Yes, I want to talk about MOOCs again. In the first post, we talked about options for taking Massive Open Online Courses, aka MOOCs, including the different platforms that host them, the wide variety of class topics, and potential associated costs. This time, I want to talk a little bit more about the best ways to absorb and retain what we learn in them. Let’s get psychological. (I tried to make that fit to the beat of Olivia Newton John’s ‘Let’s Get Physical,‘ but try as I might, it was a no-go.)
It kind of feels like cheating, but I poked through the… many… tabs I had open in my browser, because I knew I’d read material about memory and learning somewhere along the way (I do see the irony in the situation); anyway, what I came across was… a MOOC. So, I’m going to use a MOOC to talk about learning the most from your MOOCs. MOOC-ception. Coursera runs the ‘Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects‘ MOOC on its platform. The videos seem a tad dated, BUT! the material looks solid. Disclaimer: I’m not a neuroscience expert, so research might’ve come a long way since this was created. But even if it has, I feel like things could have only gotten better for us in that regard. The TL;DR of this is that our brains are amazing feats of engineering and they are incredibly malleable. That means we aren’t beholden to some fated destiny of being forever bad at math or any other assumptions we’ve labored under since middle school, always parroting the same tired excuses and “I’m just bad at _________” statements. We. Can. Learn. Anything. The human brain is a marvel; don’t ever sell it short.
Now, to alight from my soapbox… Richards J. Heuer’s Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (from everything I can tell, his first name is (maybe was?) actually Richards, with an s; not the norm where I’m from but, hey, I like character) delves into the topics of perception and memory. While it’s obvious that memory plays a big part in learning, perception is also hugely germane to, honestly, most everything we do, including learning. To delve into Heuer’s notions of perception real quick, let’s examine the following points:
- We tend to perceive what we expect to perceive. This goes hand-in-hand with that defeatist “I’ll never be good at _______” or “I’m just bad at _______” attitude. If it looks like Mount Everest to you, guess what? It is. However, if you see it as just another hill to climb…
- Mindsets tend to be quick to form but resistant to change. We get incredibly attached to ideas once we’ve accepted them. Sort of tangential to this is the fact that we tend to place more value on things we’ve spent time on regardless of whether those things or ideas are actually worth it (also known as The IKEA Effect). Once we’ve decided we believe a certain thing, it’s harder to accept difference or change. Ego also comes into play here. Stay humble; don’t let your brain turn into a rock.
- New information is assimilated to existing images. I think my exposure to the word ‘assimilate’ is mainly limited to science fiction movies, so a quick recap of its meaning is ‘take in (information, ideas, or culture) and understand fully’ or ‘to cause something to resemble; to liken.’ I think the conclusion we’re trying to arrive at with this notion is that everything new to us that we take in each moment–every sound, smell, sight, feeling, thought, etc–we correlate or associate with something else that’s already known to us. We rifle through our understanding of the world to find something we can anchor this new thing to. This is where our lizard brains, biases, and stereotypes come in. Our brains are trying to make the most efficient information connections possible to ensure our survival. Sometimes these correlations turn out to be faulty, so we have to keep an eye on them.
- Initial exposure to blurred or ambiguous stimuli interferes with accurate perception even after more and better information becomes available. This goes back to the idea of mindsets. Once we see something a certain way, it can be really difficult to change the way we look at it. The common example of this is the picture that looks like either a beautiful young lady or an old, grizzled woman. You’ll see one of them first, and then may have to work hard (and get hints) to be able to see the other one.
To return to our ‘Learning How to Learn’ MOOC, let’s talk for a moment about neural pathways. The instructors in the course liken our brains to a pinball machine, like this one:
So, they use the pinball machine comparison to explain Focused and Diffuse modes of thinking, with a more condensed ‘playing field’ of neurons representing focused thinking, and a more widespread one representing diffuse thinking. While focused thinking is all about concrete neural connections and well-trod pathways, diffuse thinking is much more about ‘exploring the space,’ if you will. To put this into a recognizable situation, it’d be like if you were studying for an upcoming exam and then decided to take a break to go for a run or visit with friends. While your brain is ‘relaxing’ (what you might call diffuse mode), it may also be processing the material that you were going over while you were in focused mode. This may be why it can be so beneficial to get up and walk away from something when you’ve been working on it for a while. I always encourage people who are writing an email/report/exam/whatever to do the thing, then get up and walk away from it for a while, then come back after a bit and give it the final read/review. Your brain might have worked something out while you weren’t even consciously thinking about it. In one of our other posts on Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving, there’s a clip of John Cleese talking about how beneficial it can be to sleep on things. Same idea, to my mind.
So you’re thinking, ‘okay, cool. My brain operates in different ways. How does that help me to learn and retain anything?‘ We’re getting to that. Once we know how the brain operates, we can use it to our best advantage. The professors talk up the concept of the pomodoro technique–set a timer for 25 minutes, buckle down, and focus on whatever it is you’re trying to work on. Then take a 5-minute break afterward. I believe the idea behind this is to train your brain to more easily operate in both focused and diffuse modes; the more you do it, the easier it presumably gets.
Further, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us that our brains function best and retain the most when we gradually build up knowledge and reinforce it on the regular. Exhibit A: How much material do you remember a month after pulling an all-nighter to cram for an exam? Not much. But what if you studied that same material for 10 to 15 minutes a day, 3 to 4 days a week, for a month? Almost certainly more, especially if you developed mental associations or mnemonic devices for any of it. Por ejemplo, how many of you remember PEMDAS from elementary school? Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally–Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction. Order of Operations in the hee-zy.
What’s the point of all this, you ask? Well, the point is this: you will retain more information longer if you review it on a recurring basis, probably for shorter periods of time. I say this because it’s a known thing that we tend to lose focus after at most 20-30 minutes, so there’s not really any benefit in trying to focus on something for an extended period of time (lookin’ at you, late-night cramming session). As a matter of fact, look at everything that comes up in this Google search; I was both shocked and not shocked all at once. Reviewing information more than once helps you to establish and reinforce those critical neural pathways that facilitate knowledge retention and recall.
How does this apply to MOOCs? This applies to learning anything. I am currently re-listening to a couple lecture series and audiobooks to reinforce and refresh the knowledge in my brain. And guess what: it helps. Especially if you know your mind tends to wander, like mine does. There’s no shame in hitting the ‘back’ button. There is, however, shame in refusing to admit that you need to review something. Getting back to the ego thing: don’t choke on pride. If you need to read or listen to something again, DO IT. Nothing but mad respek for folks who dedicate themselves to learning. I had to go back and re-watch a couple of the videos in the ‘Learning How to Learn’ MOOC. Am I ashamed? Heck no. I am REMINDED of what I learned before, which will REINFORCE the neural pathways in my brain. Boom.
So, I feel like this post kind of went on an interesting, meandering path of proselytizing, science, and anecdotes. But that’s ok. The main idea is to break things up into small, digestible chunks, visit the topics regularly, and review the information as needed; don’t try to hoover it all up at once unless you’ve got an eidetic memory or something. Go get a look at the MOOC I mentioned, and that link to Heuer’s publication is good, too, though kind of dry (and I’ll admit I’m not all the way through either of them, yet).
That’s it for now, folks. Thanks for stopping by, and I will try to post again soon. Mwah!
-hxrg
Decalcify Your Brain 