Retrieval practice enhances online learning in academic courses

Retrieval practice is described as a pedagogy that includes ways that students have a chance to recall information during their study process. With the introduction of online learning and course management systems which permit secure testing online, a way is provided to generate many sets of small quizzes from large question pools which can serve as an efficient digital method for practicing recall of the information to be learned. Course management systems also provide a way to capture and store the results of the small quizzes used for retrieval practice. This study looks at data captured by taking numerous small quizzes as the retrieval learning process and compares the captured data sets to the grade distribution in the major exams for which the small quizzes are being used as a way to learn the material being tested. The overall results demonstrate that the use of retrieval practice does enhance student learning and also was found to lower the drop rate for the micro and macro anatomy courses studied.