Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello, everyone. I’m Liz DiLuzio, Lead Curator of AEA365. The start of a new year is an excellent time to reflect on your professional development goals for 2025. What skills do you want to master? What aspects of your evaluation practice need a refresh? If your learning journey includes workshops or training sessions, one critical concept to consider is retention. Attending a workshop is only the first step—what matters most is how much of that knowledge you retain and apply over time.
The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve: A Cautionary Tale
In the late 19th century, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted pioneering research on how humans forget information. Through a series of experiments, Ebbinghaus identified a startling pattern: without reinforcement, we forget new information at an alarmingly rapid rate. Within just 24 hours, individuals can lose up to 70% of what they’ve learned, and by the end of a week, retention may plummet to as low as 25%. This is what he called the “forgetting curve.”
Though subsequent research has demonstrated that learning is more complex and context-dependent than Ebbinghaus initially proposed, his work remains foundational. It underscores an essential truth: even the most engaging workshop won’t have a lasting impact if the material isn’t revisited. Without deliberate reinforcement strategies, much of your learning will fade. For evaluation professionals, this means the time and money invested in professional development must go beyond the workshop itself. The key is finding opportunities that prioritize retention.
Lessons Learned
So, how can you outsmart the forgetting curve and ensure your professional development efforts stick? Research offers several evidence-based strategies to enhance retention:
- Spaced Learning: Learning retention improves when content is revisited over time. Look for workshops that offer follow-up sessions, regular refreshers, or spaced review opportunities. These allow learners to solidify knowledge incrementally.
- Active Recall: Reinforce learning by actively retrieving information. Workshops that incorporate hands-on activities or post-session assignments can help you practice applying what you’ve learned. Structured follow-ups that challenge you to recall and use knowledge further enhance retention.
- Microlearning and Accessibility: Short, focused learning sessions paired with easily accessible materials make it simpler to reinforce knowledge on demand. Whether it’s videos, quick reference guides, or summaries, having resources at your fingertips helps bridge the forgetting gap.
- Real-World Application: Retention improves when new knowledge is immediately relevant to your work. Seek out workshops that use real-world scenarios, datasets, or tools, allowing you to practice in a way that aligns directly with your evaluation practice.
Your Path Forward
As you plan your professional development for 2025, take a moment to evaluate the workshops and training opportunities available. Do they integrate retention strategies into their design? If not, how can you create those opportunities for yourself? For example, you might schedule time to revisit key concepts, partner with peers for accountability, or design your own practice sessions.
Whether it’s through thoughtfully designed workshops or your own deliberate efforts to revisit and apply learning, you can ensure that your investment in growth yields lasting benefits for your practice. Let’s make this the year of learning that truly sticks.
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