Why you may want to subscribe to "subscription learning."

Nearly every Wednesday at 1 pm EDT I join the “Learning Insights Weekly” sponsored by the Learning Development Accelerators (LDA). The LDA hits the sweet spot for my professional interests and level of challenge and I encourage all who create and support learning to join. Each week co-founder Will Thalheimer shares a bit of research that could influence how we design and deliver learning. The topic on Wednesday, May 5th is “SUBSCRIPTION LEARNING: BASED ON THE SPACING EFFECT. BUT, IS IT WORKABLE?”

There are three ideas in that title: Subscription, spacing, and workable. To improve my learning and share some useful ideas (I hope!) with others, I am going to preview the upcoming topic by sharing a few thoughts in anticipation. Let’s call it a “learning foresight.” I may correctly anticipate Will, or I may be off base, but I am mostly confident that pre-thinking will improve my understanding. I’ll address two reasons why before sharing thoughts on three ideas.

A. Through a “learning foresight” I am activating my prior knowledge on the topic. This includes both my factual knowledge about subscription learning but also my conceptual understanding of when and why it might be effective. One or both could be accurate or neither could be accurate. If accurate, I could improve my understanding of the insight. If inaccurate, I could create a barrier to my understanding, OR I could experience a contradiction that leads to a conceptual shift in my understanding.

B. A “learning foresight” is also an example of generation. The “generation effect” refers to the finding that we typically remember better what we come up with rather than what we are told or read from an external source. Generated items a more likely to be remembered at a later recall test or performance situation (if the right cues are present). If I generate ideas consistent with the insight lesson and discussion, I’ll have a reinforcing or additive experience during the session. If I am off base, I have to hope that I deeply process the more accurate concepts that I learn to correct my misunderstandings (and - yay! - the weekly insights have this built into the routine). As you can see, feedback following generation is a good idea.

Now, a few thoughts on the topic.

Subscription learning: Will Thalheimer describes it in detail here. Rather than “attend” learning or acquire and complete a package of learning, one subscribes to learning content and activity delivered on a schedule like your magazine or beer of the month subscription (who doesn't have one?). Subscription learning could be micro-learning but micro-learning is not necessarily subscription learning because subscription derives advantages from….

The Spacing Effect: One of the oldest and well-established findings about learning is that spaced learning experiences produce much greater long-term retention than massed learning. Engagement with a topic across time in six 15-minute “nuggets,” for example, will usually produce better retention than attending one 90-minute event. Why? One reason is that each exposure is another recall, processing, and practice opportunity. Another is that the interval between exposures induces a bit of forgetting. We then must apply more effort to recall what we know and this increases the storage strength of the memory. If the learning is easily recalled, then the next interval should be even longer.

But is this workable? I think we will spend most of the Insight Weekly discussion on this. I see a few challenges. One is that most decision-makers often don’t understand it. It's hard to explain why a learning activity spans 6 to 8 weeks instead of 90 minutes. Another is that, in my experience, learning management systems are not designed for it. We may have to use other tools or manually maintain the subscription for learners who may be on different schedules. Another is the waning attention of learners. No matter how good their intentions, an email about something learners cared about two weeks ago may not merit the same attention in the context of whatever day-to-day “busyness” they experience.

There are other downsides but also plenty of upsides. In addition to taking advantage of the spacing effect, subscription learning may be more practical for whom dedicating a large block of time is not possible. And subscription learning need not be one-way transmission. If learners can interact with instructors or other learners in the intervals they can increase the depth of their learning. Are you familiar with subscription learning? Have you implemented it or experienced it as a learner? Share your thoughts and I will return later to share whatever learning insights I gain.