Retention of Information Taught in Introductory Psychology Courses Across Different Accelerated Course Formats

Abstract

The current study is a quasi-experimental examination of the effects of traditional and accelerated course formats on learning retention. The study analyzed data on an end-of-course exam collected from 132 students enrolled in introductory psychology courses across 3 course formats: a traditional 16-week format, a 5-week accelerated format, and an 8-week accelerated format. Results suggest that students in the 8-week format performed better than students in both the traditional 16-week and 5-week formats. No significant differences were found between students in the 5-week accelerated format and students in the traditional format. Overall, our study suggests that accelerated courses produce similar or superior rates of learning retention to those observed in traditional course formats and highlight the importance of assessing different accelerated course formats as they may not produce equivalent outcomes. The results of the current study are discussed in relation to both distributed learning and immersion in course material.