Author: barboakley

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Recommended MOOC-of-the-week—Critical Perspectives on Management

If you are interested in how to manage people well, you will want to read this insightful In-Depth Review on the MOOC Critical Perspective On Management by Learning How to Learn’s very own Senior Mentor Cristian Artoni. The more that we learn behind the scenes in Learning How to Learn, the more we realize the importance of good management practices and structure. Cristian has helped us implement better management approaches to give learners a better experience in Learning How to Learn.

Cerchiamo traduttori volontari in lingua Italiana! (Italian-speaking volunteers needed!)

That very same Cristian Artoni, who has long been a Senior Mentor in this course (he handles both Facebook and the archives), has volunteered to become the Lead for the forthcoming completely Italian version of Learning How to Learn. Questo sarà un grande vantaggio in generale per gli italiani e in particolar modo per gli studenti delle scuole medie e superiori al rientro dalle vacanze estive. Cristian dice: “E se gli zombie parlassero anche la lingua di Dante? Se anche tu ami il corso Learning How To Learn e desideri unirti a noi nel lancio del primo corso Coursera completamente tradotto in italiano, compila questo modulo!”

Italy places growing emphasis on MOOCs

Last week Italy officially activated a new MOOC platform, EduOpen, entirely financed by the MIUR, which is the Italian Ministry for Education. As of now, they have 14 Italian universities on the platform. There are nearly 5,000 students enrolled, but the numbers are growing by the minute. As Cristian Artoni observes, “Of note is that there are some very interesting ideas about the recognition of credits.”

Guidance on learning how to play the guitar

It seems this is a week centered on Italy! Italian Learning How to Learner Giancarlo Facoetti has a wonderful blog post on learning how to play the guitar using insights from Learning How to Learn. Check out his post if you want to see how the methods described in Learning How to Learn can improve your abilities in many areas (guitar is just one of them!)

Barb at the University of Michigan on Monday! (Also Bogotá; Medellín; Baltimore; Petersfield, Hampshire UK; and Ottawa, Canada)

As usual, Barb’s traveling widely to promote learning and MOOCs. She’ll be at the University of Michigan on Monday, May 2nd, to help open the Enriching Scholarship Conference. Michigan is Barb’s home “stomping grounds,” so she’d love to see you there! Here’s where else she’ll be, helping learners around the world and hoping to meet you.

• Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia: Talks on learning May 5, 6, 7 and 10, 2016, commemorating the 25th anniversary of COLFUTURO.
• Baltimore: Opening keynote for the Maryland Association for Adult, Community and Continuing Education conference, May 12, 2016.
• Petersfield, Hampshire UK: Keynote on learning, Liberating Leaders Conference, Bedales School, 25 May 2016.
• Ottawa, Canada: Opening keynote speaker, EMBS ISC 2016, Ottawa, May 30th, 2016.

Great books on learning

Since we’re on the topic of learning, here are some great and interesting books we’d like to recommend:

• The Art of Changing the Brain, by James Zull. This book, recommended by Coursera’s “course success” polymath Alex Sarlin, is timeless, and a great complement to the neuroscientific ideas presented in Learning How to Learn. You’ll definitely learn some new and useful ideas from this book. We plan to keep this on our shelves as one of the all time great books on learning.

Each of the following two books provides thoughtful insights into where MOOCs and distance learning may lead us. Well worth reading even if some of the conclusions are hypothetical:

• The End of College: Creating the Future of Learning and the University of Everywhere, Kevin Carey.
• Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable, by Richard DeMillo.

We’re sometimes asked whether Asian approaches to testing should be emulated in the West. This thoughtful, brilliant book gives insight in that area:

• Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World, by Yong Zhao.

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!

MOOC of the Month

While touring the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala, we had the good fortune to visit the film studios that are the home of the fantastic MOOC Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, about what many call the greatest book of all time. The Don Quijote MOOC, which was the brainchild of the brilliant Giancarlo Ibarguen, is beautifully created by professor Eric Graf and the UFM video production team in both English and Spanish versions. This MOOC uses many of the vibrant teaching techniques that we at Learning How to Learn think are the best around. It’s just starting, so go ahead and sign up! Incidentally, Eric has also written the fascinating book Cervantes and Modernity, which is available for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Unusual Learning with a Children’s Business Fair

Most people know about the many wonderful children’s science fairs in many countries around the world. You might be very interested to learn that business also has its own fairs. To learn more about these intriguing events, which can get children started in understanding entrepreneurship, check out the Acton Children’s Business Fair site. It has a great video, kit and process to help parents launch a fair.

