Learning Strategies: Which Ones Work in Workplace Training

Learn faster with AI powered courses, quizzes, and flashcards

Start Free

A new staff member at a winery cellar door has read the 20-page tasting-notes booklet, clicked through the recap page and scored nine out of ten on the end-of-course quiz. On her first Saturday a customer says, "I usually drink Pinot Grigio, but I want something with more flavour, and we're having Thai tonight." She freezes, then reaches for the booklet under the counter.

Learning strategies are the mental moves a learner makes to understand, remember and use new material, such as recalling it from memory, spacing practice out, mixing problem types and explaining why something is true. Learners often rate the stronger strategies below the weaker ones, because the weaker ones feel easier. So in workplace training, the course should prompt useful learner activity and teach people how to use it.

I'm a cofounder of Coursebox, where we make an AI course builder for employee training, so weigh what I say about it with that in mind. Before Coursebox I was lead learning designer on three edX courses at the University of Adelaide. Every course I design still comes down to a lesson, a practice activity and an assessment, and most courses have far too much of the first. This guide ranks the common learning strategies by their evidence, shows each as a course artefact, then gives seven design changes to consider for a course and a test of them in Coursebox.

What are learning strategies?

Learning strategies are the mental moves a learner makes to understand, remember and use new material, such as recalling it from memory, spacing practice out, mixing problem types and explaining why something is true.

They belong to the learner. A course cannot recall something on a learner's behalf, but it can provide an appropriate recall opportunity and feedback. You rarely get to coach adults on how to study, but you do decide what every page asks them to do.

Learning strategies vs instructional strategies vs learning styles

• Learning strategies are what the learner does in their head: recall, space, mix, explain.
• Instructional strategies are what the trainer or designer plans: a demonstration, a case discussion, a role play. Our guide to instructional strategies covers the trainer's side.
• Learning styles are a stated preference, such as "I'm a visual learner". Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer and Bjork reviewed the learning styles research in 2008 and found virtually no evidence that matching teaching to a person's preferred style improves learning. Our guide to types of learning styles goes through the models.

Microlearning concerns the size and focus of a learning unit; mobile describes delivery; gamification uses game elements in a learning design. None tells you whether the learner recalls, compares, explains or merely rereads. Choose the learner activity as well as the format.

The worked example: new cellar door staff and a 14-wine range

This is a hypothetical course. Ridgeback Estate is a family-owned winery in South Australia. Before summer it hires six seasonal staff for the cellar door. They must learn the current range of 14 wines (two sparkling, six whites, a rosé, four reds and a tawny), with each wine's style, a one-line description, its price and a food match, plus the venue's own procedure for refusing service.

The real test happens on the floor: a customer describes what they like, and the new staff member recommends a wine and pours it. The course this replaces is a 20-page tasting-notes booklet, a recap page and a 10-question quiz at the end. Each strategy below is shown as the change it makes to that course.

Types of learning strategies

A well-established grouping comes from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), a self-report survey Paul Pintrich and colleagues built at the University of Michigan. The MSLQ manual splits its learning strategies section into 31 items on cognitive and metacognitive strategies and 19 on managing resources. That gives three types. Here they are with an example from the Ridgeback cellar door course.

Some lists add a fourth type, affective or social strategies, covering things like managing anxiety or studying with others. The MSLQ folds help-seeking and peer learning into resource management, so the three-type split covers most of the same ground.

Which learning strategies work best?

A widely cited 2013 review by John Dunlosky and four colleagues rated ten popular learning techniques high, moderate or low utility, based on how far each one's benefits held across learners, materials and kinds of test.

The review covered education research, so read the bands as the best available guide for adults at work rather than a workplace verdict. Here is every strategy in this guide, sorted by that evidence.

Learning strategies that work, with workplace examples

Retrieval practice

Retrieval practice means pulling information out of memory, by answering a question or writing what you remember, rather than reading it again. Dunlosky's review calls it practice testing and rates it high utility.

