Research project shows a significant impact on knowledge recall and retention amongst GCSE students

16th May 2019, Bethnal Green, London: GCSE students struggling to understand specific science concepts will be able to fill in the knowledge gaps by watching short video clips aimed at helping them learn and retain information.

The videos are being launched by Tassomai, an educational technology company that uses quiz-based on-line learning. It is currently used by 100,000 students in more than 450 schools across the UK.

From September, schools working with Tassomai will have access to a suite of 150 videos designed to target gaps in knowledge identified by their use of the program. The Tassomai algorithm automatically identifies students’ weaknesses and picks out a video targeted at helping them.

The addition of video content comes about after evidence showed it to have a significant impact on a students’ knowledge, recall and memory retention. In a research project overseen by academics from University College London and the Institute of Education’s UCL EDUCATE programme, the team measured the impact of brief, targeted intervention videos on short and long-term attainment.

When quizzed on a topic, GCSE science students who had been shown a related video subsequently answered correctly 70.7% of the time, compared to 27.6% for the control group that  had not seen the video. All the students who answered correctly were questioned on the same topic a week later.  Those that had originally watched the video answered correctly 52.3% of the time, compared to 41.5% for the control group: a 10% uplift in long term recall.

Murray Morrison, the creator of Tassomai, said: “Because Tassomai’s algorithm is able to really identify weak areas we knew we had the potential to do something that was really targeted and focused towards the learner.  

“These short videos are digestible and accessible for each student and crucially, unlike other video based tools, Tassomai only shows videos to students when a weakness has been identified through their usage of the program.”

Alison Clark-Wilson, EDUCATE’s principal research lead, said: “This is a fantastic example of what we on the EDUCATE programme set out to achieve, which is working with EdTech companies to help them to ensure they’re making evidence led design decisions such that they can gather this evidence in an academically rigorous and valid way.”

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Notes to Editors:

1. About Tassomai

Tassomai is an adaptive online learning program helping students across England and Wales learn and revise GCSE science and other core subjects.

Tassomai is used by more than 450 schools in England and Wales as well as a growing base of private subscribers. Tassomai uses multiple choice quizzes to test and teach, creating content for each exam board and ensuring it is tailored to each user. Data from Tassomai usage is fed back to teachers, enabling them to easily identify strengths and weaknesses and cutting the time they spend on admin and marking.

2. About EDUCATE

EDUCATE is a programme funded by the European Union Regional Development Fund launched in January 2017 to support EdTech development, and innovation and entrepreneurship in education through evidence-informed product or service development. Based at UCL Institute of Education, EDUCATE makes research and expertise accessible to enterprises and individuals who want to explore their ideas on how teachers and learners can benefit from the latest scientific advances. It shows them how to use research to inform their ideas, and to demonstrate impact to teachers and learners.

Find out more at www.educate.london and on Twitter: @EDUCATEldn

3. Tassomai and EDUCATE

Tassomai joined the EDUCATE Programme in February 2018. The company has been recognised for its engagement with the programme with an “Evidence-Aware” and “Evidence-Applied” EdWard. Companies who receive the Evidence Aware mark have demonstrated an understanding of EDUCATE’s evidence-led approach, while recipients of the latter have applied that awareness to improve the quality of the delivery or development of their concept.

You can read more about Tassomai’s EDUCATE journey and EdWards on the Tassomai blog: www.tassomai.com/blog-content/2018/6/26/educating-tassomai

4. About Tassomai video content and the research project

Tassomai plan to add the new videos to the program from Autumn 2019.  All schools and private subscribers using the program will have access to the videos at no additional cost. The program will include about 150 short (1-2 minute) videos initially, with more added throughout the year.

During the course of Tassomai’s research project the videos were offered to 2,220 students and show to 804, this happened over a period of about one month.

You can also read a longer article about our video content on the Tassomai blog.