The Autodidactic Podcast

View Details

This is the last episode for this season, and I want to talk about the role of curiosity in lifelong learning. So, I'll just briefly explain the topic of curiosity. We'll go through the significance of it for lifelong learning and explain the connection between curiosity and the motivation to learn.

View Details

Self-Education in the Digital Age.

Today, I want to talk about self-education in the digital age.

Now, we are in the digital age without a doubt. The internet is everywhere. There's digital equipment everywhere: phones, digital information, pictures, text, blogs—you name it, it's everywhere.

Obviously, the accessibility of digital resources has led to a surge in popularity and accessibility of digital learning. Today, I want to talk about the pros and cons of self-education in the digital age and how you might go about doing it better.

View Details

Today we'll explore the methods to becoming a Better Writer through Self-Study.

When you're a writer, you need to continuously improve your writing skills. To achieve this, we need to emphasize the importance of continuous improvement and establish a measure and baseline to track progress. In this episode, we'll discuss the benefits of self-study for aspiring writers and highlight the strategies and techniques for autodidactic writers.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter Check out my Publisher Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast! I’m your host, Rick Dearman. Today, I want to talk about becoming a better writer through self-study. When you’re a writer, you need to continuously improve your writing skills. To achieve this, we need to emphasize the importance of […]

View Details

Today we'll talk about how to use MOOCs and how to get the most from online courses. Introduction to Online Courses and MOOCs

First, for anyone who isn't familiar, let me introduce MOOCs. MOOCs stand for Massive Open Online Courses and have gained immense popularity and accessibility in recent years. These courses are offered online and are open to numerous participants worldwide. They provide a flexible and affordable way to acquire knowledge and skills from experts in various fields.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter Check out my Publisher Introduction to Online Courses and MOOCs First, for anyone who isn’t familiar, let me introduce MOOCs. MOOCs stand for Massive Open Online Courses and have gained immense popularity and accessibility in recent years. These courses are offered online and are open to a large number of […]

View Details

Today we'll look at mentorship and how it can help you as an autodidactic.

It's not just about having someone to show you the ropes; mentorship goes way beyond that. When you have a mentor by your side, you gain access to invaluable guidance, support, and accountability. Think of them as your personal cheerleader and advisor rolled into one!

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter

Check out my Publisher

Welcome to another episode of autodidactic podcast Today, we're diving into the topic: exploring literature independently. You know, there's something magical about immersing yourself in the pages of a classic novel and experiencing the power of storytelling. So, grab your favourite blanket, cozy up, and let's embark on this literary adventure together.

Understanding the Importance of Literature:

Let's kick things off by talking about why literature matters. Reading classic novels isn't just about escaping into fictional worlds; it's a journey of personal and intellectual growth. These timeless works expose us to diverse perspectives, cultures, and historical periods. They allow us to see the world through different lenses and expand our empathy and understanding of the human experience.

Think about it: as you delve into the pages of a classic novel, you encounter complex characters, navigate intricate plots, and grapple with thought-provoking themes. This process nurtures critical thinking skills, encourages deep reflection, and sparks creativity within us. Literature has the power to challenge our assumptions, broaden our horizons, and ignite our imagination.

The Benefits of Exploring Literature Independently:

Now, let's explore the benefits of embarking on this literary journey independently. When you engage in self-directed reading, you open the doors to a world of personal interpretation and reflection. You have the freedom to immerse yourself in a story and extract meaning that resonates with you on a profound level. It's a chance to explore your own emotions, beliefs, and values as you navigate the narrative.

By embracing independent reading, you also tap into your innate intellectual curiosity. You get to choose the novels that speak to you, that pique your interest, and that align with your passions. This self-driven approach to literature allows you to curate your own reading list and explore themes and genres that captivate your heart and mind.

Selecting and Approaching Classic Novels:

Now that we understand the significance of literature and independent exploration, let's delve into the world of classic novels. Choosing the right books can be an adventure in itself. So, let's discuss some strategies for selecting and approaching those timeless literary treasures.

First, consider the criteria for selecting classic novels. Look out for renowned authors like Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Charles Dickens. Their works have stood the test of time and continue to captivate readers across generations. You can also explore literary awards and renowned literary works as a starting point. And don't forget to tap into the wisdom of literary experts, friends, or online communities for recommendations. They can point you in the direction of hidden gems and beloved classics.

Now, within the realm of classic literature, there's a vast array of genres and themes to explore. From romance and historical fiction to dystopian tales and beyond, there's something for everyone. Consider your interests and dive into the genres that excite you the most. And as you explore, keep an eye out for powerful themes like love, social inequality, personal growth, and the human condition. These themes will add depth and richness to your reading experience.

If you're new to classic literature, it's always helpful to have a few recommendations to get you started. Allow me to suggest a few beloved novels that have captured the hearts of readers worldwide. How about immersing yourself in the world of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, where love and societal norms collide? Or perhaps you'd enjoy the unforgettable coming-of-age story in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." And for those craving a thought-provoking exploration of a dystopian society, George Orwell's "1984" is an absolute must-read. These novels offer a fantastic entry point into the world of classic literature.

Overcoming Intimidation and Approaching Challenging Literature:

Now, I understand that tackling classic novels can sometimes feel intimidating. You might hear whispers of difficult language and dense prose. But fear not! With the right mindset and approach, you'll conquer those literary mountains and unlock their treasures.

Let's address those common fears and challenges head-on. It's true that some classic novels can be complex, but that complexity offers an incredible opportunity for growth. Embrace the challenge and view it as an invitation to expand your literary horizons. Trust me, the rewards are worth it.

If you're feeling a bit apprehensive, consider starting with abridged versions or annotated editions of the novels. These resources provide helpful guidance and explanations to aid your comprehension. You can also turn to reading guides, online resources, or even audiobooks to enhance your understanding of the text. Remember, it's all about finding the approach that works best for you.

And here's a little secret: persistence and perseverance are your allies when it comes to understanding complex texts. Dive in, embrace the journey, and let the layers of the narrative unfold before you. The satisfaction that comes from unraveling intricate plots and discovering deeper meanings is simply unparalleled.

Strategies for Effective Reading and Comprehension:

Now that you've selected your classic novel and mustered the courage to dive in, let's explore some strategies for effective reading and comprehension. These techniques will help you unlock the full potential of the text and deepen your engagement with the story.

Pre-Reading Preparation:

Before diving into the novel, it's beneficial to engage in some pre-reading preparation. This involves gathering background information and context that will enrich your reading experience. Take some time to explore the author's life, their motivations, and the historical context in which the novel was written. Understanding the social, cultural, and political climate of the time will provide valuable insights into the themes and ideas explored in the text.

In addition, accessing critical reviews, summaries, and analysis can offer a preliminary understanding of the novel. Online platforms, book review websites, and literary magazines are excellent resources for gaining different perspectives and getting a glimpse of what lies ahead.