• The strategy: retrieval practice.
• In the cellar door course: the page on reds opens with a question on the whites page before it: "Without looking: which of our whites would you offer someone who finds Sauvignon Blanc too sharp?" Learners answer in open text, then see the answer.
• Evidence band: high utility (Dunlosky 2013).

In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 experiments, students who took recall tests on a passage remembered more of it two days and a week later than students who reread it, even though rereading made them more confident. Our guide to cognitive learning theory examples explains why recall strengthens memory.

A question can also come before the content it covers. That is called pretesting. In Richland, Kornell and Kao's 2009 experiments, people who tried to answer questions before reading an essay later did better on those questions than people given extra reading time, even on the questions they had got wrong at first. So the reds page can also open with "Which of our reds would you offer someone who likes a lighter, fruit-forward wine?" before learners have seen the reds. Dunlosky's review did not rate pretesting.

Spaced practice

Spaced practice means spreading practice over days or weeks instead of doing it all at once. Dunlosky's review rates it high utility alongside practice testing.

• The strategy: spaced practice.
• In the cellar door course: five of the course questions are sent again a few weeks after the course ends.
• Evidence band: high utility (Dunlosky 2013).

One long-term trial with people at work comes from medicine. Urology residents who had learned through spaced online questions still scored higher two years later than residents who got the same material in one block.

How to set the gaps is its own topic: our guide to spaced repetition and how to practise it covers scheduling.

Case study: Spaced online questions for urology residents

In 2005, 537 urology residents in training took part in a randomised trial of online learning built from 96 American Urological Association self-assessment questions. One cohort got the material as spaced education, spread out over time, and the other got it in one block (a "bolus"). Two years later, the trial's author checked whether the difference lasted.

• What they did: From September to November 2007, residents still in training were sent 60 of the original 96 questions by daily email. Of the 537, 206 were still in residency and volunteered, and 147 answered at least 85% of the questions and were analysed.
• Evidence and result: Kerfoot's 2009 follow-up found the spaced cohort scored higher two years on, 70.2% against 66.8%, with an effect size of 0.35, a small-to-moderate difference. The author notes that a gap lasting that long is very unusual. The cohorts did not differ in age, gender, degree or training year.
• Limitation: It measured multiple-choice knowledge, not clinical performance, and only volunteers still in residency took the test, so the analysed group is under a third of the original trial. The author calls the effect modest.
• Lesson: Spacing out the same questions left a measurable difference two years later, with no new content written. If a course already has good questions, send some of them again weeks later before writing anything new.

Interleaving (mixed practice)

Interleaving means mixing different kinds of problem in one practice set, so the learner has to work out which kind each one is. Dunlosky's review rates it moderate utility.

• The strategy: interleaving.
• In the cellar door course: instead of one block of questions per wine, the practice page gives several customers in a row, each needing a choice between several wines: the Pinot Grigio drinker having Thai, a couple wanting a bottle to cellar, a guest asking for something sweet.
• Evidence band: moderate utility (Dunlosky 2013).

Mixed scenarios are the floor task in miniature; our guide to scenario-based learning shows how to write them.

Elaboration

Elaboration, which Dunlosky calls elaborative interrogation, means asking why a fact is true and answering it.

• The strategy: elaboration.
• In the cellar door course: after each customer choice, the next question is "Why does that wine suit Thai food better than the others you could have picked?"
• Evidence band: moderate utility (Dunlosky 2013).

Self-explanation

Self-explanation means explaining how a step or example works in your own words, including how it connects to what you already know.

• The strategy: self-explanation.
• In the cellar door course: after the refusing-service procedure, learners write in their own words why each step of the procedure comes in the order it does.
• Evidence band: moderate utility (Dunlosky 2013).

Concrete examples

A concrete example ties an abstract idea to a specific case the learner can picture.

• The strategy: concrete examples.
• In the cellar door course: "medium-bodied with soft tannins" comes with a real customer line: "I like red but not the heavy ones."
• Evidence band: not rated by Dunlosky.

