Thomas Frank’s videos on learning

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

How to Do Homework Fast

We’re fans of Thomas Frank’s videos—and not just because he occasionally mentions Barb’s book A Mind for Numbers.  Here’s a smart, fast-moving, video from Thomas that gives a lot of great tips on getting homework done smartly.  [Hat tip, LHTLer Kristófer.]

How to Efficiently Benefit from MOOCs

This article by Pat Bowden is a good reminder of how to get the most from MOOCs. We believe many people are unnecessarily intimidated by MOOCs, because they expect the MOOC to be as long and difficult as a conventional semester-long college course. But as Pat notes, there are ways to efficiently power through MOOCs, which are generally served up in bite-sized chunks in any case.   (Sign up for Pat’s email updates on the right hand side of the page.)

Book Crunch

Here’s a “Book Crunch” by Arthur Worsley of Matthew Syed’s Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success. We really enjoy how these book crunches give the best nuggets of a book in an easy-to-grasp way.  This helps you to decide whether to dig deeper and read the book.
New Educational Neuroscience Blog

We very much enjoyed this overview by Annie Brookman Byrne of the growing field of educational neuroscience. The posting is part of the new educational neuroscience blog in the Nature Publishing Group’s online materials on learning and development.

The Future of the University

Here is the last of the four part series from Quartz on how tech and online learning is changing the higher education scene in North America.  This is an interesting and thought-provoking piece, but we disagree with its central conclusion, which implies that face-to-face teaching is always better than online learning.  Face-to-face is not always better, and it can be far worse than online.  In our view, the ever-improving quality of online learning, combined with its economies of scale, means that online learning is equalizing opportunities for learners—particularly the disadvantaged.

Neuromyths and Edu-Ca$h-In: Vetting the “Expert” Claims

This terrific article from board-certified neurologist and educator Judy Willis gives great guidance on how to tell whether neuroeducation products are based on sound research.

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