self-study
Workshop for improving your self-study skills.
tips
- starting
- motivation: Find your own motivations for learning something.
- time: Set aside some time for learning and reflection. Be patient and relaxed throughout the learning process.
- learning style: find your optimal learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Read-write, Kinesthetic (physical and emotional experiences). (VARK)
- research
- breadth-then-depth: First research a topic broadly to get a clearer mental map, after that go deeper into specific areas of the topic.
- notes: Make short notes of important facts and insights. This helps you build a mental map of complex structures.
- reflection: Take time to absorb and reflect on the information.
- association: Find interesting associations with your own expertise in other topics.
- question: Ask critical, rhetorical questions (that come up while researching a topic) and try to find find good answers to those questions. If no good answers are found, make a note of that.
- restructure: Correct any mental structures that are insufficient or flawed.
- produce: Be creative in your own way with the new insights.
- discuss: Talk to other people about your understanding and insights regarding the topic. Be open for other viewpoints.
- explain: Can you explain the nuances of the topic quickly and fluently to someone else now?
- teach: If you know a lot about a certain topic, can you teach it clearly to someone? What is the most interesting part of the topic for others?
- apply: Apply what you know in new creative ways.
topics
- Japanese aesthetics
- human body language
- charismatic people
- emotional intelligence
- world population growth
- tree biology / cell biology
- video series: “the human brain” (neuroscience intro)
- human settlement structures and cultural ambiances around the world.
- study this article: “The Fever Effect”
- … choose your own topic!
tools
- Tools:
- Wikischool Explore app (more info) (work in progress)
- browser extensions (Chrome):
- ublock-origin (ad blocker)
- minimal new-tab (empty new-tab-pages)
- toogles (minimalistic youtube interface)
- wikiwand (clean Wikipedia interface)
- autopagerize (automated next-page scrolling for Google search and other sites)
- context-menu-search (customized right-click searching)
- zebra-rss (in-browser feed reader)
- grayscale-the-web (make specific websites less colorful)
see also
-
- infographic: “top 12 mental models”
- video: “Be an Active Learner”
- “Learning how to Learn” (Coursera course notes, see also: 1)
- “Repeating something you already learnt or know very well is easy. It can bring the illusion of competence; that you’ve mastered the full material when you actually just know the easy stuff. Balance your studies and focus on the more difficult (deliberate practice). This sets the difference between a good student and a great student.”