One of the most important outcomes from learning is to develop the skills and knowledge to “respond to realistic situations in a simulated environment” (O’Shea et al., 2022). I’ve had many relevant learning experiences both internal and external of university. However, one of my most memorable learning experiences was taking the courses HINF 140, an Introduction to the Canadian Health Care System and HINF 320 on Project Management. The courses required plenty of memorization and I used different kinds of techniques to ensure that I would pass and do well on the tests. Both courses had new terms I had never come across before, content I’ve only heard of professors skimming over, but never really explained.

The courses had tests that were mainly based on the given PowerPoints taught during the lectures, but HINF 140 had weekly quizzes while HINF 320 had tests every few weeks. I approached the first test and quiz with the ‘skimming and passive reading’ approach, where I would read through the slides and my notes whilst consolidating and adding to my notes. This approach was terrible because I didn’t practice recall and none of the contents were stored or recalled for future use.

After realizing that I did not perform well on tests and quizzes, I began using Quizlet, a tool that allows users to create flashcards, quizzes, and games based on their study material. I found that using flashcards and teaching myself the quiz content helped me memorize definitions effectively. This approach aligns with behaviorism, as it relies on deliberate practice through repetition and feedback (O’Shea et al., 2022). This form of practice and reinforcements allowed me to recognize and elicit cues from a stimulus such as seeing words associated with definitions repetitively in which facilitated the linking of stimulus-response pairs (Ertmer & Newby, 2018). Once I began applying this technique, it was easier for me to recall the answers during assessments and make connections.

I enjoyed this approach because it gave me a sense of progress and achievement. It felt as if it was a daunting task of doing a test that would determine my grade for the course. Seeing my improvement through self-testing and gradually memorizing the material made studying more engaging and motivating. Overall, adopting Quizlet as a study tool significantly improved my assessment performance from my ability to retain and recall the stored information. By incorporating deliberate practice and reinforcement it strengthened the stimulus response associations during tests.

References

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology: https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

O’Shea, M.-C., Palermo, C., Rogers, G. D., Cardell, E., & Williams, L. T. (2022). It Is Time to Link Theory to Practice in Simulation-Based Learning: Lessons from Learning Theories. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 122(3), 508–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2021.06.011