Learning How to Learn

By: Tesia Marshik, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Tesia Marshik

Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Education can be enriching and transformative. It can also be downright excruciating—even demoralizing. When it comes to learning, why are some of us lovers and some of us haters?

Welcome to the world of educational psychology, which uses science to explore what causes people to engage and learn, and what we can do to make learning opportunities more enjoyable and impactful. Spoiler alert: Teachers can only do so much. Students, too, must take control of their learning. Unfortunately, many of us never, ahem, learned the skills to do just that.

Enter Tesia Marshik, a specialist in educational and developmental psychology. Her eye-opening Audible Original, Learning How to Learn, teaches you how to apply research-based tactics to improve your learning in any context, whether you’re in a typical classroom setting, pursuing a professional development opportunity, or working your way toward accomplishing almost any personal goal imaginable. By challenging basic assumptions about learning, you’ll develop effective strategies for studying smarter, staying focused, taking notes, learning online, and dodging the common pitfalls that keep so many of us from growing into our full potential.

Think you’re not a math person, or no good at photography, or too old to learn a new language, or that you simply can’t bake to save your life? Think again.

©2022 Audible Originals LLC (P)2022 Audible Originals LLC

Valuable Information

Anyone wanting to better themselves can find something valuable in this book. There are tips and examples for bettering your education, life habits, and new or existing hobbies.

Variable, Applicable, Repetitive

Why (I Listened)
I listen to a lot of educational material on Audible, and I want to ensure I get the most out of the material.

How (it Executed)
Marshik provides specific processes with easy-to-follow steps and explanations, informing you how to identify why you want to learn something, connect it to something you've learned before, set long term study goals for it and break those down into shorter ones, prepare to engage with material you want to learn by organizing notes in advance, take notes while engaging, and review your notes to not just commit them to memory, but also to learn them in the long term.

Unfortunately, Marshik repeats herself over the lecture series often, to the point of repeating the exact same quotes to you. This was the first Great Courses series that left me wondering if the lecturer was made aware that the format of the audio book was not like a podcast, where listeners could potentially start from any episode/lecture, and was instead cumulative. It made for a listening experience that had me paying fluctuating amounts of attention throughout.


What (I'll Remember)
There is a myth busting section early on in the lectures. It informs you that highlighting, rereading, and trying to force studying to conform to your learning style are all ineffective strategies. Learning styles in particular she cites as myths; you should study according to what type of material you're studying, not always in an audio, textile, or photographic form.

This truly helps!

I have read and listened to many supposedly learn how to learn programs. I've never gotten anything out of them, only a big waste of time. She gives you many different strategies, and the reasons why these work. and how to go about it step by step is just what I needed. All I can say is wow, and thank you! I look forward to taking courses and actually learning these courses for my own personal knowledge.

An excellent and quick learning resource

Even though this audible book is short, it is packed with valuable information to facilitate the learning process! I found it to be well, written with clear points and goals, which can quickly be incorporated into real world courses.

Great For All

The course has wonderful tips for beginners and seasoned learners. Additionally, it helped me reframe my thinking for my own high school classroom students.

Learn To Study

This is an excellent lesson in studying and learning for students ... unfortunately, I was hoping for more brain/body science and fewer flashcards.

Very useful

I am excited to continue my education. The next leg of my journey will look much different now that I have better tools for learning and studying. Professor Marshik is an expert in the science behind learning and can explain the science in an easy to understand style that is enjoyable to listen to. Her analogies are fantastic! - I recommend the book to all learners.

Top notch content

As an educational psychologist myself I can vouch for everything she says. It’s all well established researched based advice.

okay

I picked up some nuggets. It was interesting, but I don't think I need to listen to it again.

Took me about 6+ Hours to Outline. TAKE NOTES

Studying and self-discipline aka self-regulating are skills. Skills can be learned and with time and practice can be mastered. This lecture covers a bit of the WHY to study and a lot of the HOW to study.

It does not get too much into beliefs and self-imposed limitations that inhibit learning. I think that is a shame, given in my experience living in working-class communities, there is so much belief about not being able to learn. That is a huge roadblock for a ton of individuals. There are however a ton of cognitive psychology books around, so if negative beliefs are an issue with you and your self-confidence, there is material there out there for you.

I got something out of it, and I am going to implement the stuff I've learned.
To quote the lecturer, passive listening is one of the worst ways to study. Take Notes and limit distractions if you want to get the full benefit of the lecture.