Paul A. Kirschner & Mirjam Neelen

Learning strategies that have a high risk of being ineffective, are usually the ones learners prefer. We say, ‘have a high risk of being ineffective’, because the learning strategies we’re referring to, such as highlighting and summarising, are not necessarily ineffective. It’s the way learners apply them that often makes them useless (see our blog ‘Why some things don’t work and how we can make them work’).

Often, learners think they’ll remember more of something that they’re reading when they reread or highlight while reading it. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. To study effectively, and by this we mean studying in such a way that you’re able to remember and apply/use what you’ve learned a day, a week, a month, a year later, you need to use better learning strategies.

The question that arises is, then: How can we support and guide learners…