Author: barboakley

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Week

Many of you have written or posted in the past about problems with anxiety, depression, and guilt—common problems in this day and age. We’d like to recommend one of the greatest books around in dealing with these challenges: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, by Dr. David Burns. These cognitive therapy approaches have been soundly proven by science. You can have a profound effect on your feelings just by reading and doing the active exercises in the book. That’s probably why Feeling Good has been a best-seller for nearly a decade.

Barb’s talk at McMaster University

Check out Barb’s very different perspectives about how to attract women in STEM, along with many other topics in discussion with the inimitable Dean Ishwar Puri at McMaster University. Thirteen thousand viewers joined live—this popular talk keeps drawing more and more.

The Counterintuitive Guru

Many of you know that we greatly admire Watanabe Manabu’s international perspectives on learning. Don’t miss his latest post on “Why We Should NOT Learn from Other Countries’ Education.” This brief, perceptive article is one of the best we’ve read in a long time.

Enhancing parent’s help in getting schoolwork in on time—and in school fundraising!

Here’s something we think looks intriguing—a new platform, Schoolze, that enhances parental engagement with schools. It’s all gamified so that both parents and children can become more engaged with the school and with educational work. Schoolze is designed to save time (4-6 hours weekly) for teachers, and it also provides a great new paradigm as a school fundraiser. Here’s a demo for classroom productivity—Schoolze has modules for PTAs, schools, and districts as well.

MOOC of the Week

Senior Mentor Linda Walker points us to an intriguing new MOOC: The Art and Science of Memory: 5 Keys to Learning. Professor of psychology Simon Moss, along with two-time World Memory Champion Jonas von Essen provide insight into five memory techniques. This sounds like a practical course that’s also grounded in good research—check it out!

A System versus a Goal

Our mentor Steven Cooke has been discussing process versus product with learners—he’s also provided a link to James Clear’s excellent article in Life Hacker—”Get More Done By Focusing on Systems Instead of Goals.”

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Improving Your Memory: Our recommended Books, and Podcast, of the Week

We love Josh Foer’s great book Moonwalking with Einstein, about Foer’s dive into the world of memory competitions. But somehow we never realized that there are even deeper, yet still simple, ways to use the memory palace technique. Barb was lucky enough to do an interview with memory expert Dr. Anthony Metivier. Check out “Learning How To Learn: On Altruism and Memory With Barbara Oakley,” where our discussion romps not only through memory improvement techniques—but also how to best help others.

Barb has been reading Anthony’s books, which she highly recommends—they describe in depth key ideas, like how to ensure your memory image is moving. Even if you are simply interested in generally improving your memory, you’ll still learn a lot from either of Anthony’s books, below. These are very different from Benny Lewis’s great books on language learning, which we recommended a few weeks ago. And they are highly recommended!

• How to Learn and Memorize Spanish Vocabulary: Using A Memory Palace Specifically Designed For The Spanish Language
• How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary

Better Memory through Exercise

In keeping with this week’s memory theme, here’s a worthwhile article from the Daily Mail—the title says it all “How exercise makes your brain grow bigger: People who are fit found to have better memories and less chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”

Specialization of the Week from McMaster University in Ontario (Where Barb Will Be Speaking!)

We’ve had highly recommended to us the “Finance for Everyone Specialization,” by Arshad Ahmad of McMaster University (Coursera). Learning the language of finance and understanding the flow of money will allow you to better interact with the world, and to be more informed about key social issues. This specialization is apparently one of Coursera’s very best, so it’s well worth checking out.

And don’t forget that Barb will be speaking at McMaster on October 18th—she’d be thrilled to see you there!

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

An Important Book on Embracing Risk In Schools

While Barb was in England visiting Bedales School earlier this year, she had the opportunity to meet Mike Fairclough, the Headmaster of West Rise Junior School, which won TES’s Primary School of the Year for 2015 in the UK. Mike has written a very important book, Playing With Fire: Embracing Risk and Danger in Schools, (the Kindle version is here, and a UK link is here, while a superb article in the Guardian about Mike’s work is here.) Barb’s blurb for the book sums her thoughts: “This is a very important, very necessary, and very beautiful book for all parents educators around the world to treasure. Read it and rediscover the best of your childhood—and how to bring it to children everywhere.”

Barb Speaking in Hamilton, Ontario, and in Lansing, Michigan

“Broaden Your Passion! Encouraging Women in STEM” is the title of Barb’s discussion with Dean Ishwar Puri of the Faculty of Engineering of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Tuesday, October 18, 2016. Go here if you’d like to learn more and register. What’s the talk about? Well, research reveals that women and men develop with equal, often outstanding, abilities at math and science. However one of women’s advantages is that they can have a developmental edge over men when it comes to verbal abilities. The result? When women hear the ubiquitous advice to “follow their passions,” they sometimes turn towards their undeniable strengths outside STEM. Barb and Dean Puri will be exploring these and related issues. (And on a lighter note, you may also hear Barb’s story of the squirt gun and the KGB.)

