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Active Recall Steps – Drive Engagement and Retention

Use Active Recall Steps to help learners retain knowledge. These interactive steps reinforce learning and measure understanding.

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MultiChoice Step

Best for: Reinforcing ideas with multiple correct answers
Learning impact:

  • Strengthens memory through structured repetition

  • Encourages focused thinking and exploration

  • Offers immediate feedback for growth

Best practices:

  • Aim for 3–8 answers; 4 is ideal

  • Avoid “All of the above” unless useful

  • Provide clear feedback that explains concepts

  • Shuffle questions to support spaced repetition

  • Avoid using for high-stakes concepts—this is for exploration

🔄 It’s not about getting it “right”—it’s about engaging with the idea again and learning.


Streak Step

Best for: Gamifying repetition and driving focused recall
Learning impact:

  • Boosts engagement through fast-paced interaction

  • Encourages retrying content in small, sticky bursts

  • Builds retention through repetition and rhythm

Best practices:

  • Use exactly 8, 10, or 12 questions

  • Keep questions concise, playful, and varied

  • Include one clear correct answer

  • Reinforce patterns and core concepts with smart distractors

Short, quick, and sticky. Great for building automaticity over time.


True or False Step

Best for: Speedy fact checks to reinforce knowledge
Learning impact:

  • Improves retention of factual statements

  • Encourages learners to confidently identify core truths

  • Works well for “myth-busting” and clarification

Best practices:

  • Write 5–8 clean, direct questions

  • Avoid negatives and tricky phrasing

  • Keep feedback brief and confirmational

  • Use to reinforce “need-to-know” facts—not to trap learners

🧠 Great for yes/no knowledge boosts and fast confidence builders.


Sequence Step

Best for: Helping learners internalize step-by-step flows
Learning impact:

  • Strengthens procedural memory

  • Builds fluency with real-world task order

  • Encourages logic and pattern recognition

Best practices:

  • Use no more than 8 list items

  • Be clear and action-oriented (“Click login” → “Enter code”)

  • Keep item phrasing consistent

  • Use with workflows, timelines, or critical paths

🔁 Perfect for helping learners “see the sequence” and remember it.


Sorting Step

Best for: Reinforcing concepts by grouping them
Learning impact:

  • Encodes memory by structuring knowledge into categories

  • Encourages meaningful comparison and classification

  • Supports pattern recognition

Best practices:

  • Use 2–4 categories, 6–10 facts

  • Keep facts short, focused, and only assignable to one group

  • Randomize delivery for replay value

  • Use in the middle or end of a course to reinforce patterns

🗂️ Help learners build mental file folders.


Scenario Step

Best for: Practicing decision-making in context
Learning impact:

  • Builds confidence through simulated experience

  • Teaches nuance and emotional intelligence

  • Great for role-play, soft skills, and judgment training

Best practices:

  • Plan your “perfect path” first, then build branches

  • Write realistic dialogue with short, clear options

  • Always end with the character speaking last

  • Keep paths tight—test every one

  • Score paths using +points for good responses (never punish)

💬 Let learners “try on” behaviors and see the impact, safely.


Human Step

Best for: Connecting learners with real people
Learning impact:

  • Reinforces learning through conversation or validation

  • Encourages community, mentorship, and coaching

  • Adds real-world reinforcement to digital learning

Best practices:

  • Use for check-ins, coaching, or approvals

  • Clearly outline expectations for mentors and learners

  • Choose between code-based or mentor-confirmed completion

  • Place strategically in course flows where human connection adds value

🧑‍🏫 Learning happens in conversations too—bring that into the experience.


Polygraph Step

Best for: Sharpening reading comprehension and fact-checking
Learning impact:

  • Improves attention to detail

  • Reinforces correct terminology and phrasing

  • Encourages careful, thoughtful review of material

Best practices:

  • Use 1–2 short paragraphs

  • Include a mix of subtle and obvious errors

  • Provide only one correct option per fix

  • Avoid filler text—make every sentence count

🕵️ Learners become detectives—highlighting and correcting as they go.


Crossword Step

Best for: Building vocabulary and reinforcing definitions
Learning impact:

  • Reinforces learning through puzzle play

  • Improves memory by linking clues to terms

  • Encourages problem-solving and lateral thinking

Best practices:

  • 4–8 themed words per round

  • Use only lowercase; omit spaces

  • Write clues that are specific and clear

  • Words must overlap to build a functional grid

  • Use for terminology, acronyms, or structured themes

🧩 Let learners remember with a little brain-teasing fun.


🧠 Quick Reference

Reinforcement Goal

Use This Step

Structured recall with multiple answers

MultiChoice

Timed repetition with streak scoring

Streak

Binary checks for core facts

True or False

Process and order reinforcement

Sequence

Classification and grouping

Sorting

Simulated conversation and decision-making

Scenario

Check-in or mentor validation

Human

Fact correction and comprehension

Polygraph

Puzzle-based recall and vocabulary

Crossword

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