Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Lockdown, I have decided to put my hands into a couple of things like Programming, furthering my study of the German Language, learning FOREX, volunteering and others.
Sadly, I could not keep up with half of what I had set out to do and even when I did, the learning was unproductive. In dire need of solutions to this problem, I came across a post on Medium explaining how I could be productive at learning while simultaneously managing my time. The writer explained that he made use of the knowledge he learnt from a course on “Learning how to Learn” by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sjenowski. Up until then, I did not know I needed to learn how to learn (what?! we have to learn how to learn).
Well, I enrolled for the course on Coursera and like the writer recommended I was watching the videos in 1.5x mode for the first 15 days. After the first 15 days, I became so engrossed with it and started watching in normal mode. And I must really say that Barbara Oakley did a great job in explaining the concepts. Here are my takeaways from the course.
Modes of Learning
There are two modes through which learning can be done, namely the focused mode and the diffused mode. The focused mode is when our mind is strongly fixated on a new concept we are trying to learn. Dr. Barbara explained that it is important to avoid distractions while in the Focused mode for productivity to be maximized. The diffused mode on the other hand, is when our mind wanders or when there are no thoughts on the mind. The diffused mode is as important as the focused mode and has proven to be effective through the world’s most renowned persons like Thomas Edison and Dali Salvador. It is just like meditation for learning.
…we need to be able to let our mind go back and forth between these two modes of learning to ensure effective learning.
The main point is that when learning a new concept, we need to be able to let our mind go back and forth between these two modes of learning to ensure effective learning.
Chunking
Second, an effective mode of learning new and complex information is chunking. This is the process of splitting the new concept we’re trying to learn into smaller bits. Bits that make a complete puzzle, and it is important to know how and why each bit fits into the bigger puzzle. Dr. Barbara explained that a way of doing this is through a quick run-through of the book or concept we’re trying to learn. (Looks like I just discovered another use of Table of contents 💃)
Illusion of Competence
Third, have you ever felt like you’ve learnt so much in a day only to go back and after 2 hours you are not able to recall what you have learnt. Or have you ever written lines of code with help from GitHub and felt like you’ve learnt new stuff and when you open the same code the next day, it feels like you don’t understand what you’ve written. You have? Well, I have to, I guess we all have. This is the illusion of competence. This phenomenon is used to explain the false presumption that we understand a concept. A simple way to overcome this is by continuous testing of oneself with new concepts and old concepts learnt, which is a means of recall.
Recall
Fourth is the usage of recall to make your learning more effective. The process of recall is the most crucial one in transferring knowledge of a new concept from short-term memory to long-term memory. Testing should be done at intervals and if not properly managed could also lead to illusions of incompetence. Testing is an important tool for recall and is used to validate the notion that we understand a concept. For my programming courses, this involves writing codes using different techniques and concepts I have learnt. This helps in forming a better chunk for long-term memory.
Overlearning
The fifth thing I learnt is that it is that overlearning is a real thing, and should be avoided. Ever felt like you were wasting too much time on a particular topic or concept? I remember how I used to learn the alphabets for a whole term while I was younger or how I would waste my time learning matrices in secondary school by practicing with the same examples over and over again. This is simply overlearning, it could be easily confused with repetition, but it is just simply a waste of time and energy. As a learner, it is very important to know when we are overlearning a concept. This would help us channel this energy and time into things that are much more productive.
…it could be easily confused with repetition, but it is just simply a waste of time and energy.
Interleaving
Sixth was the concept of interleaving, and how it can boost understanding of concepts, and ingenuity in application. I watched a video some weeks back about why Elon Musk stands out among all other CEOs in the tech industry. The narrator explained that what made Elon special was really not because he is into just more than one field but his ability to incorporate new ideas and concepts learnt from each different field into another. For me, this means I could apply some skills in learnt in my Data Science course into my ML course, although these two are closely related. This also meant that I could apply concepts and ideas learnt from my FOREX classes into my relationship (you really don’t want me to tell you how, trust me…)
…what made Elon special was really not because he is into just more than one field but his ability to incorporate new ideas and concepts learnt from each different field into another
Process over Product
Here’s the final takeaway, don’t focus on product at the expense of process, as learning is always in the process. Most times when I start learning new concepts or reading a new book, I used to be thrilled with the idea of just finishing it. This in a way takes my mind off the contents I am supposed to be learning from and makes me to place focus on the completion of the piece. Similarly, for some of the courses I have taken (especially the online ones, phew!), I focused mainly on getting the certificate instead of enjoying and learning the rudiments of the course which has led to not remembering some of the key concepts that I was supposed to take note of. Barbara explained it was important to enjoy the flow of time while learning a new concept by focusing on the process and not the product. I am currently employing this method to my new online courses and I must say it has been a thrilling experience, I don’t even know when I have completed a whole week’s work.
Conclusion
We never stop learning except we stop breathing (ok, that sounded cringy, but it’s true tho), hence it is important that we also try and channel our energy and time into things that really matter to us. See you in ‘Learnville’!
Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think by dropping your comments in the comment section below.
And clap for me tooooooooooooooooo, I haven’t been clapped for since I left High School (it’s true tho).
