Academy glossary

Learning terms, explained plainly.

Stable definitions used across the Academy, with a direct route back to the lesson where each idea becomes practical.

Retrieval practice
Trying to produce learned information from memory before checking the answer.
Try to remember before looking again
Recognition
Identifying information as familiar when it is presented to you; this is not the same as recalling it without cues.
Familiar is not the same as learned
Distributed practice
Separating practice repetitions across different occasions instead of placing them together.
Give memory time to work
Massed practice
Repeating the same material in a short, continuous block with little or no delay.
Give memory time to work
Corrective feedback
Information that identifies a gap and supplies or guides the learner towards an accurate response.
A wrong answer needs the right response
Metacognition
Monitoring and directing your own thinking and learning, including judging what you know.
Familiar is not the same as learned
Retention
The extent to which learned information remains available after time has passed.
Give memory time to work
Transfer
Using learning in a task or situation that differs from the original practice context.
How do you know you really learned it?