(Coursera) Dr Terrence Sejnowski Dr Barbara Oakley – Learning How to Learn

Learning How to Learn is for you—it’s meant to give you practical insight on how to learn more deeply and with less frustration. The lessons in this course can help you in learning many different subjects and skills. Whether you love language or math, music or physics, psychology or history, you’ll have a lot of fun, and learn a LOT about how to learn! This is a 4-week course. Learning with others is more fun, so please feel free to share this course and these ideas with your friends and family. We’ve found that learners become so excited about these ideas that they can’t help sharing them with those in their circles—and with new friends made on the discussion forums through this course. Sharing helps build your own abilities! We’ve set up a Facebook page to let people know about the MOOC. Please feel free to go to the page and share if you like it and the course, (and give us a “like”)! We also have a Twitter hashtag on the course, #LH2L1 (for “Learning How to Learn, Session 1”).   Although not required, we also encourage you to read the material on the week’s topics in the book, A Mind for Numbers, where some of these ideas are explored more deeply. A Mind for Numbers is available through Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound. For international learners, A Mind for Numbers is available through both the Amazon Kindle and IBook–please just check availability within your country. Incidentally, don’t worry if you’re not a “numbers” person, A Mind for Numbers is still for you, because it’s a general book about learning. As the Library Journal just noted in their review: “VERDICT Superb not only for those who are struggling or who are expert at math, but for readers who wish to think and comprehend more efficiently.”Every Friday at 12:00 PM EST, the weekly content will be posted for the weekend and the upcoming week. (This website can help you figure out timezones and deadlines.) Here is an overview of the weekly topics for the course:Week 1 – Introduction: Focused versus Diffuse Thinking (begins Aug 1)Week 2 – Chunking (begins Aug 8)Week 3 – Procrastination and Memory (begins Aug 15)Week 4 – Renaissance Learning  and Unlocking Your Potential (begins Aug 22)There’s been a LOT of buzz already about this course and the book it’s based on–here are a few articles and podcasts of the many available if you might like to see what others are thinking about what you’re going to see. A New Book Tells How to Improve at Math, Science…or Whatever Else You Want to Learn About (Mother Jones), The Best Thing We’ve Found This Week (SkilledUp), Brain Power (Popular Science radio interview), The MOOC on Learning How to Learn (Class Central). We’re happy to welcome you to Learning How to Learn! Feel free to continue by clicking the link on the upper left that says “Start here! Rapid video walk through explaining the course.”