Active Reading Techniques:

Now let's dive into the art of active reading. This approach involves engaging with the text actively and thoughtfully. As you read, consider highlighting key passages, underlining important sentences, and making marginal notes. These annotations will serve as signposts, guiding you back to significant moments and helping you track your thoughts and reactions.

Experiment with different annotation methods that resonate with you. Some readers prefer using colored pens, sticky notes, or digital annotation tools. Find what works best for you and make the text your own. Remember, these annotations aren't just for the present moment but also for future reference and reflection.

Keeping a reading journal or notebook can greatly enhance your reading experience. Use it as a space to record your thoughts, insights, and questions that arise as you journey through the novel. Track character development, explore themes, and jot down personal reflections. This journal will become a treasure trove of your literary exploration.

Analyzing Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices:

As you engage with the text, it's essential to delve into the deeper layers of the narrative. Themes and symbols play a significant role in shaping the novel's meaning and impact. Look out for recurring motifs and symbols that appear throughout the story. These often hold deeper symbolic meanings that enrich your understanding.

Identifying themes allows you to explore the underlying messages and ideas conveyed by the author. Love, power, identity, redemption—the possibilities are endless. Take note of these themes and reflect on how they resonate with your own life and experiences.

Classic novels often employ various literary devices that heighten the narrative's impact. Keep an eye out for devices like foreshadowing, irony, allegory, and metaphor. These devices add layers of meaning and enhance the reader's connection to the story. By recognizing and understanding these literary devices, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the author's craftsmanship.

Joining Book Clubs and Discussion Groups:

Reading classic literature doesn't have to be a solitary experience. One of the joys of exploring these timeless works is the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions and share interpretations with fellow book enthusiasts. Consider joining book clubs or online discussion groups dedicated to classic literature.

Participating in book clubs or online communities opens the door to insightful conversations, diverse viewpoints, and shared reading experiences. It's a chance to gain new perspectives, challenge your own interpretations, and build connections with like-minded individuals. Platforms like Goodreads, Reddit, and literary forums are excellent places to start your search for book clubs and discussion groups.

Exploring Literary Criticism and Analysis:

If you're hungry for even more insights into the world of classic literature, it's worth exploring literary criticism and analysis. Literary criticism offers multiple perspectives, interpretations, and scholarly insights that deepen our understanding of these beloved works.

By delving into critical essays, articles, and scholarly analysis, you'll gain access to a wealth of knowledge and thought-provoking ideas. Reputable literary journals, academic databases, and online archives are fantastic resources to explore. Reading diverse interpretations and analysis can shed new light on the novels you've read or introduce you to different perspectives you may not have considered.

Applying Literature to Personal Growth and Reflection:

Now, let's shift our focus to how we can apply literature to our personal growth and reflection. Classic novels have the power to touch our lives and evoke deep emotions. They often resonate with our own experiences and provide valuable insights into the human condition.

Reflecting on Personal Connections:

As you engage with a classic novel, take time to reflect on the personal connections you find within the story. Literature has a unique ability to tap into universal emotions and themes that transcend time and place. Consider how the characters' experiences and struggles resonate with your own life. This process allows you to develop a deeper connection to the narrative and gain valuable insights about yourself.

Extracting Life Lessons and Universal Themes:

Classic literature is filled with timeless wisdom and universal themes. These novels tackle fundamental questions about love, friendship, justice, and the complexities of the human experience. As you read, draw lessons and insights from the characters' journeys. Reflect on their triumphs, failures, and moral dilemmas. These lessons can inspire personal growth, challenge your perspectives, and offer guidance as you navigate your own life's journey.

Conclusion and Closing Thoughts:

We've reached the end of our exploration of literature and the joys of reading classic novels independently. Throughout this podcast, we've highlighted the importance of literature in personal and intellectual growth. We've discussed strategies for selecting and approaching classic novels, strategies for effective reading and comprehension, and ways to apply literature to personal growth and reflection.

Remember, embarking on this literary adventure is a journey of self-discovery and enrichment. By exploring classic novels, you're embracing the opportunity to broaden your horizons, deepen your understanding of the world, and connect with the collective wisdom of generations past.

So, my fellow bookworms, I encourage you to take that first step. Pick up a classic novel that intrigues you, let the pages transport you to new worlds, and allow the stories to ignite your imagination. Whether you're diving into the realms of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or any other beloved author, the journey awaits.

Before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with some final recommendations and resources. Online libraries, literary podcasts, and websites offer free access to classic literature, making it easier than ever to embark on your reading adventure. Additionally, don't forget to visit your local libraries or bookstores for physical copies of these literary treasures. The world of classic literature is waiting for you to explore its wonders.

I hope you're inspired to dive into the world of classic novels and experience the magic of literature.

I would like to add that as some of you may know I’m also an author, and if you go to the autodidactic.info website you can sign up for my newsletter, where you can get news about new releases, advanced review copies, and beta-reader information, as well as free stories, books and other information.

Thank you for joining me on this episode.

View Details

Expanding our knowledge base through continuous learning is of utmost importance in today's rapidly changing world. It not only promotes personal and professional growth but also enables us to keep up with the ever-evolving landscape in various fields. Lifelong learning has become essential in order to thrive in a dynamic society.

By actively seeking opportunities to broaden our knowledge base, we can enhance our critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. When we expose ourselves to diverse perspectives and ideas, we develop a more comprehensive understanding of complex issues. This broader understanding enables us to approach challenges from different angles and find innovative solutions.

Moreover, expanding our knowledge base opens up new avenues for career advancement and personal fulfillment. By acquiring expertise in multiple areas, we become more versatile and adaptable, which can lead to increased professional opportunities. Additionally, learning about different subjects outside our comfort zone can bring joy and satisfaction by fueling our intellectual curiosity.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter

Check out my Publisher

Section I: Introduction to Expanding Knowledge Base

A. Importance of Continuous Learning

Section II: Unconventional Methods to Expand Knowledge

A. Embracing Interdisciplinary Learning

One unconventional method to expand our knowledge base is by embracing interdisciplinary learning. This involves exploring new fields and disciplines beyond our primary area of interest. We can do this by reading books, articles, or taking courses that are outside our comfort zone. By venturing into unfamiliar territories, we expose ourselves to new ideas and perspectives that can enrich our understanding.

Attending lectures, conferences, or webinars in different fields is another way to embrace interdisciplinary learning. These events provide opportunities to learn from experts in various domains and discover unexpected connections between different disciplines. For example, we can explore the relationships between art and science, technology and philosophy, or psychology and marketing. Recognizing these intersections can lead to innovative approaches and insights.

Utilizing interdisciplinary knowledge allows us to gain fresh perspectives and tackle problems from different angles. We can apply concepts and approaches from one field to solve problems in another, leading to creative and innovative solutions. This interdisciplinary thinking enhances our ability to connect seemingly unrelated ideas and generate unique insights.

