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How to Learn Efficiently

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Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#51

Post by dasil003 »

toolz wrote: post #25
emptytheory wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely possible to be internally driven and to still not function well in a school. (Unless you think the only purpose students should pursue is "succeeding in school".)

I think my story is a decent anecdote to support your statement. I spent half of college on academic probation with the main contribution to my terrible GPA being default failing status from skipping too much class. I dropped out of school, got a job that was supposed to teach me something. It turned into answering the phone, but I used that time and title to land a Jr. software dev position and within just a few mon…

I'm in the same boat. I struggled through college because I had to in order to keep my parents' health insurance (!), but my heart wasn't in it. Eventually I learned to do the minimum and coast through, but I had other things going on in my life that were so much more interesting and I just couldn't muster the motivation to "study".

Enter the real world, and guess what? Critical thinking skills and a tenacity to solve real problems are in tremendously short supply. You've got high-GPA graduates galore who can't tie their own bloody shoes. Motivation is everything.

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#52

Post by bsusensjackson »

ojbyrne wrote: post #48
ivansavz wrote: post #17

> As an undergraduate student, I found that writing a summary of everything I had learned in a class was one of the best ways to study for an exam. I would just sit down with a blank piece of paper and try to summarize everything as precisely as possible. Ultimately, writing your own textbook would be a very effective way to learn the material. Amen. Back when I was tutoring a lot, I used to ask the students to keep…

I was briefly a college professor. The thing I took away from the experience was - if you really want to learn something as well as possible, teach it to a class of 60.

Those who teach learn much, those who are taught learn nothing.

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#53

Post by aneeshm »

uulbiy wrote: post #28

There is a coursera course called "Learning How to Learn"[1] by Barbara Oakley that is starting soon. I took the previous session and it was very interesting. I liked the science[2] behind each part of the course (procrastination, memory, modes of thinking etc). The weekly interviews were certainly a big plus (however they were usually long at ~40 minutes). It's a fun four week course with very little work and I reco…

Thank you. I am embarking on a course of independent study which I expect to last for a year to four, and I have a feeling that this course will pay for itself in both time, effort, and increased understanding.

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#54

Post by stellar678 »

uulbiy wrote: post #28

There is a coursera course called "Learning How to Learn"[1] by Barbara Oakley that is starting soon. I took the previous session and it was very interesting. I liked the science[2] behind each part of the course (procrastination, memory, modes of thinking etc). The weekly interviews were certainly a big plus (however they were usually long at ~40 minutes). It's a fun four week course with very little work and I reco…

What a great reference! Awhile back I wrote down "learning to learn" as one of my outside-work goals and didn't really know how to approach it. It seems like a force-multiplier for everything you can do - I look forward to the course!

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#55

Post by Scarbutt »

uulbiy wrote: post #28

There is a coursera course called "Learning How to Learn"[1] by Barbara Oakley that is starting soon. I took the previous session and it was very interesting. I liked the science[2] behind each part of the course (procrastination, memory, modes of thinking etc). The weekly interviews were certainly a big plus (however they were usually long at ~40 minutes). It's a fun four week course with very little work and I reco…

I didn't do the coursera course but her book [A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science](http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-e...) change my way of thinking when it comes to learning, which I had read it sooner.

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#56

Post by vladplatt »

thirdtruck wrote: post #9
roflmyeggo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marked to read, thanks for the recommendation! Moonwalking With Einstein is also a good read, albeit more for pleasure and insight into our brains than any practical applications.

Ditto on Moonwalking. I listened to the audio book and found its practical advice incredibly helpful.

Out of curiosity, what new practices did you adopt after reading Moonwalking?

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#57

Post by cle »

ctoscano wrote: post #40
uulbiy wrote: post #28

There is a coursera course called "Learning How to Learn"[1] by Barbara Oakley that is starting soon. I took the previous session and it was very interesting. I liked the science[2] behind each part of the course (procrastination, memory, modes of thinking etc). The weekly interviews were certainly a big plus (however they were usually long at ~40 minutes). It's a fun four week course with very little work and I reco…

If I were to pick one part of that course to share it would be the explanation of how long term memories are formed through practice (1-6 Introduction to Memory). Knowing how something actually works, and knowing precisely how my actions achieve the desired result is important to me. I'm very skeptical of study techniques, and more interested in the underlying physiology that I am trying to manipulate. Long-term pote…

I have found Part II of Luc Beaudoin's book "Cognitive Productivity"[1] to be very interesting. It presents a theory of learning using a "mindware" model in which learning is the purposeful instilling of mindware[2]. His core strategies for "instilling mindware" include deliberate practice and repetition. I'm no expert in this field, but I've found Beaudoin's model to be helpful in understanding why deliberate practice works--it helps develop the "monitors" we need to recognize when knowledge is applicable, the "motivators" to push us to do something about it, and the knowledge itself. I don't know how widely accepted his theories are, or if there are other accessible sources, but I've found the book to be very useful in thinking about how I learn.

[1] https://leanpub.com/cognitiveproductivity/

[2] a term coined by David Perkins, who provides some of the foundation upon which Beaudoin builds his theories: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/david-perkins (see also http://amzn.com/089859863X)

Other sources commonly cited by Beaudoin include Carl Bereiter, K. Anders Ericsson, Keith Stanovich, Phillip Ackerman, and Aaron Sloman. I hope this provides as much fodder for you as it has for me :).

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#58

Post by thyrsus »

warbaker wrote: post #38

I like this article in large, but sometimes it really is appropriate to blame the instructor/textbook if you feel confused. Everyone wants to believe that the harder and more painful an experience is, the more you got out of it, but that's not the case. Imagine if you took a math textbook and then removed every fifth sentence. It'd be way more confusing, way harder, and require much more struggle, and that struggle w…

Can you suggest how to determine which are the "right things"?

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#59

Post by uulbiy »

ctoscano wrote: post #40
uulbiy wrote: post #28

There is a coursera course called "Learning How to Learn"[1] by Barbara Oakley that is starting soon. I took the previous session and it was very interesting. I liked the science[2] behind each part of the course (procrastination, memory, modes of thinking etc). The weekly interviews were certainly a big plus (however they were usually long at ~40 minutes). It's a fun four week course with very little work and I reco…

If I were to pick one part of that course to share it would be the explanation of how long term memories are formed through practice (1-6 Introduction to Memory). Knowing how something actually works, and knowing precisely how my actions achieve the desired result is important to me. I'm very skeptical of study techniques, and more interested in the underlying physiology that I am trying to manipulate. Long-term pote…

> The course content is locked

Actually, you can view both previous sessions. I am not sure if you can do it without previously registering for the course since I registered for both previous sessions. I am sure though that you have to login to view the content. Here are the urls:

Session 2: https://class.coursera.org/learning-002

Session 1: https://class.coursera.org/learning-001

Re: How to Learn Efficiently

#60

Post by [deleted] »

ivansavz wrote: post #17

> As an undergraduate student, I found that writing a summary of everything I had learned in a class was one of the best ways to study for an exam. I would just sit down with a blank piece of paper and try to summarize everything as precisely as possible. Ultimately, writing your own textbook would be a very effective way to learn the material. Amen. Back when I was tutoring a lot, I used to ask the students to keep…

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