Having a hard time turning an overwhelming amount of incoming information into actual knowledge? Here are ways to train your brain and become a better learner!
Online learning is one of the trends that’s definitely here to stay. As experiential learning continues to help grow and reshape the world of higher education, people are finding more and more methods to educate themselves—both traditional and unconventional.
This is great news! It means that you can learn about virtually anything you want to with the click of a button. It’s like carrying your school library around on your phone—in fact, your school library probably has a website where you can access a decent percentage of its resources.
But how do you translate all of that incoming information into actual knowledge? If you try to just passively absorb it all you’ll find you haven’t learned anything.
So as you’re working hard to gain knowledge—from your instructor, your school, online, and beyond—here are eight ways you can train your brain and become a better learner overall.
Join a study group and get feedback from peers. If available, your group could also work with a TA or a tutor. They’ll help keep you and your progress in check, especially if you struggle to stay on track when studying alone. Online tutors can also help with homework to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses while learning the material.
“In our society, we’re not trained in either giving or getting criticism,” says Robert Sutton, a psychologist at Stanford University. “And we’re remarkably incompetent at understanding how we affect other people. Consequently, negative feedback is very, very difficult to do well.”
Learning how to give and receive feedback is essential. Not just for studying, but engaging in life and having healthy social relations.
David Peterson, Google’s Director of Executive Coaching, says “Staying within your comfort zone is a good way to prepare for today, but it’s a terrible way to prepare for tomorrow.”
With the desire to keep developing and upgrading, your capacity for learning—and your brain’s ability to retain it—will grow by leaps and bounds. If you lack motivation to study, there are ways to derive satisfaction from the actual learning process itself.
Experiment with new approaches and behaviours. Understand that as technology continues to develop, it will change the way we develop as humans. We’re going to have to keep learning and using new concepts every day.
Did you know flashcards are the simplest way to learn and retain new material? And with the availability of digital flashcards, now it’s even easier to put learning at your fingertips and to take it with you wherever you go. The repetition of information creates memory in our brain. Plus, we know that seeing something is more memorable than just hearing it. So flashcards are a great way to speed up the learning process.
Creating flashcards is a learning process all of its own. When you take your notes and translate them into flashcards, you’re practising learning the concepts all over again before you even go through the cards to study.
When using printed flash cards, organize them in a box to practice spaced-repetition. It’s another unique learning method to help your brain store information.
It’s a good idea to get into the habit of reflecting on what you’ve just learned. Take some time in the quiet early mornings (or late at night, if you’re a night owl) to pause and ask yourself:
“What has this experience just taught me?” or, “How did things have a different outcome than what I expected—and why?”
Reflective learning enables you to access and process information immediately before your brain forgets. Having coaches or tutors is also a great way to keep in check. They can think of more questions to ask yourself for self-reflection, which you may not have thought of.
When you exercise, your brain is flooded with blood, oxygen, and nutrients—all in an overflowing rush. Pumping your body and your brain, exercise makes you think and process information more rapidly and accurately.
Scientists think physical activity can actually aid in creating new brain cells. Going for a run, a bike ride, or a brisk walk can potentially cut the time in half that you spend studying for that test. When you return rejuvenated (and maybe with new brain cells growing!) you can ace that exam or write your paper even quicker and more effectively.
The psychological theory is that you remember things better in small chunks, rather than information overload all at once. Makes sense, right? Research shows that humans can easily recall five to nine objects or items at a time.
So don’t cram all your topics together. Chunk them into smaller portions or bite-sized chunks you can easily feed your brain to digest. Taking short intermittent breaks helps this process. If you focus on minutes, not hours, you can get more done. Set your timer for a 45-minute chunk of learning, then a 10-minute rest. Repeat.
That’s right—make learning fun! Play-based learning isn’t just for kids; adults can benefit from the game factor as well. For example, use apps that encourage learning a new language using games, contests, or quizzes. Or spend time creating a game with your friends using flashcards or other learning tools.
Some people are even using dating sites to master a foreign language. For obvious reasons—the excitement of a new love-interest takes the chore out of learning.
Do you find yourself mentally overwhelmed by the thousands of messages your brain is sending and receiving all at the same time? It’s not enough to know that your head is overloaded. You need to get rid of the distractions. The easiest way to get rid of all the unnecessary info is to do a “brain-dump”.
Get it all out of your head by getting it down on paper. Writing the mess down helps to formulate and sift the good from the bad. Of course, you’ll find yourself naming things that should take top priority in your life. So they do need your time and attention. Analog those important items into lists. That way, you sort priorities and can then get back to the real task at hand: efficient learning.
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