Learning by learning how to learn is my second MOOC from Coursera. At first I did not really know what to expect, but little by little the course thought me some valuable stuff.
First thing (as I am from Holland) was reading and understanding the word “procrastination”. It took me about five times before I understood what I just read and I needed Google to tell me the meaning of the word :-). Second thing was the fact that my kids have their summer holiday which made it sometimes difficult to do the quizzes and assignments. Luckily I learned about the pomodoro technique!
I never heart about the pomodoro technique before, but I have to say that I like using it. Especially the (small) reward I am allowed to give myself after those long 25 minutes of doing something I wasn’t eager to do in the first place. I am using it in this class, but also when I read my own books.
As I am very interested in social media, I try to read a lot of books on the subject, but as I start on a new book, I tend to forget the one I just read. So I learned myself to read for 25 (!) minutes a day, every day until the book is finished. In that way I read in “chunks” making the text stick longer in my memory instead of trying to read the whole book in one evening.
Another thing I try to use from this course is not overusing my yellow marker when reading my books. I now add some text on the page, making it easier for me to remember the content (I write it down, read it for errors and at the same time create my own summary of the subject).
Last thing that I learned is the fact that practice makes permanent and it takes time! So patience is in order…
And of course I almost forgot: Before I go to sleep (which is very important for your memory to shape itself, so go to bed in time!) I try to summarize what I have read, hoping that I will dream about it!
Summarizing the above:
- Use the pomodoro technique.
- Use chunking when acquiring new knowledge.
- Keep practicing and be patient while doing this.
- Don’t forget to sleep! 🙂
I am Richard, thank you for reading my blog about learning how to learn!