Learning Something New

Here’s a great article on learning by Marlieke van Kesteren in The Guardian: “What you already know is the key to learning new things.” This brings to mind one of our favorite books on learning (besides our own A Mind for Numbers 🙂 ), the wonderful Make It Stick. Oh yes, and here’s a video interview with Barb about the book A Mind for Numbers with Dr. Carlos Vazquez on Therapy Cable. Barb will be in Colorado Springs on Friday at the Courage to Risk conference—she’d love to meet you if you have a chance to attend!

Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

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

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

MOOC of the Month

While touring the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala, we had the good fortune to visit the film studios that are the home of the fantastic MOOC Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, about what many call the greatest book of all time. The Don Quijote MOOC, which was the brainchild of the brilliant Giancarlo Ibarguen, is beautifully created by professor Eric Graf and the UFM video production team in both English and Spanish versions. This MOOC uses many of the vibrant teaching techniques that we at Learning How to Learn think are the best around. It’s just starting, so go ahead and sign up! Incidentally, Eric has also written the fascinating book Cervantes and Modernity, which is available for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Unusual Learning with a Children’s Business Fair

Most people know about the many wonderful children’s science fairs in many countries around the world. You might be very interested to learn that business also has its own fairs. To learn more about these intriguing events, which can get children started in understanding entrepreneurship, check out the Acton Children’s Business Fair site. It has a great video, kit and process to help parents launch a fair.

Learning Something New

Here’s a great article on learning by Marlieke van Kesteren in The Guardian: “What you already know is the key to learning new things.” This brings to mind one of our favorite books on learning (besides our own A Mind for Numbers 🙂 ), the wonderful Make It Stick. Oh yes, and here’s a video interview with Barb about the book A Mind for Numbers with Dr. Carlos Vazquez on Therapy Cable. Barb will be in Colorado Springs on Friday at the Courage to Risk conference—she’d love to meet you if you have a chance to attend!

Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

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

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Barb at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala

On Jan 18 and 19th, Barb will be speaking at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, one of the most vibrant, prestigious universities in Latin America—truly an extraordinary place! If you’d like to attend one of her talks, she’d be thrilled at the chance to meet you. Please email Gabriel Calada at gc@ufm.edu for more details.

MOOC of the Week

We’re hearing great things from Senior Mentor Cristian Artoni about the MOOC Think101x The Science of Everyday Thinking, which features interviews with Adam Savage (a myth-busting hero of independent thinking!), Daniel Kahneman, John Dunlosky, and many more.

Imposter syndrome

Our learners are often interested in the concept of the “imposter syndrome.” Here’s an interesting thread on that started by Senior Mentor Linda Walker. Perhaps surprisingly, there’s not a lot of research on the imposter syndrome—if you’re a researcher, let this inspire you!—but Linda has listed some excellent resources. Barb has read Katty Kay and Claire Shipman’s book The Confidence Code, and recommends it.

Hearty Book Recommendation

Let us close with our highest book recommendation for the week—Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, by Adam Grant. We’re big believers in independent thinking and not following the herd. (To that end, the HeterodoxAcademy is a wonderful movement in academic life.) If you’re an independent thinker, you’ll find much in Originals to help keep you inspired.

We often tend to believe that original, creative people are full of certainty—it’s helpful to know that many of these originals have their share of doubt, and often do their best to hedge their bets. Adam Grant’s earlier book, Give and Take, is also a great favorite of ours—if you are sometimes worried about burning out from giving, this book will help put your life in order.

Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

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

Cheery Friday greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Learning math with different parts of the brain

Many of you have found our earlier reference to the fast adding methods of Flash Anzan to be intriguing. Here’s an article by Alex Bellos that explores the abacus with more depth: “Abacus adds up to number joy in Japan: The Far East flies high when it comes to numeracy while the West flounders. Is the abacus the secret of their success?” As Bellos and neuropsychologist Brian Butterworth note: “what the abacus does … is change the way the brain does the calculation. A person calculating with an abacus uses the visual and motor parts of the brain, unlike a person using pencil and paper.” Here’s a fascinating discussion from the 1980s with Richard Feynman that brings up some of the same points. Note how, well before neuroimaging was even possible, Feynman was able to figure out that different people can use different parts of the brain to accomplish the same activity.

Learning Sparks Learning!

Learning How to Learn helps spark all sorts creative ways of looking at, and learning about, every aspect of life. Here’s an introduction to learning about Chinese art by April Shen, and a poem for dreamers with learning difficulties via Malvika Vazalwar. The most popular discussion thread in our class last week involved “Starting a PhD when you are 64,” initiated by Charles Cobert—what an inspirational conversation!

