Incorporating Unusual Fonts and Planned Mistakes in Study Materials to Increase Business Student Focus and Retention

New studies indicate that incorporating planned difficulties such as unusual font styles in study material forces students to focus and concentrate more. In our experiment 155 students under different instructors learn a core topic in operations management in an active learning environment. One group of students in each class used a standard version of the study materials while two other groups used a modified version incorporating an unusual (difficult-to-read) font or planned mistakes. Students with the unusual font materials scored highest on a post-workshop comprehension test. Students who had workshop materials with pedagogical mistakes scored second followed by students in the control group. Further, it was observed that students in the control group deceived themselves with respect to sense of material mastery.