On October 15th at 1:00 pm, Barb will be giving the keynote in Lansing for the American Association of Physics Teachers – Michigan Section, in Lansing, Michigan. Just pop the organizer, Laurence Tarini, an email at laurence.tarini@gmail.com if you would like to attend.

Science-based Education

We’re friends of the Evolution Institute, a non-profit science-based think tank. The Institute is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the construction of a new school, informed by science but friendly to the spirit, to help improve learning in an economically disadvantaged community in East Tampa, Florida that is experiencing very low school pass rates. If you’d like to contribute to the school’s construction, please go here to Indiegogo to lend a hand. (We donated $25.)

Incidentally, a great book that describes the background thinking behind the Institution’s work is David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives. This book does for evolution what the best-selling Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, (another of our favorites), did for economics.

A Great Instructor on Video- and Film-Making: Ashley Kennedy

We’ve been taking Ashley Kennedy’s first-rate course on Lynda.com that helps beginners get started with the video-editing program Adobe Premiere Pro. If you’re interested in any aspect of video- or film-making, or the history of film, check out Ashley’s superb courses.

A Beautifully Done Cartoon on the Neuroscience of Learning

We love the magazine Nautilus because we feel they have some of the best writing and most creative articles around. Their most recent issue was a fascinating one on learning. Here’s one of the best of the many perceptive articles: “The Genius of Learning,” by cartoonist Lauren R. Weinstein.

We would beg to differ with an implied premise in the article that practice isn’t that important in learning—but overall, we think the graphical explanation of “Genius Award” winner Danielle Basset’s research is absolutely fantastic. This is one of the most interesting approaches to writing and illustrating that we’ve seen in years. Let us hope that Lauren rapidly finishes her graphic novel How to Draw a Nose—we’ll be first in line to buy it!

Incidentally, Barb’s article “How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math,” was one of the most popular articles in Nautilus last week.

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

A Great New Language Hacking Series!

As you all know, we’re great fans of Benny “The Irish Polyglot” Lewis—we love his insights into how to speed up, and keep up, your language learning. (You can find his bonus interview in our MOOC at the end of week 1.) Benny’s book Fluent in 3 Months tells the wonderful story of how he went from a loser in language learning to a world-class expert–and how you can follow in his footsteps.

Now Benny has written four books to help you quickly get started speaking in a new language. Check out the following brand new guides—we’ve had a chance to look at them, and they’re really good.

• Language Hacking Spanish
• Language Hacking French
• Language Hacking German
• Language Hacking Italian

Barb at McMaster University

Barb will be giving the opening keynote at the Learning Technologies Symposium 2016, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario on October 18. She’ll speak on how we learn at 9:30 am (featuring highlights from the MOOC—and more), and then give a talk called “Lessons from a Basement Studio” at 1:30 pm, which is a no-holds-barred description of how to make a MOOC. Her final talk of the day will be at 3:30 pm on women, STEM, and broadening your passions. There will be many other worthwhile talks—this is a super symposium you don’t want to miss if you live in Ontario, Michigan, or New York State. Barb hopes to see you there!

Class Central Career Guides

Our friends at Class Central have just published their first guide to help you quickly figure out which online course is right for you. Their first guide, The Best Intro to Programming Courses for Data Science is the first part in a six-piece series that recommends the best MOOCs for launching yourself into the data science industry. Check it out!

A Udemy Course by A Learning How to Learner

And speaking of online courses related to programming, here is an interesting course developed by Learning How to Learner Sylvain Leroux: “Yes I know the Bash & Linux command line tools! Learn the foundations & develop the core skills on real-world examples.”

Sylvain has a very pleasant French accent to his English—as you grow used to it, you’ll see that he uses the same approach we use in Learning How to Learn to convey ideas through metaphors and humor. If you’d like to know a little bit about Sylvain’s back story, you can read about it here.

Video Games Improve Reading and Math

Here’s an intriguing article about a “brain warm up” game that was developed at Yale University. The computer-based system improves student performance in reading and math. As Dr. Bruce Wexler notes: “The program increases focus, self-control, and memory—cognitive skills essential for learning.”

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Help with Barb’s new book: Mindshift

Barb’s new book Mindshift is a companion to Learning How to Learn. (Mindshift is one of Penguin-Random House’s lead titles for spring—pre-orders warmly appreciated!) The book romps around the world exploring how people broaden their passions and fall in love with new ways of learning and thinking. Oh yes, and Barb explains the story of how Learning How to Learn was made. Barb would like to request your help—Mindshift features a listing of MOOC providers from the US and many other countries. If you might comment on this list in the discussion forum here, and suggest any additions, enhancements, improvements, or corrections, it would be much appreciated.

MOOC of the Week

We’ve heard great things about the MOOC Data Analysis and Statistical Inference, by Mine Çetinkaya-Runde from Duke University-Coursera. It’s not only a great MOOC if you want to learn statistics, but apparently it’s also a wonderful example of how a great MOOC is made. (And speaking of how to make watchable MOOCs, here’s a reference to our own paper “Creating a Sticky MOOC,” which appeared in the Online Learning Journal.)

