Spaced Learning Practice
Completion is not success
Post-course satisfaction cannot objectively establish learning or transfer. Delayed follow-up is the stronger transfer measure. Measurement is the moat: report delayed retention, behaviour, time-to-proficiency, error reduction, and business outcomes rather than completion alone.
- Baseline knowledge and performance
- Immediate post-test
- Delayed test at a business-relevant interval
- Work sample or system behaviour
- Comparison group or staggered rollout where feasible
- Exposure and time-on-task data
- Manager and learner barriers
- An explicit decision rule for scale, revise, or stop
A measurement agreement is signed before build. CDC training-effectiveness guidance and related transfer literature inform the stack; client operational data defines the business outcome.
Go / no-go scorecard
| Dimension | Pilot scale criterion | Stop or redesign signal |
|---|---|---|
| Learning | Material delayed-retention improvement versus baseline or comparison | Only immediate scores improve |
| Transfer | Better work sample, manager observation, or valid system behaviour | Quiz gains with no plausible transfer signal |
| Economics | Clear buyer value and reusable delivery assets | Content production consumes the entire fee |
| Engagement | Sustainable participation without excessive nudging | Notification fatigue, opt-outs, or role conflict |
| Evidence quality | Traceable data, balanced comparison, documented limitations | Missing baseline, changing measures, or selective reporting |
| Partnership | Sponsor, data owner, SME, IT, and operations aligned | L&D owns the pilot but the business rejects the outcome measure |
- Exaggerated claims — claims policy
- Notification fatigue — burden caps
- Poor source content — provenance and SME gates
- AI-generated errors — human approval for consequential answers
- Inaccessible delivery — WCAG 2.2 AA testing
- Privacy concerns — data minimisation; no use for employment decisions without explicit agreement
- Inability to access work outcomes — measurement agreement before build