Learning How to Learn in the New York Times!

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Learning How to Learn in the New York Times!

Here’s a wonderful article by John Schwartz in the New York Times about our Learning How to Learn and Mindshift MOOCs! You’ll learn insights about Barb’s basement and the making of the courses that no one else has ever unearthed. (Although Barb is mortified about the references to her and Phil’s very old, somewhat incontinent kitty.)  

Books of the Week

In keeping with the New York Times education section, which was published today, we’d like to point you towards several interesting educational books.  The first is From the Laboratory to the Classroom: Translating Science of Learning for Teachers, edited by Jared Cooney Horvath, et al.  This book provides a first-rate overview of what we know from research about how to teach so that university as well as K-12 level students really learn. If you’re doing research in the area, you’ll find hundreds of great recent references on topics ranging from the benefits of interleaving and memory consolidation to the effective use of imagery.

Also of interest is MOOCs Now: Everything You Need to Know to Design, Set Up, and Run a Massive Open Online Course, edited by Susan Webreck and Jennifer Jumba.  We hadn’t realized the importance or power of MOOCs for libraries. So this book, written generally from a librarian’s perspective, provides an unusual perspective on MOOCs that we hadn’t realized before.

MOOC of the Week

We’d like to give a shout out about the great course that is beginning on August 7th: Synapses, Neurons and Brains, taught by Professor Idan Segev of Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  This course cuts right to what’s most interesting about the brain, and Prof. Segev has a charismatic way of making everything fascinating.  

How the science of learning can get the best out of edtech

Here’s a deeply insightful article from the Economist on how edtech is democratizing education. The closing sentence provides a useful summary: “In 1984 Skinner called opposition to technology the ‘shame’ of education. Given what edtech promises today, closed-mindedness has no place in the classroom.” [Hat tip, Arshad Ahmad,Director, McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching & Learning ]

Mentor Showcase

We have a very special community here in Learning How to Learn. Today, we’d like to showcase one of our longtime mentors, Senior Mentor Steven Cooke.  Steven first took LHTL in 2014—he joined us as a mentor in 2015.  Steven’s background helps lend insight to his responses on the forums: he is the Founder and Principal of Process Systems Consulting, a small, hard-working consulting firm now based in the Philippines. Steven has an extraordinary 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including risk assessment, quality management, process design, analytical specifications, process analysis and control, and gas purification.  (If you need such consulting, we can vouch for the fact that Steven is a wise choice!) Keep an eye out for Steven’s friendly, informative posts on the forums!

Random Memory Tips—How to Memorize Your Flight Code

Here’s another interesting video from 4-time US Memory Champion Nelson Dellis on how to memorize alphanumeric codes. Enjoy!  (If you would like to join Nelson in helping to support research on memory, please take the Extreme Memory Challenge.)  

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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See all book recommendations at cheeryfriday.com