Dual coding

Dual coding means pairing words with a picture that carries a different part of the idea, so there are two routes back to the memory.

• The strategy: dual coding.
• In the cellar door course: a one-page map of the range from lightest to fullest, with each wine's name on it, beside the text explaining what changes along the scale.
• Evidence band: not rated by Dunlosky.

A picture that only decorates adds load without a second route, as our guide to cognitive load theory explains.

Metacognitive checks

A metacognitive check asks the learner to judge how well they know something before finding out.

• The strategy: a confidence rating.
• In the cellar door course: before each practice answer, learners rate their confidence from 1 (unsure) to 3 (very confident), then see whether they were right.
• Evidence band: not one of Dunlosky's ten. It exists because learners often feel sure about things they cannot yet recall.

Popular learning strategies with weaker evidence

These three are common defaults in courses and study guides. Use them for a suitable purpose and add the practice the objective needs.

Summarising

Summarising means writing the main points of a text in your own words. Dunlosky's review rates it low utility: it has helped some students on some tests, but the conditions under which it helps are limited.

• A common course feature: an instructor-written recap. That is not the learner-written summarisation technique Dunlosky rated, so the low rating does not establish that the recap should be deleted.
• An option: keep a useful recap as a reference and ask learners to recall key points before revealing it. For the wines, ask which dry whites they remember, then compare with the range sheet.

Concept mapping

Concept mapping means drawing the main ideas of a topic as boxes joined by labelled links. Karpicke and Blunt (2011) compared it directly with retrieval practice: students who practised recalling a science text learned more than students who built concept maps while studying it, even when the final test asked them to draw a concept map.

• The default: a finished map of the range for learners to look at.
• The replacement: learners build the map from memory, then compare it with the real one.

Rereading, highlighting and note-taking

Rereading and highlighting both landed in Dunlosky's low-utility band. They feel productive because the text grows familiar, but familiarity is not recall. Note-taking was not one of the ten techniques rated, so I won't give it a band. Copying the booklet into a notebook is still mostly a rereading exercise.

• The default: "Read the booklet again before your first shift."
• The replacement: "Before your first shift, answer these customer questions without the booklet."

Active vs passive learning

Passive learning means taking material in by reading, watching or listening. Active learning means doing something with it. Our guide to passive learning covers both in more depth.

A click does not establish deep learning. Copying visible wording may require little thinking, while an open-book comparison can still require careful application. Decide whether the task calls for recall without aids, explanation or appropriate use of a reference, then design and assess that activity.

Why learners choose the wrong learning strategies

These findings show why course designers should teach useful strategies and check learning, rather than choose activities only from preference ratings. They do not show that every learner makes the same choice.

• Learners prefer the strategy that tested worse. In Kornell and Bjork's 2008 study, people learned to recognise painters' styles from paintings shown either grouped by artist or mixed together. The mixed order produced better results, yet participants rated the grouped order as more effective, even after their own test showed the opposite.
• Rereading raises confidence more than it raises memory. Roediger and Karpicke's students felt surer after rereading, and remembered less a week later than students who had tested themselves.
• People misjudge their own learning in general. Bjork, Dunlosky and Kornell's 2013 review concludes that people often have a faulty mental model of how they learn and remember.

A familiar page can feel easier than an effortful question, so preference alone is not a measure of retained learning. Offer a clear explanation, appropriate practice and feedback, then compare what learners can do later. Keep learner feedback for access and usability as well.

How to build learning strategies into workplace training

These seven changes work on most courses, shown on the cellar door course.

