This article looks at some interesting research that suggests that getting your learners to take a short test on the content in your course before they’ve learned about it will actually help them to retain it later. At the very least I guess it gives them an overview of what they will be learning and what they do and don’t already know about it.
via Delicious http://computinged.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/taking-a-test-is-better-than-studying-even-if-you-just-guess/