Category: Uncategorized

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Month

This month’s top book recommendation is the great classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen Covey.  (Dr. Covey actually read the Audible version of his book—you may be able to get two free audiobooks through this link.) There is a reason that 7 Habits has been translated into translated into 32 languages and has sold over 5 million copies. It is one of our personal, life-changing favorites—a synthesis of timeless principles for personal effectiveness that focus on character, rather than technique.  The stories he uses to convey key ideas help the ideas resonate unforgettably. We only wish that Dr. Covey were still alive to do a MOOC!

Specialization of the Week

We’ve heard terrific things about the Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation Specialization created by the University of Colorado, Boulder.  This is apparently a set of MOOCs of the highest caliber—extremely watchable even as they provide outstanding information. We can hardly wait to dive into the MOOCs ourselves.

Meet up with Barb in Kyoto, Japan

Barb will be hanging out at the cafe in the Kyoto International Manga Museum at 11:00 am on Saturday, June 10th.  It would be a pleasure for her to meet you there.

Diving Deep—How to Do “Immersion Reporting”

We just discovered this fascinating interview with Ted Conover. Conover is a master of the genre of “immersion reporting,” which is akin to ethnography, travel writing, and memoir.  We believe immersion reporting forms a way of studying and learning about a subject that is unparalleled in the level of mastery it helps you achieve. Not only do you learn deeply and intuitively about the subject, but you’re able to synthesize your knowledge to reach and teach others.   Conover is the author of the recent Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep, which is next up on our reading list.

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 Week

This week’s book recommendation is The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness, by Todd Rose, recommended by our Lead Mentor Linda Walker. (Todd also read the Audible edition of his book.) No one is average, asserts Todd, and the New York Times found much to praise in his premise. Rose has himself gone from high school drop out to become the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education  Take a look at the description of Todd’s book (or better yet, read his book!), and join the discussion forum to let us know what you think of the idea that no one is average.

The Benefits of the Imposter Syndrome

Here’s an article by Barb in Time Magazine: “How Impostor Syndrome Is My Career Superpower.”  (Bonus sour cream in the coffee!)

Unleash Your Inner Company

As you may have realized, we’re keen proponents of entrepreneurship as a great path towards helping others while simultaneously helping you live the life you want to live.  Here’s a video (scroll down on the page) by our friend John Chisolm (president of the MIT Alumni Association), that conveys some of the ideas of his insightful book Unleash Your Inner Company: Use Passion and Perseverance to Build Your Ideal Business.  (John also reads the Audible version of his book.)

The Upswing of Awesome: Advice for Self-Taught Coders

One of our friends, an excellent self-taught coder, pointed us towards this excellent article—“Why Learning to Code Is So Damn Hard.”  Our friend noted “When I was learning how to code apps, after finishing the first tutorials (“handheld honeymoon”), I felt very frustrated and confused because I didn’t know how to do what I wanted to do. I found this article—after reading it I felt that there was light at the end of the tunnel (because this article is like a road map of your emotions) and I just had to keep pushing. Now, I feel I am in the “upswing of awesome” where I know what I have to learn and where to learn it from :)”  We think that the ideas in this article apply to learning in many different disciplines!

Barb in Kyoto, Japan

Barb’s in Kyoto, Japan this month.  Please post on the discussion forum here if you’d like to come to a meetup in the Kyoto area.

Behind the Scenes: An Interview about Developing Learning How to Learn

Here is an informative interview from Online Course Report about the making of Learning How to Learn. Alexandra Urban, Coursera’s Teaching & Learning Specialist (and one of the most upbeat people you’d find anywhere!) provides an informative big picture perspective on what these approaches mean for online learning in general.  Barb, on the other hand, just lets loose with her thoughts.

Memorizing a Deck of Cards

Here’s a new video from Nelson Dellis, 4 time US memory champion, on how to memorize the colors of a card deck.  As Nelson reveals, memorizing a deck of card like this is a terrific exercise to help develop your general memorization abilities. (If you would like to join Nelson in helping to support research on memory, please take the Extreme Memory Challenge.)  