1. Use an opening question where learners have relevant prior knowledge, or a clearly labelled pre-question followed by teaching and feedback. On a later wine page: "Without looking, which whites would you offer someone who finds Sauvignon Blanc too sharp?" Do not make every new page a compulsory memory test.
2. Add a retrieval opportunity before a useful recap. Ask learners to name the dry whites and suitable foods, then let them compare and correct using the summary.
3. Mix the practice. One page of customers needing different wines, such as the Thai dinner, the bottle to cellar and the sweet tooth, not a block of questions per wine.
4. Ask "why" after the answer. "Why that wine and not the Sauvignon Blanc?"
5. Add a confidence rating to practice questions. A 1 to 3 rating before each answer, so learners see where they felt sure and were wrong.
6. Bring the questions back after the course. Send five of them again a few weeks after the course ends. The spaced repetition guide covers how to time them.
7. Check the floor task as well as ratings and quiz answers. A supervisor can sample customer recommendations in the first week and coach any gap. Three observations are an illustrative start, not validated sign-off; include the required range of situations and keep applicable service controls.

Most course briefs ask for none of this. We classified a sample of the requests people typed into the Coursebox course builder to see which learner moves they asked for.

A quiz is the strategy people already know to ask for. Steps 1 and 6 are the ones almost nobody asks for, and neither needs new content written.

I use explanation, practice and assessment as separate planning jobs. Opening questions can reveal prior knowledge; mixed cases and explanations develop it; later checks sample retention and job use. Choose these moves where they fit rather than adding a question to every page. Our guide to adult learning theory covers designing around relevant tasks and experience.

Building a strategy-led course in Coursebox

I ran the cellar door brief through the Coursebox course agent in a test workspace, with a made-up 14-wine range sheet for Ridgeback Estate, to see whether it would follow these strategies or fall back on the booklet-and-recap habit.

What I asked for. "Build a 30-minute course for six new seasonal cellar door staff on our 14-wine range. Open every lesson page with a question learners answer from memory before they see the content. No recap or summary pages. Practice should be mixed customer scenarios where they choose between wines, each followed by a 'why' question. Put a 1 to 3 confidence rating before each practice answer. Add a 5-question check to reuse two and four weeks later."

What it produced. Three sections and five pages at 30 minutes: three lesson pages on the range, a customer practice page and a five-question check, with no recap page. Every lesson page opened with a "Before you look" prompt asking learners to recall the wines before reading about them. The practice page had five customers, each with a 1 to 3 confidence rating before the answer, a wine choice, then a "Why?" question. On scheduling, the agent told me plainly that it had treated the later check as something a learner or manager starts, not something sent automatically.

What was wrong. Three of the five check questions were matching items with no question stem, pairing wine names with their tasting notes. They test whether you recognise the sheet's wording, not whether you can choose a wine for a customer. The practice scenarios read the tasting note back to the learner and offered only two wines, and in the first two customers I read, the right wine was the first button both times. The "Before you look" openers asked for an answer "aloud or on paper" rather than in a question block, so neither they nor the practice page record anything a manager could review. Those still need a hand edit, and the two-week and four-week check has to be reassigned by a manager.

The fix, and how I checked it. I sent the AI editor one message asking it to replace the three matching items with single-choice customer scenarios, each with a stem that does not quote the range sheet, four wine options and a hint, keeping the other two questions. It posted no completion message, so I reloaded the page. The check now had five questions, and the first three were scenarios, such as a customer who wants a white with a fuller mouthfeel, nothing sweet, under $30, choosing from Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Moscato. It had replaced the old items rather than adding to them. If you only want the scenario questions, the AI quiz generator builds a quiz on its own.

What the evidence can't tell you yet

The utility bands summarise education research, not a ranking of every workplace design. Kerfoot's trial involved doctors in training and a knowledge test; it did not measure patient care or sales. Treat these strategies as useful candidates, and check the actual job performance and implementation in your setting.

Putting learning strategies to work

Practice testing and distributed practice received high utility ratings in Dunlosky's review; interleaving, elaborative interrogation and self-explanation were moderate. Low ratings for rereading, highlighting and learner-written summaries mean their benefits were less dependable across the reviewed conditions, not that no learner should use them. Build useful practice into the course and teach learners how to use it.

Take one course and identify a point learners need to remember or apply later. Add a suitable question, feedback and a planned revisit, while keeping the explanation and reference they need. Then watch the job task and revise from the errors you actually see.