B. Seeking Alternative Learning Resources

Traditional sources of knowledge, such as textbooks and lectures, are no longer the only options available. In today's digital age, there are numerous unconventional resources that can expand our knowledge base.

Online platforms, podcasts, and TED Talks provide convenient access to educational content. Platforms like Coursera and Khan Academy offer a wide range of courses on various topics, allowing us to learn at our own pace. Subscribing to podcasts covering diverse subjects of interest provides an opportunity to delve deeper into specific areas while multitasking. Additionally, TED Talks offer insightful and inspiring talks by experts in their respective fields.

Blogs, forums, and social media communities also play a significant role in unconventional learning. Specialized blogs and forums allow us to engage in discussions and knowledge-sharing with like-minded individuals. Platforms like Reddit or LinkedIn host communities centered around specific topics, where we can connect with others who share our interests and learn from their experiences.

Open educational resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are valuable sources of free educational materials. These resources provide access to a wealth of knowledge from renowned universities and institutions, enabling us to explore new subjects and acquire new skills.

Audiobooks, podcasts, and documentaries are excellent resources for expanding knowledge while on the go or during downtime. Listening to audiobooks during commutes or exercise sessions allows us to absorb information effortlessly. Subscribing to educational podcasts or watching documentaries in our spare time provides an immersive learning experience and exposes us to new ideas and perspectives.

C. Engaging in Experiential Learning

Engaging in hands-on experiences and real-world applications is a powerful way to expand our knowledge base. By actively participating in workshops, seminars, and boot camps, we can gain practical skills and knowledge directly from experts and practitioners in various fields. These practical sessions often provide opportunities to engage in interactive activities and apply theoretical knowledge in a hands-on setting.

Volunteering, internships, or job shadowing experiences offer valuable opportunities for learning through direct involvement. By getting involved in volunteer projects or internships, we can learn through experience and contribute to meaningful causes. Job shadowing allows us to observe professionals in their daily work, gaining insights into their expertise and industry practices.

Conducting experiments or projects independently is another form of experiential learning. By setting up experiments or projects in areas of interest, we can explore new concepts and apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios. Learning through trial and error and documenting the outcomes helps solidify our understanding.

Applying knowledge through practical projects or side ventures is an effective way to deepen understanding and expand our skills. Whether it's building prototypes, creating art, or developing software, practical projects allow us to apply acquired knowledge in tangible ways. Collaborating with others on projects or research papers fosters knowledge exchange and provides opportunities for learning from different perspectives.

D. Leveraging Technology and Online Platforms

Technology plays a crucial role in unconventional learning, offering a wide range of tools and online platforms that facilitate knowledge expansion.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) provide immersive learning experiences. By using VR or AR technologies, we can explore virtual environments and simulations, enabling us to learn in a highly interactive and engaging manner.

Online platforms with interactive simulations and virtual labs are valuable resources for practical learning. These platforms offer virtual labs and simulated experiments that allow us to practice skills and conduct experiments in a virtual environment. This hands-on approach enhances our understanding of complex concepts and helps us develop practical skills.

Data analysis tools and coding environments are instrumental in practical learning. Tools like Jupyter Notebook or RStudio enable us to analyze data and practice coding. Online coding platforms provide collaborative learning environments where we can learn from others and enhance our programming skills.

Joining online communities and forums is another way to expand our knowledge base. Participating in discussions, asking questions, and sharing knowledge in platforms like Stack Overflow or Quora allows us to engage with experts and enthusiasts in various fields. Networking with professionals in online communities or through LinkedIn enables us to connect with experienced individuals and seek mentorship and guidance in desired areas.

E. Traveling and Cultural Immersion

Traveling and cultural immersion provide unique opportunities for learning and expanding our knowledge base. By exploring new countries, cities, and communities, we can learn about different cultures, histories, and traditions. Engaging with locals and experiencing their way of life offers insights into diverse perspectives and broadens our worldview.

Participating in cultural events, festivals, or workshops allows us to engage with local cultures and traditions. By actively participating in these activities, we can learn about different customs, art forms, and ways of thinking. Learning local languages further deepens our understanding and facilitates meaningful connections with people from different backgrounds.

Traveling and cultural immersion provide opportunities to gain insights into global perspectives and diverse viewpoints. Exposure to different cultures fosters appreciation for cultural diversity and promotes empathy towards others. By understanding and valuing diverse perspectives, we become more open-minded and adaptable in our personal and professional lives.

Participating in educational travel programs or study abroad opportunities is an excellent way to combine travel and learning. These programs offer workshops, language courses, and cultural exchanges, providing immersive educational experiences in foreign countries. Immersing ourselves in a new environment enhances our understanding of different cultures and helps us develop a global mindset.

F. Adopting a Growth Mindset and Embracing Curiosity

Cultivating a growth mindset is essential for expanding our knowledge base. By embracing challenges and viewing failures as opportunities for growth, we develop resilience and perseverance in the face of obstacles. Learning from mistakes and seeking improvement is an integral part of the continuous learning journey.

Developing a positive attitude towards acquiring new knowledge is crucial. Embracing curiosity and actively seeking opportunities for learning keeps us motivated and enthusiastic about expanding our knowledge base. By staying curious, we maintain a sense of wonder and are more likely to explore new subjects and ideas.

Nurturing curiosity involves pursuing answers to intriguing questions and engaging in curiosity-driven exploration. When we encounter questions that spark our curiosity and interest, we can dive deeper into those topics, seeking out resources and experts to enhance our understanding.

Asking thought-provoking questions and seeking answers through investigation is another aspect of nurturing curiosity. By formulating questions that challenge existing knowledge and assumptions, we stimulate our critical thinking and engage in research and investigation to find answers and gain new insights.

Section III: Maximizing the Benefits of Unconventional Learning

A. Setting Learning Goals and Establishing a Routine

To maximize the benefits of unconventional learning, it is important to set clear learning goals and establish a routine. By defining specific areas of interest and desired knowledge outcomes, we can determine the topics or skills to focus on during our learning journey. Setting achievable and measurable learning targets helps us track our progress and ensures that we stay motivated.

Breaking down larger goals into smaller milestones facilitates better tracking and progress evaluation. Setting realistic expectations and timelines for achieving desired outcomes allows us to make steady progress without feeling overwhelmed. By establishing a routine, allocating dedicated time for unconventional learning activities, and creating a learning-friendly environment, we minimize distractions and optimize our learning experience.

Prioritizing and scheduling learning activities into our daily or weekly routines is essential. By creating a structured plan that incorporates learning into our schedules, we ensure consistent engagement with learning materials. Balancing learning activities with other responsibilities and commitments helps us maintain a sustainable and effective learning routine.

