Learning How to Learn
As you may have noticed, the velocity at which technology is moving is a bit daunting. While the last revolution of the Western world — the industrial revolution — took a little less than 100 years, the current technological revolution we’re in is moving at a much faster pace. Parents are worried about their kids future job prospects, university and college graduates are leaving institutions without hard employable skills, and workers are worried that their jobs will be replaced by robots. It can feel like a troubling time.
According to RBC’s report on the future of work, the new skills economy will require that we are
“constantly learning, training and upgrading to meet the demands of a changing world,”
or as Michael MacPherson puts it, “trying to stay ahead of the robots”. Easier said than done I say. So what are we to do? Throwing our hands up in the air and putting an 😱 emoji out there is tempting, but it isn’t an option. So the next best way to handle the ups and downs of the new skills economy is to adopt a learning and growth mindset.
While learning has always been a part of my skill set, it’s especially pertinent as I’ve moved over from teaching to web development. So for those who are learning how to learn again, here are some quick tips from a Coursera course by Barbara Oakley I did a few years ago. I find the information is still relevant and it may help get you back into the groove of being a student.
Understanding Abstract Ideas
The brain has two modes of learning— diffuse and focused. Our brains process information through both patterns and the best way to learn can depend on the situation.
Focused mode, as you might guess, is when you concentrate intently on the subject you’re trying to learn. Your mind is in an attentive state and you purposefully ignore other distractions, like notifications from Facebook. This is where the Pomodoro technique can be useful. Set a timer for 25 minutes with no distractions and take a 5 minute break.
Diffuse mode on the the other hand happens when your brain tries to make connections between several unrelated ideas. This is why taking a break from the problem can often help solve the problem, however counterintuitive it may feel. While your conscious mind is focused on doing other tasks, like making spicy coffee, your subconscious mind can work to connect the dots and bring new ideas and solutions to mind. We need both modes to understand a concept inside out, so that we can understand the big picture and the finite details.
Chunking — Grouping Information
Chunking is the idea of taking smaller pieces of information and grouping them together so that it’s easier to remember.
Step 1: Put your undivided attention on what you are trying to chunk. Put all distractions that may break your focus away. Your brain is trying to make new neural pathways and is working hard to connect new patterns with existing patterns.
Step 2: Use analogies. Analogies are great at helping us learn. When we use analogies, we already have a framework for how to understand a particular concept, so we just need to map this new information onto an existing pattern or neural network.
Step 3: Understand the basic idea of what you are tying to chunk. Having a high level overview of what you are are trying to learn helps you connect that information to other relevant ideas in your mind. Beware though that chunking does not translate to understanding. In order to genuinely understand a concept, you have to be able to put into practice what you are learning. This is why experience working in a subject matter is so important. Ultimately, you have to do it yourself to really know what’s going on. The great part about learning is that material and methods learned in one subject area, say language, can be applied to other subject areas like physics or math, so you’re never starting from scratch.
Methods for Learning
Context
Context is where bottom up and top down learning meet. It’s important to understand both general ideas and specific details. For example, when reading a textbook, glace at pictures and titles first to get a general understanding of how a concept works and then fill in the details.
We already do this when we read articles online. Due to the overwhelming amount of content, we scan an article to see if the title and headings align with our goals and if so, we read the article in detail. You know this concept well if you’ve ever read any of Buzzfeed’s listicles.
Example: As I was learning web development, I was introduced to a lot of new tools and programming languages. I wasn’t sure how a particular topic I was learning fit into my broad understanding of web development. If someone had said to me that using a tool like Sublime or Visual Studio Code is the equivalent of using paper to write an essay, that would have helped me understand how different tools and concepts fit into Computer Science as a discipline.
Recall
We’re taught to believe that re-reading information helps us remember material, but this is a shallow level of processing. To know if you’ve understood a concept, you need to explain it in your own words. For concepts to stick, you have to weave it into your own underlying neural circuits. You can do this by writing notes in the margins or explaining the concept in your own words.
