The Course is Not Over When the Course is Over: A Pedagogical Innovation to Improve Course Content Recall after Graduation

Abstract

This study introduces the Memory Jogger-Trigger System (“MJTS”), a pedagogical innovation that college instructors can use in the classroom to help students recall the most important concepts of a course after it ends. Given that college seniors expect to forget almost half the content they learned in college within a year of graduating, the MJTS is designed to help graduates recall key concepts of their education for use in judgment and decision-making contexts after college. In addition to providing implementation guidance, this study also provides examples of two specific MJTS that were developed for two different college courses: a principles of management course and an accounting auditing course. We also present evidence that students appreciate the utility provided by the MJTS and enjoy the instructor’s use of an MJTS in classroom environments.