B. Balancing Unconventional Learning with Formal Education

Integrating unconventional learning methods with formal education is a powerful approach to knowledge expansion. Recognizing the value of both formal and informal learning experiences is important. Formal education provides a foundation of knowledge and skills, while unconventional learning methods complement and deepen our understanding.

Finding synergies between formal education and unconventional learning methods enhances our learning journey. We can leverage the knowledge and skills acquired through formal education as a foundation and use unconventional methods to explore specialized areas and gain new insights. Applying interdisciplinary approaches by integrating diverse perspectives and approaches from different fields enriches our problem-solving abilities and fosters innovation.

Leveraging unconventional learning to supplement formal education fills knowledge gaps and allows us to pursue personal interests and explore specialized areas that may not be covered extensively in formal education. By integrating unconventional learning methods into our educational journey, we can broaden our knowledge base and develop a well-rounded skill set.

C. Reflecting and Applying Knowledge

Engaging in reflection and synthesis of acquired knowledge is crucial for deepening understanding and making meaningful connections. Journaling, blogging, or creating content related to our learning experiences helps us process and solidify what we have learned. By reflecting on our learning journeys through writing or content creation, we can document insights, key takeaways, and personal reflections, which reinforce our understanding and provide a valuable resource for future reference.

Connecting new knowledge with existing knowledge and experiences enhances our learning outcomes. Making connections between new concepts and previously acquired knowledge helps us build a comprehensive understanding of complex subjects. Relating new information to personal experiences or real-world examples reinforces our understanding and facilitates application in practical contexts.

Applying acquired knowledge in practical contexts is a crucial step in the learning process. Actively seeking opportunities to use our newfound knowledge in real-world scenarios allows us to consolidate our understanding and develop practical skills. By applying concepts and skills learned through unconventional learning in practical projects or problem-solving tasks, we bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Applying interdisciplinary approaches and combining knowledge from various sources further strengthens our problem-solving abilities. By integrating ideas and perspectives from different fields, we can develop innovative solutions to complex problems and generate unique insights.

Section IV: Conclusion

Expanding our knowledge base through unconventional learning methods is a transformative journey that opens doors to personal and professional growth. By embracing interdisciplinary learning, leveraging alternative resources, engaging in experiential learning, utilizing technology, immersing ourselves in different cultures, and fostering a growth mindset, we can unlock new horizons of knowledge.

Maximizing the benefits of unconventional learning requires setting goals, establishing routines, and finding a balance between formal education and informal learning. Reflecting on our learning experiences and actively applying knowledge in practical contexts deepens our understanding and strengthens our problem-solving abilities.

In a world where knowledge is constantly evolving, embracing unconventional learning methods equips us with the tools and perspectives needed to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape. By continuously expanding our knowledge base, we enhance our adaptability, foster innovation, and contribute to our personal and collective advancement.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter

Section I: Introduction to Self-Study in STEM A. Importance of Self-Study in STEM Fields

B. Challenges of Self-Study in STEM Fields

Section II: Strategies for Successful Self-Study in STEM A. Setting Goals and Objectives

B. Creating a Structured Learning Plan

C. Accessing and Evaluating Learning Resources

D. Building a Strong Foundation in Mathematics and Science

E. Seeking Support and Collaboration

F. Continuous Learning and Adaptability

View Details

Benefits of self-directed learning for aspiring STEM professionals:
Flexibility to explore personal interests and pace of learning
Opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-motivation skills

View Details

Exploring the use of Critical Thinking in Self-Learning. Critical thinking is a cognitive process characterized by the ability to analyze, evaluate, interpret, and infer information and ideas. It involves actively and objectively examining concepts, arguments, and evidence to form well-reasoned judgments and make informed decisions. For autodidacts, critical thinking is particularly important as it enables independent learning and empowers individuals to navigate a vast amount of information effectively. It's essential to distinguish critical thinking from other types of thinking, such as creative or lateral thinking. While critical thinking involves logical analysis and evaluation, creative thinking focuses on generating innovative ideas and solutions.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter

Section I: Understanding Critical Thinking

A. What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a cognitive process characterized by the ability to analyze, evaluate, interpret, and infer information and ideas. It involves actively and objectively examining concepts, arguments, and evidence to form well-reasoned judgments and make informed decisions. For autodidacts, critical thinking is particularly important as it enables independent learning and empowers individuals to navigate a vast amount of information effectively. It's essential to distinguish critical thinking from other types of thinking, such as creative or lateral thinking. While critical thinking involves logical analysis and evaluation, creative thinking focuses on generating innovative ideas and solutions.

Key characteristics and components of critical thinking include:

Critical thinking serves as a valuable problem-solving and decision-making tool. It enables individuals to approach challenges systematically, identify alternative perspectives, and generate creative solutions. By developing critical thinking skills, autodidacts can enhance their ability to learn independently, adapt to new situations, and make well-informed judgments.

B. Benefits of Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Cultivating critical thinking skills offers numerous advantages in various domains of life. Here are some benefits:

The applications of critical thinking span across different areas, including:

Section II: Developing Critical Thinking Skills

A. Asking Powerful Questions

Asking powerful questions is a fundamental aspect of critical thinking. Questions stimulate curiosity, drive exploration, and facilitate deeper understanding. Here are some key points to consider:

B. Analyzing and Evaluating Information

Analyzing and evaluating information are crucial skills for critical thinkers. Autodidacts can employ various techniques to assess the credibility, relevance, and accuracy of the information they encounter. Here's what to consider:

C. Developing Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive flexibility is an essential component of critical thinking, enabling individuals to adapt to new situations, perspectives, and challenges. Autodidacts can enhance their cognitive flexibility through the following techniques:

D. Enhancing Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solving is an integral aspect of critical thinking. Autodidacts can employ critical thinking skills to approach problems analytically and creatively. Here are key considerations:

Section III: Applying Critical Thinking in Self-Learning

A. Evaluating Learning Resources

Critical thinking is essential for evaluating the quality and reliability of learning resources. Autodidacts can apply critical thinking skills to filter and select materials that best support their learning objectives. Here's what to consider:

B. Developing a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset plays a vital role in critical thinking. It involves embracing challenges, setbacks, and failures as opportunities for growth and learning. Here's how to develop and maintain a growth mindset:

C. Reflective Thinking and Metacognition

Reflective thinking is crucial for self-learning and improvement. Autodidacts can incorporate reflection into their learning process, facilitating metacognition and self-awareness. Here's what to consider:

By incorporating critical thinking into self-learning practices, autodidacts can enhance their ability to evaluate, analyze, and apply knowledge effectively. They can navigate a vast amount of information, make well-informed decisions, and continuously improve their learning experience.

View Details

Today we'll explore the methods used for memory retention such as memory palaces and peg lists.