More Memory with Mindshift

And here is an intriguing article-podcast by memory expert Anthony Metivier on “time travel secrets” related to learning.  We’ll admit that we never quite framed learning the way Anthony does—he’s got a unique way of bringing out the best in how to understand the learning process.

Amazon Prime for Students

We personally make great use of Amazon Prime in our book reading—the free shipping makes it well worth our while.  Here is a way for students to use the service for six months for free to try it out.

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 Week

We’ve finally gotten around to starting Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, by Winifred Gallagher  (This book was recommended by one of our favorite writers, Cal Newport, in his awesome guide to productivity: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.)  Gallagher’s book has our attention—she has a way with gripping stories illustrating that you are the sum of what you focus on. Rapt is a great contrast to our recommendation from two weeks ago: Rest.  

Audio version of the book Mindshift gets a very nice review in AudioFile

Barb spent a week closeted in an icy Michigan studio in January reading the audio version of Mindshift for you. An unexpected result is this nice review in the the online audio review magazine AudioFile. (Don’t forget that you may be able to get two free audiobooks through this link.)
How to Make a MOOC—No Really

In this post, “The ‘secret sauce’ behind the world’s most popular online course,” Talia Greenblatt-Kolodny, the Partner Learning and Development Manager at Coursera, and Barb describe the secrets behind how to make a great MOOC—including even an equipment list.  This is a “do not miss” article for any group interested in making online educational material. (That’s Barb’s husband, Phil Oakley, pictured beside her at the top of the article. 🙂 )

A Compendium of Self-Help Advice

Here is an excellent article that pulls together links and the best research-based advice to help improve your life. It’s by the fine folks at www.80000hours.org.  And if you need inspiration to help get you started, here’s just the thing to read: “6 Moves Toward Becoming More Inspired.”

Elon Musk’s Rapid Learning Abilities

We enjoyed this article by Michael Simmons in Quartz:  “How Elon Musk learns faster and better than everyone else.” [Hat tip David Wood] We haven’t taken the learning course alluded to at the end of the article—if anyone takes it, feel free to post your comments about it in the discussion forum here.

Flashcard Deck Using Anki for Learning How to Learn

Learners in-the-know understand that Anki is among the most popular of all flashcard systems.  Kate Bye,  Academic Support Counselor at Ferrum College, has created an Anki deck to help you memorize and master many of the key concepts of our course.  Enjoy!

Well Structured Podcast on Learning

Nicole Archambault of La Vie En Code, a podcast dedicated to self-taught learners and coders, has done Part 1 of a podcast with Barb that is an exemplar of organization (next week is Part 2).  Notice the careful minute marker notes—you can jump to whatever you’re interested in hearing about.  

Two Extraordinarily Important Papers on Improving Mathematics Education in the US

The importance of chunking and procedural fluency in STEM learning is hard to overstate.  Two recent papers emphasize this fact. “Automaticity in Computation and Student Success in Introductory Physical Science Courses,” by JudithAnn Hartman and Eric A. Nelson, notes that “Between 1984 and 2011, the percentage of US bachelor degrees awarded in physics declined by 25%, in chemistry declined by 33%, and overall in physical sciences and engineering fell 40%. Data suggest that these declines are correlated to a deemphasis in most states of practicing computation skills in mathematics. Analysis of state standards put into place between 1990 and 2010 find that most states directed teachers to deemphasize both memorization and student practice in computational problem solving… In recent international testing, scores for US 16-24 year olds in numeracy finished last among 22 tested nations in the OECD. Recent studies in cognitive science have found that to solve well-structured problems in the sciences, students must first memorize fundamental facts and procedures in mathematics and science until they can be recalled ‘with automaticity,’ then practice applying those skills in a variety of distinctive contexts.”  See also the related paper, “Cognitive Science and the Common Core Math Standards,” by Eric Nelson, about why the Common Core math standards do not fix the need for math automaticity.

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!

