Hi, I'm Dr. Steven Chu. I'm a professor of psychology here at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of this video is to help you develop a proper mindset to become an effective learner. Most people actually have misconceptions about how people learn that hurt them as they study for their job or for school.
A few years ago I made a series of videos on how to study effectively. I'll be referring to the content of those videos But you can actually watch this video either before or after viewing those videos. There's no set recipe you can follow for successful learning. There are just too many variables. What works for one person won't work for another.
What works for one topic won't work for another topic. What I can give you are 10 general principles that you can follow that will help you to develop successful learning. Principle 1. Your level of understanding is a direct result of how hard you prepare.
Learning is a matter of study and practice, not luck. In my first video, I list the belief that learning is a matter of inborn talent as one of the beliefs that make you stupid. Sure, some topics will come faster or slower for you, but you always have to put in sufficient time and effort to accomplish your academic goals.
Furthermore, if what you're studying is important for more advanced concepts, you can't just study it to the point where you know it. You have to study enough so that you can think about it and retrieve the information easily and automatically. Principle 2. There are effective and ineffective ways to prepare. Time and effort are necessary for learning, but they aren't a guarantee of learning.
If you use an ineffective study strategy, then you won't learn, no matter how much time and effort you put into your studying. The key here, though, is that the study strategies that most people use are some of the least effective for learning, causing them to waste a lot of time and effort. I discuss effective learning strategies in videos 2, 3, and 4 of the study videos.
The key here is that you have to use the right kind of mental work and the right kind of strategies in order to learn. No one can do that work for you, and there are no shortcuts to learning. Principle 3. You have to master the basics before moving on to more complex skills. All new learning builds on prior knowledge.
The more you know about a subject, the easier it is to learn more about that subject. When you're taking a course for the first time, like an introductory course in a topic you know nothing about, that's when learning is slowest and hardest. If you plan to specialize in an area, then the fundamental knowledge of that area has to be more than just known. It has to be so overlearned that its use is easy and effortless. Principle 4 Overconfidence should be avoided at all costs.
Principle 4 has to do with our awareness of how well we really understand the concept. This is called metacognition and I discuss it in the first study video. One of the hallmarks of a struggling student is they're grossly overconfident.
They think they understand when they really do not. A big reason is that poor study strategies increase confidence without increasing actual learning. Overconfidence is very common in college freshmen.
Because of poor metacognition, they wait too late to start studying, and they stop studying before they've really mastered the material. As a result, they perform poorly. You always need to check your level of understanding to avoid overconfidence.
Take advantage of chapter quizzes, get with a classmate and question each other. Write down everything you can recall about a topic and compare it to the textbook. Make sure that your confidence is justified.
You can't find ways of testing yourself. then practice strategic pessimism where you prepare even more than you believe you need to. Principle 5. Effective preparation requires your total focus. Principle 5 has to do with multitasking. Simply put, our brains are not built for multitasking.
Trying to do multiple tasks at once is almost always slower and more difficult than focusing on one task at a time. In my study videos, I classify the idea that we're good at multitasking as one of those beliefs that make us stupid. When you study, you must pay full attention and eliminate all distractions. The best way is to remove them so they won't be a temptation, because temptations themselves are distractions. Every distraction costs you in terms of learning.
There's no such thing as a momentary distraction. I'm often told by students they need some sort of background music in order to block out even more distractions. If you do use background music, make sure that it's familiar, that it's unobtrusive, and it doesn't have lyrics.
Principle 6. Successful learning requires planning ahead. You should have long-term goals, such as how many days before the exam you have completed all the required reading, and when you'll begin reviewing. This prevents you from cramming at the last minute.
You should have short-term goals, such as what you plan to accomplish during your study time for a particular session. Good preparation is comprehensive. You cover all aspects of the material.
You don't skip a topic and hope for the best. Plan to take advantage of all learning opportunities, and be sure to complete all assignments. Principle 7. Feedback helps you get better.
Feedback is a powerful source of learning. Good students welcome feedback and know how to use it to improve their understanding. Too often, struggling students ignore sources of feedback, such as scores on exams. ...exams and assignments when it's one of the most powerful forms of learning. Failure is a form of feedback.
Your score in an exam, even a bad score, can help you identify weaknesses in your preparation and your knowledge to help you prepare and do better on the next exam. I discuss how to do this in the fifth video in my study series. Seek out feedback from your teachers and create a plan to help you Create your own feedback from class resources and use it to help improve your learning. Principle 8. Recognize and take advantage of prime learning opportunities. Successful learners know how to take advantage of prime learning opportunities and when needed, create them.
A prime learning opportunity is when you have a good learning experience and you can use it to improve your learning. A prime learning opportunity is when you have a good learning experience and you can use it to improve your learning. A prime learning opportunity is when you have a good learning experience and you can use it to improve your learning. A prime learning opportunity is when you have a good learning experience and you can use it to improve your learning.
A prime learning opportunity is when you have a good learning experience and you can use it to improve your learning. A prime Learning Opportunity is when you have all the information available to you in order to create a comprehensive and detailed understanding of a concept. For Long-Term Learning, you need at least three Prime Learning Opportunities and you need to take full advantage of them.
If you have a good teacher, then going to class is a Prime Learning Opportunity. Good students pay attention in class. They learn to take effective notes.
They don't just complete assignments, they learn from them. I discuss effective note-taking in Video 4. Good students know how to create their own learning opportunities. They do that through their notes, textbook, class resources, and discussions with peers and teachers.
One way of doing that is to become part of an effective study group. I discuss the rules of effective group study in Video 4 of my study series. Principle 9. Improvement involves dealing with challenges, difficulty, and uncertainty. Effective learning is difficult.
It involves being open to new ideas, taking risks, exposing yourself to uncertainty, and on some occasions, failing. Effective learning isn't always exciting, and it isn't always... comfortable.
It involves persevering through challenges and difficulties. Principle 10. Find the pleasure or value in what you're studying in order to do your best. Successful learners develop ways to do their best in all their courses, even ones that do not initially appeal to them. They find ways to find value or to take interest in courses.
I hear students complain that certain courses aren't relevant to what they want to do, but the fact of the matter is is that many students develop interests that they never knew they had before they took a course. A good curriculum forces you to take courses beyond what you think is necessary. You never know when a course might spark your interest or become critically important for you in the future.
Try to think beyond just passing a course. Try to find out why people like your teacher take such an interest in the topic and try to develop an interest in yourself, at least for the time that you're in the class. No matter what career you choose, there will be times when you have to master material that you do not find inherently interesting.
It's the person who has the will and the self-discipline to do their best that will get ahead and and succeed. If you can put these 10 principles into action, you're on your way to becoming a successful learner in school or work. Please see my study videos for more information about these principles.
Thank you for watching.