In this episode, we will explore strategies that will help you use memory techniques. Don’t forget that I put all the transcripts for each episode on my website, autodidactic.info.

Memory plays a crucial role in the learning process, as it allows us to retain and retrieve information. In this episode, we will explore memory techniques and mnemonics as effective tools for improving memory retention and recall.

Memory techniques and mnemonics are strategies and methods designed to enhance memory performance. They provide practical approaches to encode and store information in a way that is easier to remember and retrieve when needed. By understanding and applying these techniques, we can optimize our memory capabilities and enhance our learning experience.

View Details

Subscribe to my Author Newsletter

Hello and welcome back to the Autodidactic Podcast. Today we’re going to talk about Memory Techniques and Mnemonics

In this episode, we will explore strategies that will help you use memory techniques. Don’t forget that I put all the transcripts for each episode on my website, autodidactic.info.

Section II: Understanding How Memory Works

To delve deeper into memory techniques and mnemonics, let's first gain a comprehensive understanding of how memory functions.

A. Overview of Memory Processes

Sensory memory: Our initial sensory impressions are briefly stored in sensory memory. It acts as a buffer, holding sensory information for a short period. For example, when you see a vibrant sunset, the image lingers in your visual sensory memory before fading away.

Short-term memory: Information that captures our attention moves from sensory memory to short-term memory. Short-term memory serves as a temporary storage system, holding a limited amount of information for a brief duration. Think of it as the mental workspace where you actively process and manipulate information.

Long-term memory: Long-term memory is the relatively permanent storage system that holds information over extended periods, from minutes to a lifetime. It has different types:

a. Episodic memory: Episodic memory involves the recollection of personal experiences and events, such as your last vacation or a birthday celebration. It enables us to remember specific details and context associated with those experiences.

b. Semantic memory: Semantic memory stores general knowledge, facts, and concepts that are not tied to specific events or personal experiences. It includes things like knowing the capital of a country or understanding mathematical principles.

c. Procedural memory: Procedural memory relates to memory for skills and procedures. It involves the recall of how to perform certain actions, such as riding a bike, typing on a keyboard, or playing a musical instrument.

B. Types of Memory

Episodic memory: Episodic memory is essential for autobiographical recall and the recollection of personal experiences. It allows us to remember specific events, their associated emotions, and the context in which they occurred. For example, you can vividly recall your high school graduation day, including the sights, sounds, and emotions you experienced.

Semantic memory: Semantic memory encompasses our general knowledge and understanding of the world. It involves remembering facts, concepts, and information that is not tied to personal experiences. For instance, knowing that the Earth orbits the Sun or being able to define the concept of gravity are examples of semantic memory.

Procedural memory: Procedural memory is responsible for remembering how to perform various skills and procedures. It involves the recall of motor skills, habits, and learned behaviors. Examples of procedural memory include riding a bicycle, typing on a keyboard, or executing specific dance steps.

C. Factors Affecting Memory

Several factors can influence memory performance. Let's explore some of the key factors:

Attention and focus: Attention plays a critical role in memory encoding and retrieval. When we pay attention and are fully engaged in the learning process, information is more likely to be successfully encoded and later retrieved from memory. Strategies such as minimizing distractions, actively participating in the learning material, and using techniques like mindfulness can improve attention and focus.

Encoding and retrieval processes: Encoding refers to the process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory. Retrieval, on the other hand, involves recalling and accessing stored information when needed. Understanding effective encoding strategies, such as organizing information, creating meaningful associations, and employing visualization techniques, can improve memory retention. Employing retrieval techniques like spaced repetition and retrieval practice can enhance the recall of information.

Emotional and physiological states: Emotions and physiological states can significantly impact memory performance. Strong emotional experiences tend to be better remembered due to the activation of the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotional processing. Additionally, physiological states like stress or relaxation can affect memory. High levels of stress can impair memory, while a relaxed and focused state can enhance memory performance.

Understanding these factors and their influence on memory processes allows us to optimize our learning and memory performance. By applying effective memory techniques and mnemonics, we can harness the power of our memory and improve our ability to retain and recall information.

Section III: Memory Techniques and Mnemonics

A. Chunking

Chunking is a powerful memory technique that involves breaking down information into smaller, manageable units, or "chunks." By organizing information into meaningful groups, we can enhance memory retention and recall. Let's explore how chunking can be applied in various contexts.

Definition and explanation of chunking as a memory technique:

Chunking involves grouping related pieces of information together to form larger, more meaningful units. For example, instead of trying to remember a long string of numbers individually, we can chunk them into smaller groups to make them more manageable and memorable.

How to break down information into smaller, meaningful chunks:

To effectively chunk information, we can employ strategies such as identifying patterns, categorizing similar concepts, or organizing information based on hierarchy. By finding connections and relationships between different elements, we create meaningful associations that aid memory.

Examples and practical applications of chunking in different contexts:

Chunking can be applied to various scenarios. For instance, when memorizing a speech, we can divide it into sections based on key ideas or themes. When studying, we can group related concepts together to facilitate understanding and retention. In everyday life, we can use chunking to remember phone numbers, to-do lists, or steps in a recipe.

B. Visualization and Imagery

Visualization and imagery are techniques that harness the power of mental images to enhance memory encoding and retrieval. Let's explore how we can use visualization to create vivid mental representations of information.

Using mental imagery to enhance memory:

Visual imagery aids memory by creating a multisensory experience. When we imagine vivid and detailed mental images related to the information we want to remember, it strengthens memory associations and improves recall.

Techniques for creating vivid and memorable mental images:

To create powerful mental images, we can incorporate sensory details, emotions, and associations. Engaging multiple senses and adding emotional elements to our mental images make them more memorable and easier to recall.

Application of visualization in various learning scenarios:

Visualization can be applied in numerous learning situations. For example, when trying to remember names and faces, we can visualize distinctive features or create imaginative associations. In studying, visualizing complex processes or diagrams can aid comprehension and recall. In presentations or creative projects, incorporating visual elements can enhance engagement and retention.

C. Method of Loci (Memory Palace)

The Method of Loci, also known as the Memory Palace technique, leverages spatial memory and familiar locations to improve memory recall. Let's explore how we can create and utilize a memory palace.

Explanation of the Method of Loci mnemonic technique:

The Method of Loci involves associating information with specific locations within a familiar setting, such as a house or a well-known route. By mentally navigating through these locations, we can retrieve the associated information.

Steps to create and utilize a memory palace:

To create a memory palace, we choose a familiar location and mentally assign specific information to distinct areas within that location. As we mentally walk through the palace, we retrieve the information associated with each location.

Examples and case studies illustrating the effectiveness of the Method of Loci:

Numerous success stories and case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the Method of Loci. For example, ancient orators would use this technique to deliver speeches without notes. Practical tips, such as choosing vivid and unusual locations within the memory palace, can further enhance recall and strengthen the technique's effectiveness.

