Hedderik van Rijn: how can we learn faster, better, and with more fun?

How can we learn faster, better, and with more fun?

Hardly anyone likes learning facts. Whether it’s the multiplication tables, the umpteenth row of French vocabulary, or memorizing the correct sequence of steps for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation: from primary school to far into our working lives, we need to learn factual information. Without good knowledge of those facts we can’t get a deeper mathematical insight, we can’t address our summer romance in their mother tongue or obtain a first aid certificate. How can we make this kind of learning less boring?

Our group developed SlimStampen (Rugged Learning), an adaptive learning system that is based on theories of human memory. SlimStampen keeps track of the difficulty of a certain fact for a learner and ensures that the fact is repeated just before it’s forgotten.

Since 1900, it has been known in science that waiting longer with a repetition ensures – in theory – that knowledge sinks in better. However, this method must be tailored to the knowledge and skills of each individual learner. Because we have converted the memory theories into mathematical models, every learner can learn at their own level with SlimStampen. Our research has shown that this way of learning is less frustrating and up to three times more efficient than other learning techniques.