I took an online course on coursera at the end of 2019 entitled, “Learning how to learn.” It was an enlightening course full of new techniques for lifelong learning. There is a sequel course that I plan to take, Mindshift.

One of the strategies that the course discusses is distributed practice. That is, spreading out learning over a longer period of time, this allows us to have a greater grasp of the material by elevating the importance of this chunk of information in our brains. By repeatedly accessing this information, we strengthen the neurons in our brains associated with those memories. This kind of seems like obvious knowledge, but yeah, I needed to be told it. I currently use my daylight list app in order to keep track of when to review this course, approx. every month.

For facilitating my monthly reviews, I’m making this summary available online. And if any intrepid soul ventures here, they might also pick something up.

For my summary of the course, I emphasized three parts.

  • the current understanding of how our brain works.
  • beneficial techniques for habits and everyday life.
  • learning techniques for quickly comprehending a topic and retaining that knowledge.

How our brain works

Our brain functions in two modes focused and diffuse mode. Focused mode is when we are actively working on something with our conscious attention. Diffuse mode on the other hand is the subconscious processing that our brain does when we are not actively doing something. It is a combination of focused mode to import information and diffuse mode packaging the information that helps us develop chunks.

Chunks are groups of neurons that fire together. There are thought to be four working memory slots in our brain. We can load chunks into these memory slots. Having larger chunks means we can have a larger working memory. To create larger chunks we need to develop a deeper understanding of material. Chunks form from focused attention -> understanding -> practice.

A brief mention of habits. Habits can be broken down into cue -> routine -> reward -> belief. To change or create a habit, we can focus on identifying the cue and apply willpower to change the established routine. By strategically applying willpower to identifying the cue and changing the routine, we can start to change or create a habit. To reinforce the habit, we need to reward ourselves.

Procrastination typically happens because we are focused on the end product. Instead, it is better to focus on the process of creating or doing. By focusing on the process, we become closer to creating something without being overwhelmed thinking of what we will eventually have.

Beneficial techniques

A large part of changing the outcome is to change our perceptions. Some strategies are:

  • Explore your interests and read (auto-)biographies to learn from others.

  • Take notes: inspirations strike at odd times, remember your inspirations.

  • Re-frame bodily responses: instead of “I’m stressed/angry” think “I’m excited”
  • Rephrase “I have to do this” with “I get to do this”
  • If your worst possible situation is managed by a “Plan B”, then there isn’t much to fear is there.

Learning techniques

  • interleaving: Our mind can get tired thinking of one topic for an extended period of time. Instead, consider working on different topics.
  • summarize: Writing a summary can force our brain to understand a topic. This is similar to teaching others.
  • teach others: You can identify areas of lacking in knowledge by monitoring when you start getting vague in your explanations when teaching others.
  • learning to deal with failure: learn from failures, they are inevitable, and move on from them.
  • make it concrete: Visualizing or creating analogies increases the likelihood of remembering something.
  • group learning: useful for getting exposure to varied POVs, however, everyone has to be punctual and stay on track.
  • solo learning: necessary to personally engage with the material.
  • try new things: lady luck favors the bold!
  • pomodoro: Short focused 25 minute sessions followed by 5 minutes break.

  • taking a break: This prevents frustration and illusions of competence. It also engages the diffuse mode of your brain.

  • recall: Immediately after reading something, attempt to remember what was read. This surprisingly solidifies the information in our brain.
  • deliberate practice: Practice what you find difficult, so that you get better at it.
  • avoid illusions of competence: Sometimes if we are working on easy tasks for a period of time, we can unrealistically believe that we’re good at it. Avoid this using deliberate practice and distributed practice.
  • distributed practice: Spread out practice over time, so that we can avoid illusions of competence and facilitate chunk formation.