D. Acronyms and Acrostics

Acronyms and acrostics are mnemonic devices that condense information into memorable abbreviations or phrases. Let's explore how these techniques can aid memory retention and recall.

Creating and using acronyms to remember information:

Acronyms are formed by using the initial letters of a series of words to create a memorable abbreviation. By creating acronyms, we can easily remember a list of items or key points by associating them with a single word.

Developing acrostics as mnemonic devices:

Acrostics are memory aids that use the initial letters of words to create a phrase or sentence that is memorable and meaningful. By constructing acrostics, we can encode information in a way that is easy to retrieve.

Application of acronyms and acrostics in different learning domains:

Acronyms and acrostics can be applied in various subjects and contexts. In studying, they can help remember formulas, sequences, or key concepts. In language learning, they can aid vocabulary retention. By integrating acronyms and acrostics into our learning materials, we can enhance memory recall and make the learning process more engaging.

E. Rhymes, Songs, and Jingles

Rhymes, songs, and jingles have long been recognized as effective memory aids. The rhythm and melody inherent in these mnemonic devices contribute to improved memory retention. Let's explore how rhymes, songs, and jingles can be used to enhance memory.

How rhymes, songs, and jingles aid in memory retention:

Rhymes, songs, and jingles have a rhythmic and melodic structure that engages our auditory processing and memory systems. The repetitive patterns and catchy tunes make information more memorable and accessible.

Creating and utilizing memorable rhymes or tunes for information recall:

To create effective rhymes, songs, or jingles, we can focus on creating catchy melodies and incorporating the target information into the lyrics. By leveraging rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, we can enhance memory encoding and retrieval.

Incorporating rhymes, songs, and jingles into studying or learning materials:

Rhymes, songs, and jingles can be integrated into various learning materials to enhance memory retention. For example, we can create mnemonic songs to remember historical events or compose rhymes to recall mathematical formulas. By incorporating musical mnemonics into our study routines, we can make learning more enjoyable and improve memory recall.

F. Keyword Technique

The keyword technique is a mnemonic method commonly used for learning new vocabulary or concepts. It involves creating associations between new words and familiar keywords. Let's explore how the keyword technique can enhance memory and recall.

Overview of the keyword technique for learning new vocabulary or concepts:

The keyword technique helps us remember new words by creating vivid mental connections between the unfamiliar word and a familiar keyword. These connections enable us to retrieve the meaning of the new word more easily.

Steps to identify and associate keywords with new information:

To apply the keyword technique, we first select a familiar keyword that sounds similar to the new word we want to remember. Then, we create a visual image or a memorable story that links the keyword and the meaning of the new word.

Applying the keyword technique to enhance memory and recall:

The keyword technique can be used in various learning contexts, such as language learning, science, or history. By reinforcing the associations between keywords and new information through practice and retrieval, we strengthen our memory and improve our ability to recall the learned material.

G. Peg Systems

Peg systems are mnemonic devices that provide a structured framework for remembering information by associating it with a series of "pegs" or predefined cues. Let's explore the major system and number rhyme peg system and how they can aid memory retention.

Explanation of peg systems as memory aids:

Peg systems offer a systematic approach to remember lists, sequences, or ordered information by assigning mnemonic cues to predefined pegs. The major system and number rhyme peg system are two popular examples.

Overview of the major and number rhyme peg systems:

The major system assigns mnemonic associations to numbers based on their sounds, while the number rhyme peg system uses rhyming words associated with numbers. These systems provide a set of cues that can be easily retrieved to recall the associated information.

Utilizing peg systems for organizing and recalling information:

Peg systems can be employed in various contexts where ordered information needs to be remembered, such as lists, steps, or sequences. By associating the information with the pegs, we create a structured mental framework that facilitates memory recall.

H. Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals over time. It capitalizes on the spacing effect, which suggests that spaced-out practice leads to better long-term memory retention. Let's explore how spaced repetition can optimize memory retention and recall.

Understanding the concept of spaced repetition for optimal memory retention:

Spaced repetition takes advantage of the fact that memories are more effectively consolidated and retained when they are revisited at appropriate intervals. By spacing out review sessions, we reinforce and strengthen our memory traces.

Implementing spaced repetition techniques for efficient learning:

To incorporate spaced repetition into our learning routines, we can create a schedule that strategically spaces out the review sessions based on the forgetting curve. This curve represents the rate at which we forget information over time.

Tools and resources available for implementing spaced repetition:

Various digital platforms and apps are designed to assist with implementing spaced repetition, such as flashcard systems or dedicated spaced repetition software. These tools provide personalized scheduling and tracking features to optimize memory retention and recall. By utilizing these resources, we can create effective study routines that leverage the benefits of spaced repetition.

Section IV: Practical Tips and Strategies for Using Memory Techniques

A. Active Engagement and Practice

Active engagement with the material is crucial for enhancing memory encoding and retention. Let's explore some practical tips and strategies for actively engaging with the content and incorporating regular practice into your learning routine.

Actively engaging with the material to enhance memory encoding:

Active reading techniques, such as highlighting key points, summarizing information in your own words, or teaching concepts to others, can significantly improve memory encoding. By actively interacting with the material, you create stronger connections and deeper understanding.

Repeated practice and review to reinforce learning:

Repetition is essential for memory consolidation. By spacing out your practice sessions and review sessions over time, you reinforce the neural pathways associated with the learned material. Designing effective review schedules based on the forgetting curve ensures optimal retention.

Combining memory techniques with active recall exercises:

Active recall exercises, such as creating flashcards, taking quizzes, or engaging in self-testing, are powerful tools for reinforcing memory. By incorporating memory techniques into these exercises, such as visualizing keywords or utilizing mnemonic cues, you enhance memory retrieval and consolidation.

B. Creating Meaningful Connections

Establishing meaningful connections between new information and existing knowledge is a valuable strategy for enhancing memory. Let's explore practical tips for creating these connections and making the material more personally relevant.

Establishing connections between new information and existing knowledge:

Techniques such as relating concepts to familiar analogies or metaphors can help solidify new information in memory. Finding personal relevance in the material, such as linking it to your own experiences or interests, also enhances memory encoding and retention.

Relating concepts or ideas to personal experiences for better retention:

By incorporating personal examples or stories into memory techniques, you create stronger associations between the material and your own life. This personalization makes the information more memorable and easier to retrieve.

Using memory techniques to reinforce and strengthen connections:

Memory techniques, such as visualization or creating mnemonic associations, can be applied to reinforce and strengthen the connections between different pieces of information. Regularly reviewing and revisiting these connections over time ensures their long-term retention.

C. Applying Memory Techniques to Various Learning Scenarios

Memory techniques can be applied to various learning scenarios, including studying, language learning, and professional development. Let's explore how these techniques can be tailored to different contexts.