Book of the Month

We give an enthusiastic thumbs up for Bianca Bosker’s fantastic book Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste. You might think that this is just a simple book about wine tasting.  It’s not. Or rather, it is about wine tasting, but it is SO much more!  Much like our other favorite “immersion learning” book, Moonwalking with Einstein, Cork Dork takes you through one person’s hilariously obsessive, but scientifically-based pursuit of the development of memory.  But this time, rather than learning to memorize things like cards, number, or names, Bianca is learning to remember tastes and smells. That might seem inconsequential, but as Bianca reveals, improving your sense of taste and smell, in fact, improves all of your cognition.  Bottom’s up to this brilliant book! (Bianca also reads the Audible version; you may be able to get two free audiobooks through this link.)

The Wall Street Journal Profiles Barb

Here’s a great profile of Barb in the Wall Street Journal by editorial features editor James Taranto. James catches Barb at her casual best chatting about her life, her work with learning, and love at the South Pole Station.  If you don’t happen to have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, here is a sizeable excerpt. Barb’s books are proving exceptionally popular — A Mind for Numbers  is currently out-of-stock on Amazon until the end of the month; get your copy of Mindshift while you can.

An Excellent Free Course to Help Learn English

If someone you know is planning to learn English as a second language, we strongly recommend Voice of America’s Let’s Learn English. There are 52 lessons, archived under the “Let’s Learn English” tab at the top of the web page. Just to look at the cover image of the first video is to start laughing! In addition, VoA is working on a new series for intermediate learners that will be released in the fall. [Hat tip, Dustin Stephenson-Reynolds, Bilingual Producer, VOA Learning English]

MOOC update

If you’d like to get an overall snapshot of trends in general online learning in higher education, you may wish to take a look at this article — “Who’s Up and Who’s Down in Online Education?” by Goldie Blumenstyk. Goldie notes: “In 2015, more than six million students — nearly 30 percent of college students — took at least one course online. Nearly half of those students took courses exclusively online.” [Hat tip, our friend Karen Maeyens at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín.]

A Stanford Researcher’s 15-minute Study Hack Lifts B+ Students into the As

This outstanding article by Jenny Anderson at Quartz gives a great overview of research that reveals how thinking about your learning can actually improve your learning.

The Value of Rereading Books

Here’s an interesting blog post/podcast by memory expert Anthony Metivier with 11 reasons why we should reread books.  Enjoy!  

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

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Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

This week’s email is packed with tips, insights, and leads.  Here goes!

Book of the Week

Learning How to Learner Joe Muskatel points us towards this week’s book of the week: Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang.  If you are a highly productive individual, you may think–I want to learn how to work harder, not why I should work less. But as you’ll see, this book gives terrific, contrarian insight on improving productivity.  

Why Idle Moments Are Crucial for Creativity

We couldn’t agree more with this BBC article by Elle Metz on the importance of quiet reflection to help us truly relax and be more creative. [Hat tip our good friend Raj Raghunathan, instructor of the wonderful A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment MOOC, and author of If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy? Raj also narrated the Audible version of his book.]

Learning How to Learner Michal Klopot gives an intriguing suggestion for switching to diffuse mode–juggling.  It takes about a month of a few minutes a day to learn to juggle, Michal notes, but he finds it to be a reliable method for making the shift. We know of no research studies that support this suggestion, (feel free to let us know if there are), but theoretically, it might make sense–one must change from focusing intently on one subject or object to a more diffuse, simultaneous awareness of many moving objects.

Complex Systems Science at the Santa Fe Institute

If you want to boost your resume in business, computer science, data science, biology, engineering,  and many other fields, we strongly recommend the complex systems courses taught by the Santa Fe Institute. The Institute’s courses make learning straightforward for you, as Barb and her friend Gabby Beans, Program Manager of Online Education, discuss in this fun interview.  

A great place to begin is with the Institute’s new session “Introduction to Agent-based Modeling,” with instructor Bill Rand. This course starts June 5th.  It offers a great opportunity to learn one of the essential tools to study complex systems using a hands-on learning approach with opportunities to interact with the course team.  Register here, and enjoy!

