Techniques to Learn If You’re Struggling With Information Retention
Information retention can be a huge problem for many people. Students can struggle to achieve excellent grades when they can’t absorb their course materials. Even employees can find that it’s a barrier, especially if not being able to retain training information means they can’t perform their jobs to a high standard. Fortunately, struggling with information retention now doesn’t mean you will in the future. You can try some of these learning techniques below:
Virtual Reality
Many business owners understand that people learn in different ways. That’s why they offer a combination of audio, visual, and written learning materials. However, many now incorporate virtual reality training to help with information retention.
This form of training allows employees to immerse themselves in something they’ll be doing every day without actually undertaking that task and making mistakes. Many business owners also value virtual reality training for reducing costs and meeting safety and sustainability objectives.
Look Up Answers
Many students prepare for closed-book exams in tertiary education by reading information and testing themselves on their newfound knowledge. This approach doesn’t always work for people who struggle to retain new information. Instead of scrambling to recall the answer to a question, look that answer up. You can then focus on familiarizing yourself with it rather than seeing if the information will automatically pop into your brain.
Space Out Study Times
Some people swear by cramming, even though it’s rarely seen as an effective study strategy. Instead of taking this approach, space out your study times to help with information retention. This approach involves reviewing the information you’ve just learned within two to five hours of a class or training session. While doing this, you’d add extra details and fill in anything you might have missed.
One or two days later, you can revisit that information and refresh your memory, and again one week later. When the time comes to put that information into effect, you can do one final review to cement that knowledge in your mind.
Learn in Multiple Ways
Learning information from a textbook or instructional video is not always enough for people to absorb information. Studies have found that learning the same information in multiple ways may be more helpful. For example, you might initially read something in a textbook before listening to an audiobook covering the same topics. You might then relay that information back to a friend.
Take a Practical Approach
We all have different preferred learning styles. Those who struggle to retain written materials are often kinesthetic learners. This means they learn through ‘doing.’ Knowing you’re a kinesthetic learner, you might create practical-based ways to retain new information.
This is why many employers now incorporate virtual learning into their onboarding process. Their employees can perform tasks in a controlled environment. They might not have the same level of success with these activities in a real-life situation if they’ve only learned appropriate procedures from a manual beforehand.
Information retention might be something you struggle with now, but it doesn’t have to hold you back from achieving your personal and professional goals. Try some of these learning techniques above, and you might enjoy a much easier and more rewarding learning process.