Memory techniques for studying and exam preparation:

When studying, memory techniques can be applied to reading textbooks, taking effective notes, or revising material. Strategies such as creating mnemonic devices, visualizing key concepts, or organizing information using memory palaces can significantly enhance memory retention and recall.

Using memory techniques for learning languages or memorizing facts:

Language learning and memorizing factual information require specific memory techniques. Techniques such as creating vivid mental images, using spaced repetition, or employing mnemonic systems tailored to language acquisition can facilitate vocabulary retention and factual knowledge recall.

Incorporating memory techniques in professional or personal development:

Memory techniques are valuable for enhancing professional skills and personal growth. Whether it's delivering presentations, public speaking, or engaging in creative endeavors, memory techniques such as visualization, storytelling, or mnemonic devices can support skill development, training, and knowledge retention in various fields.

Section V: Conclusion and Further Resources

In conclusion, memory techniques and mnemonics are powerful tools for improving memory retention and recall. By applying the practical tips and strategies discussed in this episode, you can enhance your learning experience and optimize your memory performance.

Remember to actively engage with the material, practice and review regularly, and create meaningful connections between new information and existing knowledge. Apply memory techniques in various learning scenarios, from studying and language learning to professional development, and explore further resources to deepen your understanding and proficiency in using these techniques.

To delve deeper into memory techniques and mnemonics, consider exploring the following resources:

Books: "Moonwalking with Einstein" by Joshua Foer, "Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel, and "The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play" by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas.

Online Courses: Platforms like Coursera, edX, and Udemy offer courses on memory improvement, learning strategies, and mnemonics. Look for courses taught by experts in the field to gain valuable insights and practical guidance.

Memory Training Programs: Consider enrolling in memory training programs or workshops, which provide hands-on training and personalized guidance in developing memory techniques. These programs often offer interactive exercises and practice opportunities to strengthen your memory skills.

Remember, mastering memory techniques and mnemonics takes time and practice. By incorporating these strategies into your learning routine, you can unlock your full memory potential and enhance your overall learning experience.

Remember to visit my website: autodidactic.info to get the transcript and links to resources.

View Details

We'll look at the different methods of note-taking and how to use and enhance them for self-learning

View Details

Hello and welcome back to the Autodidactic Podcast. Today we’re going to talk about Mastering the Skill of Effective Note-Taking.

Let’s get started.

Effective note-taking begins with proper preparation and choosing the right method. We will also discuss active listening techniques, structuring and organizing your notes, and the importance of annotations and adding context. Let's dive into the details.

A. Preparing for Note-Taking

Before you start taking notes, it's essential to prepare yourself adequately. This preparation phase will set the foundation for effective note-taking. Here are some strategies to consider:

Previewing and familiarizing yourself with the material: Before you begin taking notes, take some time to skim through the content. This will give you an overview of what to expect. Additionally, read any accompanying materials or chapter summaries to gain a deeper understanding of the main topics and concepts. Identify key themes or topics that you should focus on during your note-taking session.

Setting specific goals and objectives: Clearly define what you want to achieve through your note-taking. Determine whether you want to understand concepts, identify key details, or both. Break down the material into smaller sections or topics that you can tackle one at a time. If you have specific questions or areas of confusion, make a note of them to address during your note-taking process.

Gathering necessary note-taking tools: Choose a method of note-taking that suits your preferences and learning style. Ensure you have the appropriate tools readily available, whether it's pen and paper or digital devices. If you prefer digital note-taking, consider using note-taking apps or digital styluses that allow you to take notes seamlessly.

B. Choosing the Right Note-Taking Method

There are various note-taking methods available, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these methods will help you choose the one that aligns best with your learning style and the nature of the content you're engaging with. Let's explore some popular note-taking methods:

Overview of popular note-taking methods: We will briefly describe the Cornell Method, Outline Method, and Mind Mapping. These methods offer different approaches to organizing and structuring your notes, catering to various learning preferences and contexts.

Exploring the strengths and weaknesses: Each note-taking method has advantages and limitations. We will discuss factors such as organization, ease of use, and visual representation of information to help you understand which method may work best for your needs.

Selecting a method that aligns with your learning style: Assess your personal preferences and learning strengths. Consider the subject matter and the type of information you'll be taking notes on. Choose a note-taking method that complements your preferred style of learning, allowing you to capture information effectively and make meaningful connections between ideas.

C. Active Listening and Selective Note-Taking

Active listening is a crucial skill when it comes to effective note-taking. By actively engaging with the material and selectively capturing key points, you can enhance your understanding and the quality of your notes. Here's how you can develop active listening skills and engage in selective note-taking:

Developing active listening skills during lectures or presentations: Stay engaged and focused on the speaker or instructor. Practice techniques such as summarizing key points in your mind as you listen. Take note of verbal cues or emphasis on important information, as they often indicate key concepts or main ideas.

Identifying and capturing key concepts, main ideas, and supporting details: Listen for overarching themes or main points being discussed. Identify supporting details, examples, or evidence provided to support these main ideas. Develop your own system of abbreviations, symbols, or shorthand to capture information efficiently and quickly.

Avoiding verbatim transcription and focusing on essential information: Resist the temptation to write down every word that is said. Instead, focus on capturing the essence of the information. Paraphrase and summarize the content in your own words, ensuring that you understand the material rather than simply transcribing it.

D. Structuring and Organizing Notes

The structure and organization of your notes play a crucial role in your ability to review and comprehend the information effectively. Here are some strategies to create a clear and logical hierarchy for your notes:

Creating a clear and logical hierarchy for note organization: Use headings and subheadings to categorize information and create a sense of structure. Establish a clear hierarchy that reflects the relationships between ideas. Consider using indentation or bullet points to denote levels of importance or subtopics within your notes.

Using headings, subheadings, and bullet points for structure: Label different sections or categories within your notes using clear headings and subheadings. Utilize bullet points or numbered lists to break down information into manageable chunks. Employ indentation or formatting techniques to indicate levels of importance or hierarchy within your notes.

Employing visual cues, symbols, and formatting techniques for clarity: Enhance the clarity and visual appeal of your notes by using symbols or icons to represent recurring themes or ideas. Utilize highlighting or underlining to emphasize important points. Experiment with colors, diagrams, or other visual elements to enhance understanding and create visual connections between concepts.

E. Annotating and Adding Context to Notes

Annotations and additional context added to your notes can provide deeper insights and aid in understanding when reviewing them later. Here's how you can effectively annotate and add context to your notes:

Incorporating personal insights, connections, and examples: Alongside the main content, add your own thoughts, reflections, or interpretations. Make connections between different concepts or ideas within your notes to deepen your understanding. Include relevant examples or real-life applications to provide context and illustrate the practicality of the information.

