I’m an eternal learner.
There are so many interesting things that time is precious, so when I came accross this MOOC I couldn’t but enroll and check it out. Anything that helps learning stuff while reducing the needed studying time really appeals to me!
I’m talking about the online course from Coursera called Learning how to learn, by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski, created by the University of California. I cannot but recommend it to everyone, there are plenty of good tips to make the process of learning easier. Here are my take-aways:
- Create the habit of doing timeboxing work, using for example the “pomodoro technique”(*) where you set intervals of 25 minutes of working time, following by 5 minutes’ break (or by a longer break after 4 consecutives working slots). Concentrating in the process (it’s time for my 25 minutes of work) will make it easier to avoid procrastination.
And don’t forget to gratify yourself after a focussed interval of time spent working (a coffee, a piece of chocolate, or wandering on your garden to enjoy a sunny day as today 😉 - Program the toughest things first, we have more energy to tackle our resistance during the morning.
- Add time of relaxation and physical exercise to let the studied material ‘sink in’ and get connected in your brain, it’s part of the learning process!
- The best way to fix the studied material is not to read it over and over, but to recall the information, and space the recalling over time. My son’s favorite method is using flash cards.
- Test yourself, do exercises in different contexts, so that you make more connections to retrieve the chunks of material.
- Prepare today your TO DO list for tomorrow, it will have time to be absorbed and tomorrow it will not occupy one slot of your working memory.
I’m sure there are many other tips I didn’t mention that may appeal to you, if you decide to follow the course drop me a line to let me know your peaks 🙂
*: The pomodoro technique has 5 fundamental stages : planning, tracking, recording, processing and visualizing. In the planning phase, tasks are prioritized by recording them in a “To Do Today” list. This enables us to estimate the effort that is required for the tasks. As pomodoros are completed, they are recorded, adding a sense of accomplishment and providing raw data for subsequent self-observation and improvements. At the end of the day, you get a concrete feedback on your estimates, if there are still tasks on the list… you are like me, too optimistic! 😉