Deep Learning and Deep Work

For this week’s book recommendation, we’ve got something fantastic: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport. This book is something special. It gets right to the point of how to structure your life so that you can accomplish meaningful work, even as you also leave yourself time to do life’s more mundane chores—and you also still have plenty of time left for open fun. All this is perfectly in tune with Learning How to Learn’s philosophy for life and learning. Cal’s such an interesting writer that the book’s also a joy to read.

We’ve always been fans of Cal Newport’s work—you may also wish to check out his other excellent recent book: So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love.

Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

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

Happy New Years to our Learning How to Learners!

Learning How to Learn stays in the news!

Here’s an article in the New York Times by leading tech journalist John Markoff (@markoff) about Learning How to Learn’s status as the #1 most popular MOOC of all time. If you want to learn how to learn, you’ve definitely come to a popular place!

Staying On Course

Now’s a good time to plan and register for the On Course National Conference in Orange County, near Anaheim, California, April 8 and 9, 2016. On Course is a conference that’s right in line with the ideas and approaches of Learning How to Learn—Barb will be the opening keynote speaker this year.

Barb’s Research on Pathologies of Altruism

Some of you might like to learn a little more about Barb’s unusual area of research. She’s always interested in how we truly help others. Oddly enough, our own helpful desires, especially when mixed with a bit of egotism (we believe we know what’s best for others), can mislead us into doing profound harm. As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Here’s a conversation between Barb and popular radio host Stefan Molyneux about her research on pathological altruism—there is also some intriguing discussion about how Learning How to Learn came to be created. (Video, Audio, Soundcloud.)

If you’d like more insight into Barb’s work, a good place to get started is her book Cold-Blooded Kindness: Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, which is a true crime mystery about an eery killer in Utah. (Don’t miss the about-face at the end.) This book grew out of Barb’s earlier effort to explore the origins of nasty behavior: Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend. Despite the tongue-in-cheek title, the book received high critical praise from leading psychologists and psychiatrists. For more scientific explorations of pathological altruism, read Barb’s co-edited volume Pathological Altruism (Oxford University Press), or her article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism.” And here’s an article by philosopher Stephen Hicks that explores related ideas. Important stuff if you care deeply about others. (Incidentally, Stephen’s book Explaining Post Modernism is terrific!)

Happy learning and Happy New Years!

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

Happy Greetings on a Sunny Friday to our Learning How to Learners!

Our friends at Dart Neuroscience are asking if you can help advance research into memory by taking the Dart Neuroscience Memory Challenge.Your help in taking the simple memory test would be deeply appreciated. And if you haven’t seen it already, you may wish to watch this wonderful bonus interview with Dart’s standout memory expert Nelson Dellis, 4 time USA memory champion. (Can you tell that Barb had a cold when she did that video? 🙂 )

Terry Sejnowski speaking in Brazil!

Exciting news is that Terry will be speaking at the International Brain Research Organization in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 11th. (Incidentally, we have 21,000 learners enrolled on our Portuguese Learning How to Learn platform Aprendendo a aprender! )

A blast at our latest meetup!

Our last meetup in Silicon Valley filled the coffee shop to bursting–we had some 25 Learning How to Learners, an additional half dozen fantastic people from Coursera (they do so much behind the scenes to make our course a standout), and Dhawal Shah and Charlie Chung, Barb’s friends from Class Central–the best source around for quality information about MOOCs. Don’t miss Class Central’s sizzling website, chockful of helpful information about the right MOOCs for you. (And feel free to leave a review of Learning How to Learn!)

San Diego Learning How to Learn Meetup

A reminder that Barb will be happily meeting with all interested Learning How to Learners on Wednesday, July 1, 12:00 (noon) – 1:00 pm in the Lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, 1 Market Place, San Diego, California.

As always, happy learning!

Barb Oakley, Terry Sejnowski, and the Learning How to Learn Team

Cheery Greetings, as always, to our Learning How to Learners!

Hopefully the course is moving along well for you—pop online and watch a video if you’re not finished yet with the course! Meanwhile, lots of updates this week.

Special Silicon Valley Learning How to Learn Office Hours

Barb will be holding a very special meetup in Silicon Valley on Tuesday, June 23rd, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm at the Bean Scene Coffee Shop, 186 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, California, USA. This meeting is special because it will also include some of our favorite people from Coursera. Join the fun if you can!

Learning How to Learn Vocabulary Site

A wonderful vocabulary teaching site for Learning How to Learn has been developed by Kevin Johnson on Cerego. Check it out—it’s a terrific free adaptive learning tool that makes great use of spaced repetition.