Should You Listen to Music While Studying, The Pi Model and Learning How to Learn–Scott Young

Our intrepid friend and explorer of learning Scott Young interviews Barb about many topics she hasn’t had a chance to talk about previously.  We’re big fans of Scott’s work–he is a deeply intelligent “in the wild” analyst of how we learn effectively.  We strongly recommend Scott’s books, courses, and newsletter.

Great Tips on Memorizing Foreign Language Vocabulary

Our friend Nelson Dellis, the 4 time US Memory Champ, is back with a BRILLIANT video on how to more easily memorize foreign language vocabulary.  This is well worth watching. (If you would like to join Nelson in helping to support research on memory, please take the Extreme Memory Challenge.)  

Fascinating New Research on the Formation of Memory

Here is a good article from the BBC about the latest research on how new memories are formed: “Rules of memory ‘beautifully’ rewritten,” by James Gallagher.  Research is revealing that two simultaneous sets of memories are created–short term and long term. This is very different from researcher’s original conceptions that short term memories are formed first, and then converted into long term memories. [Hat tip mentor extraordinaire Rebecca Judd.]

Is It Really Possible to Change Someone’s Beliefs?Here’s a bit of discussion from Barb on Big Think about reaching and teaching others by trying to change their beliefs.  It’s trickier than you ever might think.
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

Follow our book recommendations on the “Cheery Friday App”

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

How to Shift from Anti-Tech Type into Tech—or to Change to Anything Very Different?

Here’s an article Barb wrote that has become a hit on LinkedIn: “I was your basic anti-tech type; then I became an engineer. Here’s how I made the shift.”  If you’re looking for inspiration about how you can change and grow through learning, even if you feel like you’ll never be as good as the others you’re working with, this article is for you.  

This article is the basis for the book Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, so if you love the article, you’ll love the book.  (And if you’ve already read the book, feel free to leave a review!)  Incidentally, here is the “This is the Author” podcast about the book, and also a link to the Audible version, which Barb read and which is proving very popular.)

Mindshift MOOC #1 in Personal Development on Class Central

Class Central’s great rating system helps you find MOOCs by category as well as by topic.  One of their biggest categories is Personal Development—where Mindshift is #1, and already has nearly 250 5-star reviews! (Here’s a brief article by Barb on the Coursera blog about the making of Mindshift.)

Cormac McCarthy’s First Non-Fiction Writing—on the Neuroscience of the Unconscious

Techie-types may be interested in learning that Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy, one of the greatest English writers of modern times, originally trained as an engineer. It is possible to do a mindshift either to or from the humanities and the more analytical areas!

McCarthy is the author of such classics as All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men. (And yes, the latter book is the basis of the spooky movie with Javier Bardem.) Cormac just published his first nonfiction piece in the magazine Nautilus.  Your best place to start is with this introductory article in Quartz, “Cormac McCarthy explains the brutal, beautiful neuroscience of the unconscious.” This article leads you gently into Cormac’s intriguing style. Then go on to Cormac’s Nautilus article, here.  

Compelling Article on the Artistic Soul of Famed Neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Benjamin Ehrlich has written one of the best short articles we’ve ever read about our favorite scientist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal. [Hat tip, French Lead Nicole Charest.]  Ehrlich’s book, The Dreams of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, looks fantastic, also—we’ve ordered a copy.

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

Follow our book recommendations on the “Cheery Friday App”

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Battle of the Titans! Which video is better? 

Barb is featured in each video, but the final edited version is very different.  You decide!

• Here’s Inc Magazine’s version: How to Have the Most Productive 25 Minutes of Your Life.
• And here’s Big Think’s version: Learn How to Learn Better with the Pomodoro Technique  (also YouTube | Facebook)

Watch both of the (very short) videos and then go to the discussion forum here and tell us which video you think is better, and why.  You can compare and discuss your answers with other Learning How to Learners.