A Very Nice Learning How to Learn Infographic

Adi Rajan has created a lovely Learning how to learn infographic of key ideas from the course—use it to enjoy, and spread those ideas to others. (Hat tip, Marta Pulley.)

Reminders about How We Learn Well

In her article The Psychology of Social Media: Can We Leverage It For Learning?, Saga Briggs explains why social media is so addictive and how teachers (or students!) might apply the same principles to learning-. Don’t miss the 10 points at the end of the article! (Hat tip, Linda Walker)

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

Follow LHTL on Facebook | Join the private LHTL Hall of Fame group | Follow LHTL on Twitter

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Month

This month’s book of the month is, drumroll, an incredible book that has over 5,000 reviews on Amazon with a near 5 star average—virtually unheard of! The book is Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. As Barb’s daughter Rachel notes, “It’s beautifully written—not at all like you’d think from a book first written in the 1930s. A lot of people think it’s a book about manipulating people, but it’s really about training yourself to be better listener, a better communicator and a better person.” (And yes, here is Rachel obligingly backing a car into the ditch in Week 3 of Learning How to Learn.)

Success in Medical School

A surprising number of Learning How to Learn students are interested in medical school, or doing work in healthcare. There are three of the top guides that can help students prepare properly, even beginning with high school:

• Mnemonics and Study Tips for Medical Students, by Khalid Khan
• How to Study in Medical School, by Armin Kamyab
• Success in Medical School: Insider Advice for the Preclinical Years, by Samir P. Desai

Also note that on Learning How to Learn we have a list of great learning resources for pre-med and medical school students, as well as doctors, here.

5 Minute Review of the Course

Take a look, if you’d like, at this wonderful 5 minute animation by Nathan Lozeron of the key ideas in A Mind for Numbers/ Learning How to Learn. If you’d like a quick review, this video is a good way to get them. You’ll also find a neat new pdf related to the book.

MOOCs of the Month

Our friends at Class Central have put together a wonderful list of MOOCs to help relieve stress: “Be Your Best You: 13 Free Online Courses To Kick Stress’s Ass!” Check ‘em out!

Learning How to Learn in Thai – มาร่วมเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของทีมผู้แปลได้แล้ววันนี้!

Thai speaking volunteers are welcome to join Phitchaya Monsintorn’s efforts to launch the Thai version of the course. Phitchaya (who goes by her nickname of “Yui”) has just joined the translation team as Thai Lead. She is an doctor currently working in the Yala province in Thailand, and she is passionate about learning. If you are willing and excited to be a part of Yui’s amazing team, please read the details in this thread to apply. Every volunteer will be appreciated. You can contact her via this e-mail: phitchaya_m@hotmail.com. (There’s also a Thai discussion forum–feel free to chime in!)

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

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Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Read Books, Live Longer?

Here’s an intriguing article by Nicholas Bakalar in the New York Times about research findings revealing that book readers live longer. “Compared with those who did not read books, those who read for up to three and a half hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die over 12 year of follow-up, and those who read more than that were 23 percent less likely to die. Book readers lived an average of almost two years longer than those who did not read at all.” Those who read newspapers and magazines had a similar, but weaker life extension–books are best!

Book of the Week

And so this leads us to this week’s book recommendation, The Kingdom of Speech, by Tom Wolfe. Sometimes overly idolized characters need to be deflated, and Wolf’s just the man to do it in highly entertaining fashion. Wolfe refers to another of our long-time favorite books, mega-best-seller (well-nigh unbelievable for a book of anthropology!) Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, by Daniel Everett. Everett destroys academic icons even as he lives through the wildest adventures imaginable. Read and enjoy!

Follow iDoRecall’s Twitter and/or Instagram feeds for great learning-focused content

You might like to take a look at iDoRecall’s Twitter and Instagram feed. We’ve noticed that they’re posting a lot of interesting items on topics relevant to LHTL — that is, they post about learning, sleep, the brain, health, science, and all the good things. They’re mainly trying to help students, so if you’re a student you might be especially interested in these accounts. Follow iDoRecall on Instagram and/or Twitter, and say hi to them!

25 Best Memory Improvement Books

Here is an interesting post: “25 Best Memory Improvement Books (Recommended By Memory Masters).” (You’ll note that our own A Mind for Numbers is very high on the list!)

Learning How to Learn in Polish – Uczymy jak się uczyć – kurs internetowy na platformie Coursera

Polish speaking volunteers are welcome to join Agnieszka Komala’s efforts to launch the Polish version of the course. If you are up for the challenge, please post on this thread to join the group. Agnieszka has just joined the translation team as the Polish Lead. She is an Logistics and Supply Chain specialist who takes great interest in helping people to learn.

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

Follow LHTL on Facebook | Join the private LHTL Hall of Fame group | Follow LHTL on Twitter