Notes on Learning How to Learn

As part of reading Augmenting Long Term Memory I’ve been trying to take notes of things I read or watch. I realized that I would learn something useful, but that if I didn’t put it into use, I would forget it over time.

So, when I went through the Coursera course Learning How to Learn, I thought I’d take notes to help me remember.

It’s a quick course and relatively light, but does a good job explaining how the mind learns and how you can use that to improve your learning. It’s funny, I never really thought about how I learned, and taking classes growing up, my “practicing” often consisted of cramming the night before, remember just enough for the test. So many hours spent being taught something, only to forget it at the end of the semester. Now that I’ve taken this course, hopefully future learnings won’t be in vain.

• Learning requires regular interaction, like going to the gym
• Focus on process not product
  • IE: doing a Pomodoro vs completing an assignment
• Steps for Habits
  1. Cues - important to starting the habit, can start procrastination or beneficial habit
  2. The Routine
  3. The Reward - ex going to lunch with a friend
  4. The Belief - in the system, hang out with like-minded folks
• Weekly list
  • Daily TODOs from weekly list above, plan at night, gives your brain time to stew on them
  • Only a few items are product oriented, items should be process oriented
  • Plan your quitting time - ie 5pm, etc
  • Try to squeeze in breaks/diffuse time during your day
  • Eat your frogs in the morning - do the hardest things first thing
• Evoke concepts with visual memory
  • Try to associate with additional senses
• Repetition is very important (index cards)
• Exercise is important to learning
• Practice can repair as well as train
• Teamwork can help improve your “mental horsepower”
• Are you prepared for a test? Did you:
  • Make a serious effort to understand the test
  • Check solutions with others
  • outline problems
  • contribute with team
  • consult with TA/teacher on confusions
  • ask for explanations for questions you didn’t understand
  • understand all the homework problems solutions
  • have a study guide and use it before the test?
  • quiz classmates on the study guide (vice versa)
  • outline lots of problem solutions quickly, without spending time doing algebra
  • attend the review session, if there was one?
  • get a reasonable nights sleep before the test?