Example: It would be easy to say that I theoretically understand how to write programming languages, but unless I actually get down to writing and solving problems, I can have a false sense of mastery. The same applies when we read books. We can read a book and feel knowledgeable and smarter for having read it, but unless we take the tips and knowledge that we’ve learned and apply it to our lives, we’ve only processed this information at a surface level.
Cues
When we study in the same place and in the same context, we become reliant on the cues in our environment to trigger neural patterns. The best way to ensure that we’ve understood the material is to study in different environments so that the neural patterns become stronger and we don’t rely on certain cues to remember information.
Example: Instead of alway studying in the same room, you can study in a coffee shop, in a library, or study standing up. By forcing yourself to encode information with different visual cues, you can ensure that your brain has a lot of different ways to access the same information.
Vocal Hooks
Explain concepts out loud to yourself. This is effective because it acts as another neural hook and a cue for your brain to access the information. Hearing your own voice and being forced to conceptualize the information out loud engages parts of your brain that you wouldn’t otherwise engage if you were to silently read information.
Example: We passively take in information when we’re reading but we are forced to actively think about concepts when we explain information out loud. We force our brains to take an active role in engaging with the information, which takes more cognitive work, but is a lot more effective in helping us remember concepts. So for myself, when I’m trying to work through a programming problem, I’ll explain the steps out loud to myself to see where I’m getting stuck.
Deliberate Practice
Over learning or practicing the same concept over and over again can make you feel as if you’ve mastered a concept but more often than not, it is a false sense of mastery. In order to understand a concept inside out, it’s important to focus on the parts that you find difficult and use focused mode to master those ideas.
Example: I know that I have difficulty working with certain parts of the programming language JavaScript, so instead of reading material or watching videos to make myself feel like I’m learning, I’ll focus on learning about the ins and out of a particular problem that I find challenging until I can solve the problem on my own without any help.
Interleaving
The best way to learn how to use different chunks is by jumping back and forth between problems and solutions that require different techniques or strategies. This forces you to know both how to use a technique and when to use it. Interleaving helps create flexibility and creativity.
Example: I jump between learning programming theory, to reading articles, to watching videos, to then going on to working on my own projects. In my personal projects, I’m able to apply what I’ve learned to see if I’ve really understood the concept. If I get stuck at a point in my project, I’ll jump back to reading theory to see what I’m missing.
Tips for Staying Productive (aka not procrastinating)
Keep A Journal
Keep a planner so you can easily track your goals so you’ll know when you’ve reached them. This helps you figure out what does and doesn’t work for you personally.
Commit to Routines
Commit yourself to certain routines and tasks each day. Write your tasks out the night before so your brain has time to dwell on your goals and lets you start working right away the next day.
Arrange your Work into Challenges
Arrange your work into small challenges. Break your tasks down into small doable goals and provide yourself with mini rewards at the the end of each task. This allows you to take advantage of the basal ganglia within your brain that relies on cues, routines and rewards to develop a pattern and automaticity. Take a few minutes to savour the feelings of happiness when you do accomplish your tasks. It gives your brain a chance to temporarily change modes.
Delay Rewards
Rewards are only rewards if you’ve accomplished the task you’ve set out in order to receive those rewards. Make sure the reward is proportional to the task you’ve accomplished and make sure you follow through. If you didn’t complete the task, don’t give yourself the reward. Seems obvious but needs to be said.
Watch for Procrastination Cues
Look for cues that you are procrastinating, such as distractibility or boredom. Learn to recognize these signs in yourself and put in measures and different routines to counteract the procrastination cues.
Eat Your Frogs First
Plan out your day the night before and put the hard tasks at the beginning of the day. This is when you’ll have the most focus and the least amount of distraction and you can make sure that you get the most important tasks done first. It’ll also give you a sense of accomplishment early in the day and will set the tone for the rest of the day, much like making your bed!
I’ve personally found these tips are helpful in keeping myself organized and goal oriented, especially when I write down to-do’s the night before. I hope this is helps you too. Now go forth and conquer!
