Ultralearning

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Month

Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career, by Scott Young.  We’re big fans of superlearner Scott Young—hence our interview with him in Learning How to Learn. As Barb’s blurb on the book’s cover notes: “Ultralearning is the best book on learning I’ve ever read. It’s a beautifully written, brilliantly researched, and immediately useful masterpiece. If you are looking for the magic match to help light your learning, Ultralearning is it. If you want to learn anything, do yourself a favor and read this book. Now.” You can also find a special deal for pre-ordering here.

Taking Practice Tests—And Using Course Hero

Many instructors are loathe to give their students copies of their old tests. After all, good tests can be very time-consuming to develop. More than that, these tests sometimes involve tricks that  only the students who really understand the material will be able to figure out. (At least, that’s what many professors believe.) Good tests can be hard to develop in part because there are only so many tricks that professors have up their sleeves. But here is evidence from a great meta-analysis revealing that practice tests appear to beat everything else in helping students to learn effectively.

As a consequence, we’re strong supporters of Course Hero, a crowdsourced learning platform where students can find copies of old tests and other study materials to practice with—sometimes created by their own instructors.  Check it out—and let your college and high school student friends and relatives know about it!

Speaking of Course Hero…Barb Keynoting in Redwood City, California

Barb will be at the Course Hero Summit reception in Redwood City, California on the evening of June 18th, and conducting an afternoon workshop on June 19th.  If you are an educator, apply to attend!

Our Friend, 4-Time US Memory Champion Nelson Dellis in a fantastic new Netflix film

Nelson is featured in a fantastic new documentary on Netflix about memory competitions and techniques that really goes deep into the stories of some of the top mental athletes and who they are. Check out the trailer.

Small Breaks Can Be Important for Learning

Here is a very nice article by Matthew Warren in the British Psychological Society Research Digest that gives insight into why tiny breaks when learning motor skills are helpful. “The findings suggest that early improvements when learning a new skill are made ‘offline,’ during periods when the task isn’t actually being performed.” Is this approach perhaps also relevant to learning more cognitively-oriented subjects?  Is this why we sometimes find ourselves staring off into space as we work to assimilate a difficult idea? [Hat tip Joe Muskatel]

An Unfolding Book on Teaching  Traditional Math

Math teacher Barry Garelick has braved the waters of teaching math traditionally in a country that’s enamored of reform approaches. Read of his serialized adventures beginning here.

Forming the team for the delivery of Apprendre comment apprendre (ACA)

Formation de l’équipe VivAca chargée de la livraison d’ACA

Nous espérons lancer Apprendre comment apprendre, la nouvelle version française de LHTL, le 9 septembre 2019. ACA permettra aux apprenants de la Francophonie d’accéder au contenu, faire les quiz, participer aux forums de discussion, recevoir de l’aide et réaliser les travaux pour le certificat avec mention, et tout cela en français. Nous enclenchons aujourd’hui le processus de recrutement pour la formation de l’équipe bénévole VivAca qui se chargera de la livraison, de la promotion et de l’amélioration continue de la version française du cours. Nous voulons que cette équipe entre en fonction dès le 29 juillet 2019 afin qu’elle puisse se familiariser avec l’équipe, le contenu, la plateforme française et collaborer à la préparation du test bêta qui précède le lancement.

Si les apprentissages de LHTL ont fait une différence dans votre vie, si vous voulez contribuer à partager les apprentissages d’ACA au sein de la Francophonie en collaborant au sein de VivAca, nous vous invitons à soumettre votre candidature, d’ici le 10 juillet 2019, 12 PM EST en complétant et en soumettant le formulaire ici.

Nous espérons que VivAca soit représentative de la diversité au sein de la Francophonie.

Nicole Marie-Thérèse Charest Dr.sc.agr.

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

• Get the course recommended text, A Mind for Numbers!
• And Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens. Great ideas for parents, too!
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