Engineering Highlights

Some of the most highly rated bonus videos in Learning How to Learn are those done by legendary engineering Professor Richard Felder and his preeminent educator wife, Dr. Rebecca Brent. These terrific videos, featured at the end of week 4, give insight on learning in mathematics, science, and engineering. Incidentally, Dr. Felder’s sons Gary and Kenny Felder have just had their superlative textbook Mathematical Methods in Engineering and Physics published by Wiley. You can get a little additional background about the book in Gary and Kenny’s video here.

Another wonderful book by Barb’s friend Guru Madhavan explores how engineers think: Applied Minds: How Engineers Think. It’s coming out soon—check out the fantastic endorsements from some of the world’s leading writers and thinkers!

A Teacher Training Program in Pakistan

A new teacher training program is being created for new college teachers in Pakistan—the organizers would be grateful for any suggestions on existing curriculum, online teaching resources, instructional videos, books, relevant orgs/contacts, etc. Any ideas can be emailed to benje@amalacademy.org—more info can be found at amalacademy.org/teaching.

San Diego Office Hours and STEM Conference Opportunity

Barb will be holding office hours in San Diego, Wednesday, July 1, 12:00 (noon) – 1:00 pm in the lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, 1 Market Place, San Diego, California. She’ll also be speaking in San Diego at the upcoming U.S. News STEM Solutions National Leadership Conference and she would like to invite you to participate as well. The conference will address both exciting new models in STEM education and how to remedy the shortage of qualified STEM workers in the USA. Barb will be a panelist on the session “Enlightening Minds” on Wednesday, July 1 at 9:45 AM, along with Dr. Suveen Mathaudhu of the University of California, Riverside. By using the code SPEAK15 you can register at the special speaker’s discount of 50% off the registration rate.

As always, happy learning!

Barb Oakley, Terry Sejnowski, and the Learning How to Learn Team

Cheery Greetings, Learning How to Learners!

A brief request here to help Barb’s friends Dhawal Shah and Charlie Chung at Class Central, the great website that tells you about all the best MOOCs. If you could fill out this brief, 90-second survey, it would really help Class Central, and all of us, to better understand our awesome MOOC students.

Also, great recent news for teachers and professors! Penguin, the publisher of A Mind for Numbers, has made a special discounted examination copy of the book available for teachers and professors. So if you are a teacher or professor who is considering the book for course adoption, please go here.

Barb will be holding Learning How to Learn office hours/course meetups—she would LOVE to meet you! She’ll be at the following places (feel free to splurge on a coffee or smoothie to say thanks to the coffee shops that are hosting us).

• Near Seattle, Washington, Sunday, June 14, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Starbucks Coffee Shop, Lake Forest Park Town Centre, 17039 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, Washington.
• In Silicon Valley, Tuesday, June 23rd, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Bean Scene Coffee Shop, 186 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, California
• In San Diego, California, Wednesday, July 1, 12:00 (noon) – 1:00 pm, in the Lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, 1 Market Place, San Diego, California. (Barb will be at the US News & World Report STEM Solutions Conference, panel 8F: Enlightening Minds, earlier that morning.)

This fall, Barb will be in South Africa and, tentatively, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and China—more details are coming. She’d love to meet you on her travels!

In the meantime, as always, happy learning!

Barb Oakley, Terry Sejnowski, and the Learning How to Learn Team

Cheery Greetings, Learning How to Learners!

A brief request here to help Barb’s friends Dhawal Shah and Charlie Chung at Class Central, the great website that tells you about all the best MOOCs. If you could fill out this brief, 90-second survey, it would really help Class Central, and all of us, to better understand our awesome MOOC students.

Also, great recent news for teachers and professors! Penguin, the publisher of A Mind for Numbers, has made a special discounted examination copy of the book available for teachers and professors. So if you are a teacher or professor who is considering the book for course adoption, please go here.

Barb will be holding Learning How to Learn office hours/course meetups—she would LOVE to meet you! She’ll be at the following places (feel free to splurge on a coffee or smoothie to say thanks to the coffee shops that are hosting us).

• Near Seattle, Washington, Sunday, June 14, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, Starbucks Coffee Shop, Lake Forest Park Town Centre, 17039 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, Washington.
• In Silicon Valley, Tuesday, June 23rd, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Bean Scene Coffee Shop, 186 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, California
• In San Diego, California, Wednesday, July 1, 12:00 (noon) – 1:00 pm, in the Lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, 1 Market Place, San Diego, California. (Barb will be at the US News & World Report STEM Solutions Conference, panel 8F: Enlightening Minds, earlier that morning.)

This fall, Barb will be in South Africa and, tentatively, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and China—more details are coming. She’d love to meet you on her travels!

In the meantime, as always, happy learning!

Barb Oakley, Terry Sejnowski, and the Learning How to Learn Team