Course description
Learn Like a Pro: Science-Based Tools to Become Better at Anything
Do you spend too much time learning with disappointing results? Do you find it difficult to remember what you read? Do you put off studying because it’s boring and you’re easily distracted? This course is for you!
Dr. Barbara Oakley—instructor of some of the most popular online courses of all time—and her co-instructor Olav Schewe, educational coach extraordinaire, have struggled in the past with their learning. But they’ve found ways to succeed—Barb has gone from a math-phobic failure in high school to become an engineering professor, and Olav has gone from a mediocre, muddling student to become a standout in his graduate studies at Oxford. In Learn Like a Pro , Olav and Barb lay out techniques based on easy-to-understand but cutting-edge neuroscientific research that can also help you master any material.
Learn Like a Pro is like no other course on learning—it weaves late-breaking insights from neuroscience into Barb and Olav’s previous research and teaching to show unexpected, yet practical, new approaches. You’ll learn why note-taking isn’t always beneficial and why speed-reading techniques don’t work (they speed up only your eyes, not your brain—but there is something better you can do instead). You’ll also learn why the best strategies for learning a new language as an adult are inevitably different from the approaches you used as a child.
Upcoming start dates
Who should attend?
Prerequisites
None
Training content
In Learn Like a Pro , you’ll learn not only the most effective techniques to help your learning but also why those techniques are effective. Here’s a quick overview of key topics we’ll cover:
- How knowledge is stored in long-term memory and which techniques you can use to make sure you do not easily forget what you have just learned
- How the brain alternates between two different modes for learning and thinking and how you can take advantage of this to improve your creativity and problem-solving skills
- How to beat procrastination and distractions to focus better during learning
- The critical role of working memory in learning and how to optimize it
- The difference between declarative and procedural knowledge and how to learn each type of knowledge more effectively
- How to motivate yourself to learn better by increasing the brain's production of dopamine
- Why speed reading doesn't work for learning and what you should do instead to read more effectively
- How metacognition improves your learning and a simple 3-step model to continuously improve the way you learn
Course delivery details
This course is offered through Barbara Oakley & Olav Schewe, a partner institute of EdX.
1-2 hours per week
Costs
- Verified Track -$49
- Audit Track - Free
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edX
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