Learning How to Learn - Coursera

This is a small list of the Universities offering free online courses through Coursera

I've always wanted to take an online learning course but had not set aside the time.  I recently completed the UC San Diego Coursera class, Learning How to Learn, taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski.  The course provides excellent tips on how to master difficult subjects.  It was well worth the effort and it increased my understanding of the learning process.

Topics include:

• Focused vs Diffuse learning
• Chunking information
• Procrastination
• Renaissance Learning 

The focused versus diffuse learning provided very helpful information on learning and problem solving. The instructors advocate focused spaced learning of a subject.  This allows time for the brain to make connections when you are asleep, engaged in physical activity or taking a shower.  Diffuse learning allows the brain to produce moments of insight when you wake up in the morning or finish a walk.  A recent study on exercise and memory(KTBS) indicates that exercise approximately four hours after studying improves memory retention.

The instructors advocate using the focused process of the Pomodoro technique (Reg. TM) to break through the initial discomfort that feeds procrastination.  

The free language learning app, Duolingo, uses many of the techniques advocated by this course.  I am using it along with free audio learning guides from the library to learn Spanish Living Language and French Living Language.

Improve studying and productivity with the 25 minute Pomodoro Technique - 6 min.

Dear Committtee Members by Julie Schumacher

The book, Dear Committee Members, by Julie Schumacher offers a humorous collection of letters from an English professor at a small US college. He pens letters of recommendation in the hopes of getting rid of a less than helpful IT professional or for students hoping to get entry level jobs in positions that often perfectly fit their talents and shortcomings.

This is also a portrait of a garrulous professor on the downhill side of a less than promising career. The professor documents problems with facilities, the institutional bureaucracy, a former wife and  lover.

While working at a University for over 25 years, I've known many people who match the description of the well drawn characters in this book.  I enjoyed the painfully accurate description of the irritated office employees suffering through a demolition and remodeling project while occupying a building.

This touching and humorous book reminds me of some of the best of Mart Twain.  The author accurately depicts the majority of human beings who achieve moments of modest success sprinkled with failures in part due to our own foibles.

Julie Schumacher - Dear Committee Members - 46 min. 

Leadership BS by Jeffery Pfeffer

The book, Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time, by Jeffery Pfeffer describes in detail the inauthentic culture of leadership consulting. The bar for entrance into this group is low.  The information provided by these leadership consultants is often aspirational but of little practical use.  Leaders must be inauthentic to be successful. They must get along with people they do not like. They must act confident when they are not. 

He also points to the altered reality of successful business leaders who pen books. The picture they paint is an idealized one that does not mesh with the actual reality of what happened in the company according to those that worked there. People want to use well crafted myths as guiding principals for leadership rather than embrace the messy reality that exists. The higher a position a leader reaches the fewer consequences for bad behavior.  

A significant majority of workplaces are toxic environments with leaders looking out for their own self interest at the expense of the company and the employees that work there. The author suggests that workers also proceed with the same clear eyed view that the company does not owe them at all for their past accomplishments but only for what they produce now and their potential future productivity.  He paints a picture of corporate culture similar to the parallel universe in the Star Trek episode: Mirror Mirror. 

Mirror Mirror - 2 min. 

If you want feel good inspiration this is not the book for you.  If you want a sober reality check on the culture of corporations and institutions of higher learning then this is the book for you. 

Leadership BS - Google Talk  - 55 minutes

Leadership BS - Stanford University - 77 minutes

Discovery Your Child's Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson

I purchased the Kindle version of Discover Your Child's Learning Style: Personalized Learning for Student Success by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson for less than $3.  Our family was trying to figure out the best way for my daughter to learn based on her particular learning style.

I found the authors' optimism about education to be very refreshing.  Their premise is that everyone can learn how to master a subject if they are able to learn the material in a manner that matches their learning style.  There does not have to be a bell curve.

The authors' also talked about something that vexes parents.  Children may have the aptitude and ability to easily master a particular skill such as music, math, or a particular sport but not have the passion for it at this particular time in their life.

I call this the magnetic theory of parenting.  If I have to badger my child to attend a particular activity she won't put the effort into it even though she has the talent for it.  It is like two north ends of a magnet repelling each other.

If she says, "come on were are going to be late.  I want to get there early."  Then she has found something she is passionate about and will be willing to put the extra 10,000 hours in to become good at it.

The survey in the appendix of the book helps identify the child's interests, what specific environment do they prefer to study and if they prefer to learn by reading, by sound or visually.  As a hint, allow your child to circle all items in a category not just the main category.

The Five Modalities of Learning - Mariaemma Wills - 6 min. 

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogerty

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogerty provides a delightful resource for individuals with more than a casual interest in improved writing.  She offers tips on when to use a dash, comma or parenthesis. She offers well researched advice and plenty of examples for each topic.

I found her book a bit more accessible than Eat's Shoots and Leaves by British author Lynn Truss. Mignon provides discrete lessons in digestible servings whereas Lynn tends to take a bit more indirect path offering some witty diversions.

I appreciated the helpful hints on proper etiquette for email correspondence. She also gives guidance for proper use of passive voice. Politicians use this to great effect: "Mistakes were made."; "There was no controlling legal authority."

I'd recommend purchasing the audiobook. The author has a pleasant speaking voice. The topics provided a mentally stimulating diversion during my morning commute.

For those of you who want more, please review the written version of Mignon's Grammar Girl Podcast Archive.  At this site you can find out the if the Minions from Despicable Me speak a real language.

 

 How to organize a book by Mignon Fogerty - 6 min. 

The Year Without a Summer - 1816 and the Volcano that Darkened the World and Changed History - Klingaman W.K. and N.P.

The Klingamans' new book, The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History, describes the 1815 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora (Wikipedia) and the subsequent changes in the weather and societies around the world.

I picked this book up as I am working on a sequel to The Smell of Truthiness involving a similar scenario for the eruption of a volcano in the future.  I wanted a to find out what changes to expect in the weather and what stresses this would put on governments and societies.

The change in weather had it's greatest impact in the summer of 1816 resulting in cold weather and droughts in NE part of the US.  The growing season was short, wet, and cold in Europe resulting in very poor crop production and food shortages. The population of Illinois and Ohio grew rapidly as farmers gave up on life in cold and dry New England.

J.M.W. Turner - Sunset painting from 1816

Artists were influence by the weather.  Paintings of sunsets contained more red colors.  Scientists have used digital images to determine the effects volcanic activity on sunset paintings (NY. Times - Aug. 2015) .  The woman who was to become Mary Shelly began writing her book about a reanimated creature known as Frankenstein's monster.

The author covers the effects of the volcano on most of the developed world with good climate records.  It was interesting to read all of the false attributions as to the cause of the sudden cool climate.  It took the monitoring of recent volcanic activity in the latter part of the 20th century to piece together the causes of climate change in 1816. The book provides a wealth of information on how governments responded to the crisis.  This can be instructive as a similar event will likely happen in the future.

Mt. Tambora Effects - 5 min.