by
Michelle Peterson
| Sep 30, 2014
Richard Tamme, an instructor at the Computer Systems Institute, offers six CompTIA A+ classes per semester in the school’s Network Career Program track. After taking a look at CertMaster, a comprehensive new teaching tool from CompTIA, he decided to incorporate it into lessons with all of his incoming students.
“I would recommend the program for all of my students as a complete learning and study tool for exam preparation,” Tamme said.
Tamme is also the executive director of the Training Institute of Elgin, a public charity that provides affordable IT training for those who want to obtain a certification or get a better job. It also works with veterans in the Troops to Tech Careers program. “We are a CompTIA Academy member and will be offering the CertMaster program to any of our students,” he said.
Priming, Spacing, Learning
Launched earlier this year, CertMaster combines research from neurobiology, cognitive psychology and game studies in this form of learning. “Those program methods will help hold my students interest as they learn,” Tamme said.
CertMaster incorporates a decade of brain science to uncover what stimulates the brain to learn and retain information, and uses priming, spacing, analytics and engagement tools to help.
At the base of CertMaster is priming, which gives learners a preview of the content they’re about to learn. Priming creates a construct of the lesson and prevents novices from becoming overwhelmed with information.
Spacing is another hallmark of CertMaster. Rather than deluging students with a knowledge flood, CertMaster spaces questions to just six to eight questions per lesson, plus a review. Spacing gives the brain time to rest and gives memory the long-term time to form.
When CertMaster presents a question, often with a related image, it includes multiple choice answers. Choose one answer and mark it “I am sure” or fill in the blanks with two answers you think might be right and say, “I am partially sure.” CertMaster responds by saying “you’re right” or “one is right” and gives you links to additional learning options. Then it takes you to the next question.
When you answer a question correctly and confidently twice, that information is more likely to be banked in your long-term memory. This is called the testing effect, which places recollection at the center of the learning program and plays an important role in CertMaster; asking questions in a certain repetition in hopes of creating a pathway for learning and remembering.
Tamme believes the repetitive nature of the question sequence will provide enhanced learning for students, and that CertMaster’s review and refresher tools will “provide additional review of all problem areas in the domains.”
“By having to answer each question until it was correctly answered twice made the lesson content easier to remember,” he said. “By repetitive questioning the weak areas, there were extra chances to learn the subject.”
Analytics and Gamification
When it comes to analysis, CertMaster uses learning algorithms that make questions harder if a student is flying through the lesson, and bumps the difficulty down a notch when a student appears to be struggling. That data is also shared with the instructor, who can track class and individual student progress. “That made the process more hands-on and enjoyable,” Tamme said.
Taking cues from the video-game industry, CertMaster is also designed to be engaging. Key motivational triggers include risk, achievement and curiosity. Those motivators create a dopamine effect, too, so more playing means a positive feedback loop. With CertMaster, you’re given results, encouragement, a harder question if you’re doing too well and an easier question if you aren’t.
“All those features are used in combination to create a very comprehensive learning tool that will work well for almost any student,” Tamme said.
CompTIA CertMaster is available for CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+ and CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals. Learn more about how CertMaster can be a powerful certification preparation tool, and sign up for a free trial of the new online study tool.
Michelle Peterson is CompTIA’s communications specialist.