses individually. Then, have students split up into pairs or small groups to discuss their thoughts with others. Reconvene as a whole group and invite students to share their ideas with the class out loud or in the chat. This provides quieter students time to gather their thoughts and receive validation from peers before mustering the courage to share with the larger class. You can also give each pair or small group a slide in a shared Google Slide deck on which to record their thoughts during their discussion. This allows you to monitor everyone's participation simultaneously and join groups showing little activity to help students who may be struggling, confused, or unmotivated.
• Game show: Divide students into teams and host a quiz bowl or Jeopardy-style competition. Prepare a set of questions covering key concepts from previous lessons or units. Teams compete to answer questions correctly, earning points for their correct responses. Encourage teamwork, discussion, and quick recall of information without referring to notes or instructional materials. 
• Retrieval races: Create a list of questions or tasks related to the course content. Students compete individually or in small groups to see who can retrieve the correct answers or complete the tasks the fastest. Display questions or tasks on the screen, and students can respond verbally or by typing their answers. Keep track of points or progress throughout the session to add a competitive element and motivate participation.
• Live polls: Consider using built-in polling features in Zoom or Microsoft Teams, or available through websites such as PollEverywhere, to present questions to students during synchronous sessions. An easier, less anonymous version is to pose a question and then instruct all students to type their response into the video conferencing chat but wait to submit it until the instructor counts “1, 2, 3, go!” Displaying the answers simultaneously encourages participation across all students rather than just the few students who are the quickest to type their responses. 

Butler, A. C. (2010). Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(5), 1118–1133.

Carpenter, S. K., & Kelly, J. W. (2012). Tests enhance retention and transfer of spatial learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19(3), 443–448.

Fortino, A., & Lowrance, R. (2019). Practice makes perfect: Memory retrieval strategies to improve student academic performance. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019(1), Article 11085.

McDaniel, M. A., Thomas, R. C., Agarwal, P. K., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L. (2013). Quizzing in middle‐school science: Successful transfer performance on classroom exams. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27(3), 360–372.

McDaniel, M. A., Wildman, K. M., & Anderson, J. L. (2012). Using quizzes to enhance summative-assessment performance in a web-based class: An experimental study. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1(1), 18–26.

Meyer, R. E., & Anderson, R. B. (1992). The instructive animation: Helping students build connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(4), 444–452.

Rawson, K. A., Thomas, R. C., & Jacoby, L. L. (2015). The power of examples: Illustrative examples enhance conceptual learning of declarative concepts. Educational Psychology Review, 27(3), 483–504.

Rohrer, D., Taylor, K., & Sholar, B. (2010). Tests enhance the transfer of learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(1), 233–239.

Schroeder, N. L., Nesbit, J. C., Anguiano, C. J., & Adesope, O. O. (2018). Studying and constructing concept maps: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30(2), 431–455.