How to retain knowledge and skills from HEAT courses

“We become what we repeatedly do.”
Sean Covey (1999)

You head home after a full day of training. You’ve learned a lot today! When you think back to all the topics, the insights and eureka moments, your head dazzles of all this new information. Especially that idea the trainer gave you about…eh about what? You can’t remember. You had this epiphany, this solution to this problem you were waiting for. Noooo, you forgot!

A brilliant answer and a few hours later it is gone. How is this possible?

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, researched this problem in 1885. Using himself as a Guinea pig, he discovered that learning something new has a disturbingly short shelf life. One hour after learning something new, you retain less than 50%.  After 6 days, less than 20%.

Ebbinghaus called this phenomenon the Forgetting Curve. Below you see a diagram with the loss of newly obtained knowledge over time.

The goal of a security training course is to instil new knowledge and skills. As a trainer, you want to beat this Forgetting Curve and make sure the new learnings are not lost.

How can we do that? Ebbinghaus discovered that, among other solutions, learning has to be spaced in time, so-called spaced repetition. Although many people try to learn by studying in one long session, Ebbinghaus discovered that repetition delivers better results. New knowledge should be repeated at short intervals in the beginning spacing out in longer intervals as time continues.

The first hours and days are crucial for retaining knowledge. As you can see in the graph below, repeating the knowledge several times makes the “forgetting curve” stay more horizontal. A horizontal line implies that the knowledge is retained at that level and stored in the long term memory.

How did we solve the Forgetting Curve problem within HEAT courses?

Ebbinghaus discovered that repetition and variation are key. This repetition and variation should be enabled during the training and after the training.

During the training key lessons are repeated by the trainer. This repetition is not sending out the same message over and over again. The message is repackaged in various forms. Most of the time learning will start with a theoretical explanation, repeated in a practical exercise and repeated again in simulations.

We have developed a Continuous Training Cycle to space out the learning.

A year after the course the participants receive an e-learning assignment. The e-learning repeats the knowledge using video and quizzes.

Two years after the initial training, the participants return for real-life training. This training starts with an update, more exercises and simulations. Especially for psycho-motor skills, like First Aid, exercising is vital.

The third year after the initial training, we offer a new e-learning, followed by a HEAT course the year after that.

The Continuous Training Cycle enables continuous learning for the student. The information and skills will be stored in the long-term memory. The effectiveness of the training courses will increase. This will enable the student to have quick access to knowledge and skills when confronted with risky situations in the field.