In my tutorial with John he reiterated the daunting fact that I would be the most important subject matter throughout the course. So in order to address this, I first needed to face the thing that always gets in the way of my learning – I’m just not very good at learning! I have long been a professional procrastinator and a ruthless hunter of distraction which is why this course is so, so necessary. Sure, I’ll watch every documentary and YouTube talk on my areas of interest going, but studying actual books, with just words, I have to admit – rarely happens. So to seek some advice I turned to an episode of ‘Speaking of Psychology’ (the podcast of the American Psychological Association) entitled ‘Study Like A Champ’ about the book of the same name. Although the title stinks of all American smugness, the interviewees Regan Gurung, PhD, and John Dunlosky, PhD give some genuinely great advice I shall definitely be taking forward:
“Learning is just difficult!”
This is something I think I hadn’t really admitted to myself going into this course – it’s not going to be easy and more importantly if it is easy i’m probably doings something wrong. Coasting the course to pass will of course get me the qualification but if I don’t fully engage my actual learning will be extremely limited.
“Prepare for how we (you) are going to learn”
Already I feel as if I am a bit out of the loop on the course and if I am truly honest with myself its because I haven’t made sufficient plans as to how I am going to navigate my learning. Before I even get into thinking about how best to retain knowledge I need to plan the best and right time to do so. Planning is key.
“Copious note taking …is a strategy in itself …and helps us organise out material”
Ironically I felt this point especially hard as I lost my original notes; making me realise I had in fact, remembered very little about the podcast. According to Dunlosky, studies have shown that writing notes doesn’t necessarily increase the intake of knowledge over those who haven’t written notes; it simply gives you a record. Although this may sound obvious it helped me to realise how little we actually retain in memory alone. Also the grouped notes I’ve taken on the podcast have definitely help me to sufficiently compartmentalise the information in a way that makes this blog post a doddle.
The way in which you make notes also has significance. However, Interestingly there is apparently no difference in retention between digital and hand written note taking. However ‘any device that enables you to be distracted by something else can be problematic.’ For example in writing this post I have checked my email multiple times as notifications come in, something I wouldn’t suffer from my trusty Pukka Pad (that replaced the aforementioned lost one).
“Anything that is using mental energy is taking energy away from what we are focusing on”
Studying in relation to brain activity is essentially the practice of turning information into long term memory, however working memory has limited capacity. So reducing your activities whilst learning is the most effective way to synthesize knowledge. Basically – distractions no matter how small are going to impede on the amount of information you take in. I can definitely relate as I have been drawing whilst observing these online seminars so its no surprise I have probably taken little in.
“Doing something with the material”
When students create their own working examples of how to apply the information at hand they are way more likely to take it onboard. I feel like this is such good advice from my experience as both teacher and student. For me, concepts become so much more useful if you can find ways of applying them and expanding on them in your own practice. However, coming up with an example of me using an example now seems a bit gratuitous!
Overall these aren’t groundbreaking in terms of techniques but in realising they are things I probably already knew I feel better equipped to get going on the course. Similairly I was able to use some of the techniques as I wrote about them making the process of writing this post genuinly valueble to my learning.
Hi Dan,
I find your post quite interesting specially as it reads to me differently from what you presented earlier, on our in person conversation.
If I understood correctly, you mentioned that you mainly reflected on material you studied on, without bringing much of your personal journey and challenges in the blog posts. Yet, your first line is a personal reflection on a conversation you had with John, who reiterated that YOU should be the most important subject matter. You point out how you see yourself as not a good learner and you struggle focusing on traditional classroom and text format. However, you do mention that you find other ways to navigate this difficulty by finding other sources of information and ways to navigate content.
I think that’s a clear example on how you are trying to relate to the subject and reflect on how the content can apply to your personality. It even goes on to bring that reflection into a practical step to find a way of learning that suits you best.
Interesting that you then move to reflect on a podcast you’ve listened to, on learning.
Self reflection is pretty much present throughout as you indicate how you feel and navigate the learning suggestions you’ve heard about on the podcast.
Another interesting point I would like to challenge you on, is your mention to your moments of drifting out of the learning process and drawing as you’ve listened the podcast. You’ve mentioned that affected you ability to take information in and I’m in no way able to question that. However, I do wonder, do these drawing have any meaning? Is there any information we could gather from the lines, shapes and strength of the activity you were engaging with? Can we see this drawings or they are so personal as to be kept in a little safety box that needs editing before being resented to the world?
Are they related or completely unrelated and distracting?