MBOin2030: Our Role in the Cycle of Innovation
The Dutch vocational education system (MBO) faces mounting pressure to adapt to the diverse needs of its students. One-size-fits-all instruction leaves some students behind, and prevents others from achieving their full potential. Enter MBOin2030, a national innovation programme with a clear vision: flexible, future-proof education. One of its flagship initiatives is the “Personalised Learning” challenge, […]
Why Do Students Quit Online Learning?
Online learning environments (OLEs) are becoming increasingly popular due to their flexibility, accessibility, and ability to adapt to individual learners. These platforms allow students to study at their own pace and revisit material as needed, making them particularly useful for self-directed learning. Many systems now incorporate adaptive algorithms to optimize learning schedules, presenting items at […]
Can you learn 80% of Spanish in 2 months? – A case study
Introduction How much would you understand of a book written in a language you don’t know? Not much. But if you learned just 1.000 of the most common words, could you read Harry Potter? Surprisingly, you would understand 80% of the total words in the entire book. 1.000 words cover roughly 80% of Spanish fiction, […]
What it Means to be a Science-Led Company
What guides your day-to-day decisions? We all strive to act with fairness and honesty with our close ones, and with our work. But how often do our personal values align with those of the company we work for? For many of us here at MemoryLab, we have the privilege and delight of knowing that they […]
Smart flashcards: How to generate effective lessons with ChatGPT
Creating learning materials like flashcards by hand can be time-consuming and repetitive. Retrieval practice using flashcards is one of the most effective learning methods, but how can you make well-crafted flashcards as quickly as possible to allow yourself or your students to start applying retrieval practice? As our previous blogpost explained, making flashcards is not […]
Beyond the test: transforming how we assess what learners know
Traditional knowledge assessment How do we assess a learner’s knowledge level? We test them. A traditional assessment might involve asking the learner short-answer or multiple-choice questions, or requiring them to demonstrate their knowledge by writing an essay, for example. We then infer what a learner knows from the correctness of their responses. While these traditional […]
Adaptive Learning at Zpannend Zernike
Earlier this month, we attended Zpannend Zernike, a family-oriented science festival held across the city of Groningen. As educational researchers and designers, this was a wonderful opportunity to see our work in the hands of young learners – And an opportunity for them to learn more about their internal learning and memory processes. The personalised […]
Learn less, memorize more – New mastery system to improve spaced learning habits
Let’s talk about a familiar feeling—that moment when you’ve done just enough to feel productive, but still wonder if it’s really enough. You want that “that’ll do for today” moment without pushing so far that you become fatigued and slip into overlearning. Finding the study sweet spot is a delicate balance between feeling accomplished (happy […]
Why knowledge-based exams are harmful to the goals of education.
Why knowledge-based exams are harmful to the goals of education. Centuries of research have demonstrated that the best long-term retention of educational materials is achieved when the materials are studied in a spaced fashion. This means that students should not invest the time they have available for studying in a single study session, but instead […]
Modality Matters: Benefits of Speech-Based Learning in Learners with Dyslexia
Abstract Developmental dyslexia is a common learning disorder that affects reading, writing, and spelling, often leading to academic difficulties. In this study, which was awarded the 2024 Computational Modeling Award by the Cognitive Science Society, researcher Thomas Wilschut aims to address some of these challenges by improving the process of vocabulary learning in dyslexia. He […]
