Metacognition techniques - How to Learn

[robert zellmer]

I believe I mentioned the following during my "How to Learn" sessions.
It took me awhile to find it.

A fellow student from a previous semester sent me some information
about how to study/learn.  He took a course offered through the Dennis
Learning Center (DLC).  The course he took was ESEPSY 1259 (a class
OSU offers that teaches how to study effectively in college) about the
Pomodoro Technique.  This is an in-person class (no prerequisites) for 3
credit hours. It didn’t count towards his degree but he thinks it can count
as a general education course for students that still need to fill 
those. The
following is from his e-mail,

"I credit it with raising my grades last semester by at least 1 letter grade
for each course. It’s an easy class to do well in, but the techniques it 
teaches
are very valuable for any student, especially those coming from high school
or returning from a leave of absence. It teaches everything you went over
(almost word for word in terms of how to study effectively with skimming
chapters before class, writing in the margins, reorganizing notes after 
class,
creating your own questions, etc) and then some. I really can’t recommend it
highly enough. The textbook we used was even similar to the one you 
mentioned
in class"

"ESEPSY 1259 is at best going to allow them to study much more 
efficiently and
raise their GPA, and at worst is an easy A, so it’s a no-lose situation 
for students. I
think the Younkin Success Center did a study on students that took the 
course,
and they averaged raising their GPA by .25 points."

He had attended OSU before but was dismissed from his major for a poor GPA
of below 2.  He came back to OSU and took this course along with the other
freshmen courses he needed for his major.  He got a 3.9 GPA his first 
semester
back.

There is an on-line course ESEPSY 1159 and workshops offered through the
DLC.  Some of these may be 1/2 semester courses so you could possibly 
still sign
up for one.

Here are some of the links he sent. The first one is about the Pomodoro 
Technique.
It's essentially what I spoke about, studying for some period of time, 
taking break
and then coming back and studying more and then a longer break and 
switching to
another subject.  Honestly, most studies show that spending more than about
45 minutes on a given subject is the limit for retention.  Even taking a 
break and
coming back to the same thing makes it harder to understand anything 
after about
the first hour.  Everyone is different, so you might find you like 30 
min, followed by
only a 10 min break.  I would say though don't go longer than about 60 
min on
any given subject before taking a break and then switching to something 
different.

Here’s a link to an article about the Pomodoro Technique (there are some 
links to
timers in there as well):

https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730

Here’s a link to an online timer that can be used in browser:

https://tomato-timer.com

Here’s a link a Chrome extension (there are phone apps as well):

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/marinara-pomodoro-timer/lojgmehidjdhhbmpjfamhpkpodfcodef?hl=en

Here’s a link to the ESEPSY 1259 course:

http://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/es-epsy-1259/

The textbook used:

https://www.amazon.com/College-Study-Skills-Becoming-Strategic/dp/0495913510

I also stated in class to turn off notifications in your phone so you 
aren't always
checking your messages.  You need to be concentrating on the task at hand
and not what your friends are doing.  Here's one more thing from the 
same student,

"Other things that have helped me is turning off my phone notifications 
and keeping a
post-it note next to me when I study: if while I’m studying I think of 
something I NEED
to take care of relatively soon, I just write it on the post-it note and 
quickly get back to
studying so I don’t lose my flow. This allows me to take care of things 
during my “break
cycle” and not during my “study cycle”.

I told you I've had countless students come back to me or e-mail over 
the years about
how much this helped them in all their courses.  They stated it improved 
their grades
and learning (better retention and understanding).  Countless studies 
have shown this
works.  Certainly for those of you struggling you might as well try 
something different.
What do you have to lose by doing so?  Even for those of you who are 
doing well this
can help for retention and maybe even reduce your study time since it's 
a more efficient
way to learn.

Dr. Zellmer
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