Metacognition techniques - How to Learn

[Robert Zellmer]

I believe I mentioned the following during my "How to Learn" session.
Normally I send this after the first exam but I'm hoping to catch some
of you who are struggling right now and maybe improve your study
techniques so you'll do better on the quizzes and midterm.  Plus, not
everyone attended the "How to Learn" session.

A former student from Autumn 17 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 the student's 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 0.25 points."  Probably would 
have been
better but taking a course doesn't force everyone to apply what they 
learned.

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 speak about, studying for some period of time, 
taking a break
and then coming back and studying more and then a longer break and 
switching to
another subject.  Honestly, most studies show that spending 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.  You could also do 20 min, 5 min break, 20 min and then a longer 
15-20 min
break.  I still say don't go longer than about 60 min on any given 
subject before
taking a break and then when you come back switch to something 
different, the
more different the better.

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 a browser:

https://tomato-timer.com

Here’s a link to 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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