About Genies
Genies take each lecture as its unit of analysis. For example, a student taking a course in Finance might have 60 minute lectures Monday through Friday. The first lecture of the week is labeled Finance L1 (then L2, L3, etc.). The material taught in Finance L1 forms part of a series of activities:
- Pre-Reading
- Lecture
- Synthesis
- Review 1
- Review 2
- Self-Test 1
- Follow-Up
- Self-Test 2
Pre-Reading 
The text for all lectures for the week are pre-read on a Sunday (e.g., Pre-Read Finance). It makes sense to read for the entire week in a single sitting given that the content is likely to be conceptually related.
Lectures 
Students are expected to attend lectures. Students should consult study skills specialists on how to get the most out of lectures, for example by developing good note taking skills.
Post-Lecture Synthesis 
Here, students consolidate their in-lecture notes by synthesizing them into a coherent form. Genies schedule synthesis as soon after the lecture as possible while the information is still fresh in mind. If lectures are back-to-back the Genie will schedule synthesis in order.
In addition, students identify relevant self-test resources. This could involve finding questions from a bank, identifying blank diagrams to test recall for pathways or structures, or creating flashcards. Later on, when the Genie instructs the student to self-test these resources will be readily at hand.
Review 1 
Because information is still subject to forgetting the Genie schedules a review one day after the lecture, coded R1. (e.g., Finance L1R1 is the first Finance lecture of the week, first review). The goal of reviewing is to understand and retain concepts. It is insufficient to merely reread and highlight textbooks or PowerPoint slides. Instead, students should actively attempt to understand the material and integrate the new information into what they already know. Concept mapping, for example, is an important feature of reviewing.
Wait!
Neurons will have begun to encode information through synaptogenesis into long-term memory. But this process takes time. The Genie will temporarily put this material aside and instead schedule activities from other lectures instead. In the meantime, here is an excellent video on synaptogensis from the University of Southern California.
Review 2
Now is a final chance for the student to review the material from this lecture. They should target concepts that they are unsure about, and actively attempt to discover what they mean. After this review the focus will switch to self-testing and remediating knowledge deficits.
Wait!
While we wait again, here is a video about how distributed practice, synthesis, and synaptogensis work together, and how active attention and emotion mediates memory retention from the Digital Learning Consultant.
Self-Test 1 
The purpose of Self-Test 1 is to identify areas of misunderstanding. Testing involves using the resources discovered during synthesis. Whilst students should aim for 100%, they should not be satisfied with anything less. Even if they score 90% the learner should ask where they lost the 10%. Areas of weakness will be directed into follow-up remediation.
Follow-Up
The Genie now schedules time for remedial action to correct weaknesses. This could involve students seeing their instructor or the teaching assistant, watching a video, or reading alternative texts that better explains these concepts. Follow-up strategies will likely depend on the nature of the problem. Learning skills specialists can help by providing guidance. Time slots slated for follow-up are not assigned to a particular lecture but used for any remedial activity that may be required.
Wait!
A final period of neural consolidation where remediated material is integrated with previously understood concepts.
Self-Test 2
Self-Test 2 is different. Instead of seeking areas of weakness, the learner should expect to score 100%. It is a final check on knowledge retention and application. The Genie will not attempt to schedule further remediation. There are fresh lectures arriving daily and the Genie will not allow the student to become bogged down. If they still do not understand then it is preferable to lose a few marks on the next assessment than start falling behind or, worse still, start borrowing time from other courses in the hope that everything will work itself out.
The Science Behind Time Sheet Genies
The effect of distributed practice on learning is well documented. Since the original experiments by Ebbinghaus (1885/1913) evidence from cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology, and genetics indicate that distributed practice is the single most effective learning strategy (Toppino & Gerbier, 2014; Gerbier and Toppino, 2015; Smolen, Zhang, & Byrne, 2016). Distributed practice effects have been witnessed in all human age groups, across a wide range of to-be-learned material, and even improves behavioral memory in non-human species such as sea slugs (Carew, Pinsker, & Kandel, 1972). This suggests that distributed practice effects are a fundamental principle grounded on the biological limitations of synaptogenesis.
When we apply Hermann Ebbinghaus's famous forgetting curves to the Time Sheet Genie study system we expect memory retention to improve as shown in Figure 1. Time Sheet Genie works because it takes over one hundred years of scientific evidence about human learning and implements those findings as an integrated study system.
Figure 1. Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curves Applied to Time Sheet Genie Study Activities
