2023 Keynote Address

Making it Stick: Improving Learning with Spacing and Retrieval Practice

Decades of cognitive research can inform classroom learning. However, this research is not always translated into practice. In this keynote address, Dr. Megan Sumeracki, co-founder of the popular website The Learning Scientists and co-author of Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide, will describe two strategies--spacing and retrieval practice--that have robust evidence to support their use during learning. After providing a brief overview of the strategies and evidence to support their effectiveness, she will draw on The Learning Scientists' resources to share applications of the strategies that can be used in a variety of instructional settings, followed by a discussion of how instructors can leverage scholarship of teaching and learning methods to investigate these strategies.

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  Dr. Megan Sumeracki

  Co-Founder, The Learning Scientists
  Associate Professor of Psychology, Rhode Island College

  Dr. Megan Sumeracki (formerly Smith) is an Associate Professor at Rhode Island College. She received her Master’s in Experimental Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Purdue University. Megan studies human learning and memory, specifically applying the science of learning in educational contexts. Her research focuses on retrieval-based learning strategies, and the way retrieval can improve meaningful learning. Megan has delivered talks and workshops both in the U.S. and abroad at scientific conferences and with educators in primary and secondary schools, institutions of higher education, medical schools and teaching hospitals, and the U.S. State Department. Megan is passionate about bridging the gap between research and practice in education. In an effort to promote more conversations between researchers and practitioners, she co-founded The Learning Scientists.