Read Science! Mindshift and Learning Edition

Joanne Manaster is a professor who, along with her co-host Jeff Schaumeyer, interviews authors of exciting science-oriented books. Barb will be live today Friday, April 28, at 12:30 pm Eastern time–just follow this link to listen. (Note that we’d inadvertently had the wrong time zone in our mention last week.)

Book of the Week

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman, is highly recommended by pediatrician Rosie Oakley (yes, Barb’s daughter!).   Rosie says “What I love about the book is that it so beautifully communicates the cultural clashes that can occur between physicians and their patients’ families in a non-biased and non-judgmental way. Despite being a layperson, Ms. Fadiman  uses descriptive language in a way only the most talented physicians can. She pulls the reader into the world of the physicians caring for a little girl with epilepsy, and the rich cultural heritage of her family. Even if you have zero interest in epilepsy, the book will engross you from page one.”

Barb Gets to Finally Meet “Benny the Irish Polyglot!”

While in New York, Barb was finally able to meet famed linguist Benny “the Irish Polyglot” Lewis. They sat down and talked in a “diner,” which was actually the set of the YouTube studios. (The studio was super cool—Benny even used an 8K camera to do the videotaping!) Benny is as genuine and nice in real life as he is on screen.  Watch Benny and Barb as they have fun together in this wide-ranging interview: “Chat about ‘Mindshift’ interest changes & better learning.”  

We also follow Benny on Quora—here, for example, is one of his intriguing posts: “In which language do polyglots (people who know multiple languages) think?” If you’re at all interested in language learning, you may wish to follow Benny, also.

Be sure to subscribe to Benny’s YouTube channel for loads of encouraging language learning videos, and to join his frequent live Q&As. You can also get Benny’s e best free tips by joining his”Speak in a week” free email course here.

The Science of Success

Here’s an interview with Austin Fabel on Learning How to Learn. The interview is posted on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play–enjoy!

How Coding is Changing the Job Market

Here is an interesting article by Tynker™  Coding for Kids on how coding is changing the job market–even lawyers and biologists are realizing that training in coding is critical. [Hat tip Gerard Meester]

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

Follow our book recommendations on the “Cheery Friday App”

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

We can’t help but send some interesting updates from this week’s round of interviews and reviews related to the launch of Mindshift, plus some other sundry goings’ on.

“What the Teacher of the World’s Most Popular Online Course Has Learned About the Science of Learning”

Here’s an interview with Panio Gianopoulos of Heleo about Learning How to Learn, and how learning occurs.  This interview is worth watching because Panio is a fabulous interviewer who demonstrates mastery of the art.  (Plus, Barb had lots of fun doing it.)  

A Terrific Review of Mindshift

Here’s a review of Mindshift by Kira M. Newman on The Great Good Science Center.  This extensive review really captures the key idea of the book (and the MOOC).

Podcast with Pete Mockaitis

Here’s an interview on Mindshift with podcaster Pete Mockaitis.  Once past the usual initial chitchat about Barb’s past, Pete asks intriguing questions that bring out important ideas not brought out elsewhere.  

Read Science! Mindshift and Learning Edition

Joanne Manaster is a professor who, along with her co-host Jeff Schaumeyer, interviews authors of exciting science-oriented books. Barb will be live on Friday, April 28, at –just follow this link to listen. with her old friend hangout called Read Science!

Terry and Barb both Headlining at EdCog2017 in Hamilton, Ontario

A special treat is in store for you if you’re able to make it to the EdCog Conference, starting the evening of July 26th and continuing through July 27th and 28th.  Both Terry and Barb are giving conference keynote speeches.  This premier educational conference provides a plethora of evidence-based insights by top researchers and practitioners into effective learning. Register here!

MOOC Update

Here are some worthwhile articles by Dhawal Shah on the MOOC-making front:

• MOOCs Started Out Completely Free. Where Are They Now? | EdSurge News

• 9 Popular Online Courses That Are Gone Forever … But Here’s Where You Can Find Them — Class Central

• 9 Legit Master’s Degrees You Can Now Earn Completely Online — Class Central

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

Follow our book recommendations on the “Cheery Friday App”