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I believe I mentioned the following during my "How to Learn"
session.<br>
Normally I send this after the first exam but I'm hoping to catch
some<br>
of you who are struggling right now and maybe improve your study<br>
techniques so you'll do better on the quizzes and midterm. Plus,
not<br>
everyone attended the "How to Learn" session.<br>
<br>
A former student from Autumn 17 semester sent me some information<br>
about how to study/learn. He took a course offered through the
Dennis<br>
Learning Center (DLC). The course he took was ESEPSY 1259 (a class<br>
OSU offers that teaches how to study effectively in college) about
the<br>
Pomodoro Technique. This is an in-person class (no prerequisites)
for 3<br>
credit hours. It didn’t count towards his degree but he thinks it
can count<br>
as a general education course for students that still need to fill
those.<br>
The following is from the student's e-mail, <br>
<br>
"I credit it with raising my grades last semester by at least 1
letter grade<br>
for each course. It’s an easy class to do well in, but the
techniques it teaches<br>
are very valuable for any student, especially those coming from high
school<br>
or returning from a leave of absence. It teaches everything you went
over<br>
(almost word for word in terms of how to study effectively with
skimming<br>
chapters before class, writing in the margins, reorganizing notes
after class,<br>
creating your own questions, etc) and then some. I really can’t
recommend it<br>
highly enough. The textbook we used was even similar to the one you
mentioned<br>
in class"<br>
<br>
"ESEPSY 1259 is at best going to allow them to study much more
efficiently and<br>
raise their GPA, and at worst is an easy A, so it’s a no-lose
situation for students. I<br>
think the Younkin Success Center did a study on students that took
the course,<br>
and they averaged raising their GPA by 0.25 points." Probably would
have been<br>
better but taking a course doesn't force everyone to apply what they
learned.<br>
<br>
He had attended OSU before but was dismissed from his major for a
poor GPA<br>
of below 2. He came back to OSU and took this course along with the
other<br>
freshmen courses he needed for his major. He got a 3.9 GPA his
first semester<br>
back. <br>
<br>
There is an on-line course, ESEPSY 1159, and workshops offered
through the<br>
DLC. Some of these may be 1/2 semester courses so you could
possibly still sign<br>
up for one.<br>
<br>
Here are some of the links he sent. The first one is about the
Pomodoro Technique.<br>
It's essentially what I speak about, studying for some period of
time, taking a break<br>
and then coming back and studying more and then a longer break and
switching to<br>
another subject. Honestly, most studies show that spending about 45
minutes on a<br>
given subject is the limit for retention. Even taking a break and
coming back to the<br>
same thing makes it harder to understand anything after about the
first hour.<br>
Everyone is different, so you might find you like 30 min, followed
by only a 10 min<br>
break. You could also do 20 min, 5 min break, 20 min and then a
longer 15-20 min<br>
break. I still say don't go longer than about 60 min on any given
subject before<br>
taking a break and then when you come back switch to something
different, the<br>
more different the better.<br>
<br>
Here’s a link to an article about the Pomodoro Technique (there are
some links to<br>
timers in there as well):<br>
<br>
<a
href="https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730">https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730</a><br>
<br>
Here’s a link to an online timer that can be used in a browser:
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://tomato-timer.com">https://tomato-timer.com</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here’s a link to a Chrome extension (there are
phone apps as well):</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a
href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marinara-pomodoro-timer/lojgmehidjdhhbmpjfamhpkpodfcodef?hl=en">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marinara-pomodoro-timer/lojgmehidjdhhbmpjfamhpkpodfcodef?hl=en</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here’s a link to the ESEPSY 1259 course:</p>
<a href="http://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/es-epsy-1259/">http://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/es-epsy-1259/</a><br>
<br>
The textbook used:
<p class="MsoNormal"><a
href="https://www.amazon.com/College-Study-Skills-Becoming-Strategic/dp/0495913510">https://www.amazon.com/College-Study-Skills-Becoming-Strategic/dp/0495913510</a></p>
I also stated in class to turn off notifications in your phone so
you aren't always<br>
checking your messages. You need to be concentrating on the task at
hand<br>
and not what your friends are doing. Here's one more thing from the
same student,<br>
<br>
"Other things that have helped me is turning off my phone
notifications and keeping a<br>
post-it note next to me when I study: if while I’m studying I think
of something I NEED<br>
to take care of relatively soon, I just write it on the post-it note
and quickly get back to<br>
studying so I don’t lose my flow. This allows me to take care of
things during my “break<br>
cycle” and not during my “study cycle”.<br>
<br>
I told you I've had countless students come back to me or e-mail
over the years about<br>
how much this helped them in all their courses. They stated it
improved their grades<br>
and learning (better retention and understanding). Countless
studies have shown this<br>
works. Certainly for those of you struggling you might as well try
something different.<br>
What do you have to lose by doing so? Even for those of you who are
doing well this<br>
can help for retention and maybe even reduce your study time since
it's a more efficient<br>
way to learn.<br>
<br>
Dr. Zellmer
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