Metacognition techniques - How to Learn

[Zellmer, Robert]

I believe I mentioned the following during my "How to Learn" sessions.
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 one of these sessions.

There is a Zoom recording in the Lecture module in Carmen.  You'll
see a module there, "How to Learn/Study" 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<https://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/> (DLC).  The course he took was ESEPSY 1259<https://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/es-epsy-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.
It looks like they now have online versions.  There's a total of 6 courses<https://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/courses/>
offered through DLC<https://dennislearningcenter.osu.edu/courses/>.


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 the sessions you gave."

"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 0.70 points."  Probably would have been
better but taking a course doesn't force everyone to apply what they learned, just
like coming to one of my sessions.  The number he cited is on the DLC's website.

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 later this semester.

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.  Set a timer for 45 min.  When the timer goes off if you're in the middle of
a problem or paragraph finish that and then stop.  Don't go longer than 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).  This is a productivity technique and should be combined
with the best practices about learning.

 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 my session 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.  There are some study apps for phones which
act as timers but block all notifications once the app starts.

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'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.

I pretty much discussed what they teach in the course during the How to Learn/Study
sessions I held.  If you missed them, there's a recording on Carmen in the "How to
Learn/Study Session" submodule of the "Lecture" module.  If you're struggling and
didn't do well on the pre-quiz or don't do well on Quiz 1, I suggest you watch it and
try the things I've suggested.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Dr. Zellmer
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