Mastery learning
This article is about a learning strategy.
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Definition
Mastery learning is a learning strategy where "mastery" must be attained by the learner in a given topic before moving to the next topic. The level of mastery per topic may be determined based on criteria specific to the goal of the learning process.
Mastery learning can lead to high variability (low predictability) in the amount of time spent per topic, depending on the learner's strengths and weaknesses as well as other contextual factors.
Learning contexts
Individual self-learning (with text or video)
One advantage of self-learning for mastery learning is that an individual learner has unilateral flexibility in how much time to spend per topic, without having to negotiate this with other learners or an explainer. In cases where externally imposed milestones exist on what needs to be achieved by when, the learner has flexibility on how much time to spend on the self-learning activity as opposed to other activities.
A disadvantage of self-learning as a context for mastery learning is that self-learners may have blind spots that prevent them from acquiring mastery. Guidance from an explainer may be necessary to achieve mastery, even though self-learners may have understood enough (despite being short of mastery) to progress.
One-on-one tutoring
Second to self-learning, one-on-one tutoring is the most conducive environment for mastery learning, as the variability in time spent affects only the learner and the explainer. One-on-one tutoring also has the advantage over self-learning that the explainer may be able to unblock the learner to achieve mastery by identifying blind spots.
The disadvantage of one-on-one tutoring stems in cases where there is limited time to achieve specific milestones (and the tutor has limited time per week), or the tutors' cost per unit time is high, so that topics where the learner struggles to achieve mastery may end up costing a lot more.
Overall, one-on-one tutoring with mastery learning has been found to produce among the best learning outcomes, leading to the formulation of Bloom's 2 sigma problem.
Class
A class with a diverse set of learners presents a challenge for mastery learning, since different learners may take different times to achieve mastery on various topics, but the class content is synchronized across learners. While there isn't a perfect solution, making the classes as modular as possible can help. For instance, rather than having year-long courses on a long sequence of topics, having two-week courses on single topics, that are available for learners to start any time, allows learners to progress as long as they are achieving mastery, and to retake courses when they fail to achieve mastery. Effectively, this approach is mimicking the long-run flexibility benefits of self-learning, while still using the format of the class (multi-learner, synchronous, explainer authority).
Advantages
- Mastery learning is most useful where the learner's final level of mastery is more important than the amount of time the learner took to get there. It is often found more in cases where what's being learned actually needs to be applied with some level of fidelity. Vocational education, language learning, etc. are more likely to follow a mastery learning model.
- Mastery learning is more useful when mastery of earlier topics is a prerequisite for later topics. When earlier and later topics are largely independent, it is less useful.
- Mastery learning is more useful when the variance between learners in the time or path to understanding a topic is moderate, but not extremely high. For instance, if one learner takes a day and another takes two days to learn a prerequisite, having the second learner take the extra day makes sense. If it's one day versus one year, however, spending that extra year on mastery may be questionable.
- Mastery learning, when successful per the above points, can have a positive psychological effect on learners by boosting their confidence in a justified way.
Disadvantages
- Mastery learning may be difficult and costly to achieve in terms of learner time, explainer time, and cost to learner (buying explainer time for a high-quality explainer).
- Mastery learning presents coordination challenges in a class setting across multiple learners, as well as in terms of hitting deadlines and milestones set in advance.