Highlighting important points, questions, or areas requiring further clarification: Use various annotation techniques such as highlighting, circling, or using asterisks to draw attention to crucial information within your notes. Write down questions or areas where you need further clarification. Flag areas that require additional research or follow-up to ensure you revisit them later.

Linking notes to related materials or external resources: Refer to additional resources such as textbooks, articles, or websites that provide further insights or context on the topics you're studying. Include hyperlinks or references within your notes to easily access supplementary materials. Connect ideas or concepts in your notes to relevant external sources or references for a more comprehensive understanding.

In this section, we discussed strategies for effective note-taking, including the preparation phase, choosing the right note-taking method, active listening techniques, structuring and organizing your notes, and the importance of annotations and adding context. By implementing these strategies, you'll be well-equipped to take comprehensive and meaningful notes that will aid in your learning and retention of information.

Section III: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Your Notes

In this section, we will explore strategies to enhance the effectiveness of your notes. By reviewing and consolidating your notes, combining note-taking with active recall techniques, and supplementing your notes with additional resources, you can deepen your understanding and improve your retention of information. Let's dive into the details.

A. Reviewing and Consolidating Notes

Developing a regular review routine for reinforcing learning: Schedule regular review sessions to revisit your notes. Spacing out the review sessions, such as reviewing notes after a day, a week, and a month, can help reinforce memory retention. Allocate dedicated time for reviewing and consolidating your notes to ensure you maintain a strong grasp of the material.

Summarizing and condensing notes to capture the main ideas concisely: Extract key concepts, main ideas, and important details from your notes. Write concise summaries or outlines that capture the essence of the material. Condense your notes into a more manageable format for easy reference and review, focusing on the most critical information.

Revisiting and revising notes based on additional insights or further study: Update your notes with any new information or insights gained through further study or research. Incorporate any clarifications or further explanations you've obtained to ensure accuracy and clarity. Continuously refine and improve your notes to reflect your growing knowledge and understanding.

B. Combining Note-Taking with Active Recall Techniques

Using note-taking as a foundation for active recall practice: Engage in active recall by attempting to retrieve information from your notes without looking at them. Test your knowledge and understanding by answering questions based on your notes. Use your notes as prompts to generate explanations or summaries without referring to the original material, strengthening your memory recall.

Testing yourself on the material using the notes as cues: Create flashcards or practice quizzes based on the content of your notes. Quiz yourself periodically using the information in your notes, actively recalling and applying the knowledge. Apply active recall techniques to reinforce learning and strengthen memory retention.

Engaging in self-quizzing or flashcard exercises to reinforce learning: Utilize digital flashcard platforms or create physical flashcards to aid in self-quizzing. Challenge yourself to recall information from your notes through flashcard exercises. Repeat the self-quizzing process regularly to reinforce learning and identify areas for improvement.

C. Supplementing Notes with Additional Resources

Exploring supplementary materials to enrich notes: Seek out additional resources such as books, articles, or videos that expand upon the topics covered in your notes. Use reputable sources to deepen your understanding and gain different perspectives. Take supplementary notes or annotations from these resources to complement your original notes and enhance your overall knowledge.

Incorporating relevant visuals, diagrams, or multimedia content: Find or create visual representations, such as diagrams, charts, or graphs, to supplement your notes. Incorporate multimedia content, including images or videos, that enhance your understanding of the material. Visual aids can help illustrate complex concepts or relationships within your notes, making them more accessible and memorable.

Incorporating external sources for cross-referencing and expanding knowledge: Include references or hyperlinks within your notes to external sources. Cross-reference your notes with relevant materials to gain a broader understanding of the topic. Explore different perspectives or opinions from experts in the field to deepen your knowledge and foster critical thinking.

In this section, we explored strategies for enhancing the effectiveness of your notes. By reviewing and consolidating your notes, combining note-taking with active recall techniques, and supplementing your notes with additional resources, you can reinforce your understanding, strengthen memory retention, and broaden your knowledge on the subject.

Conclusion

In today's episode, we delved into the world of effective note-taking and explored various strategies to master this essential skill. Let's take a moment to summarize the key points we covered.

We began by discussing the importance of preparing for note-taking. Previewing and familiarizing yourself with the material before taking notes helps you gain an overview and identify key topics to focus on. Setting specific goals and objectives for the note-taking session ensures that you have a clear purpose and direction.

Choosing the right note-taking method is crucial, and we explored popular techniques such as the Cornell Method, Outline Method, and Mind Mapping. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to select one that aligns with your learning style and the nature of the content you're studying.

Active listening and selective note-taking go hand in hand. Developing active listening skills during lectures or presentations allows you to capture key concepts, main ideas, and supporting details effectively. Remember, it's essential to avoid verbatim transcription and focus on essential information by paraphrasing and summarizing in your own words.

Structuring and organizing your notes help you create a clear and logical hierarchy. Using headings, subheadings, and bullet points aids in organizing information and indicating levels of importance or subtopics. Employing visual cues, symbols, and formatting techniques enhances clarity and understanding.

To enhance the effectiveness of your notes, we discussed the importance of reviewing and consolidating them. Regular review sessions reinforce learning, and summarizing and condensing your notes helps capture the main ideas concisely. Revisiting and revising your notes based on additional insights or further study ensures accuracy and continued improvement.

We also explored the synergy between note-taking and active recall techniques. Using your notes as a foundation for active recall practice and testing yourself on the material strengthens memory retention and understanding. Engaging in self-quizzing or flashcard exercises reinforces learning and aids in identifying areas for improvement.

Supplementing your notes with additional resources further enriches your understanding. Exploring supplementary materials, incorporating relevant visuals or diagrams, and cross-referencing external sources provide different perspectives and deepen your knowledge on the subject.

In conclusion, note-taking is a skill that requires practice and consistency. By applying effective note-taking strategies, you can enhance your learning experience and improve your retention of information. Remember to stay engaged, be selective in capturing key points, and organize your notes in a way that makes sense to you.

To further explore the world of note-taking, here are some recommended readings and additional resources:

"How to Take Smart Notes" by Sönke Ahrens

"The Sketchnote Handbook" by Mike Rohde

"The Notetaking Bible" by Jesse Showalter

“Effective Note-Taking” by Rick Dearman

Popular note-taking techniques include:

Cornell Method: A structured approach that divides your notes into three sections: cues, notes, and a summary.

Outline Method: Organizing your notes using headings, subheadings, and bullet points to create a hierarchical structure.

Mind Mapping: Creating visual diagrams that connect concepts and ideas in a non-linear format, stimulating creativity and associations.

Remember, the more you practice and experiment with different techniques, the better you'll become at mastering the art of note-taking.

Thank you for joining us today, and we hope you found this episode informative and insightful. Start implementing these strategies in your learning journey and witness the positive impact they can have. Remember to visit my website: autodidactic.info to get the transcript and links to resources.

My Book On Note-Taking

View Details

Hello and welcome back to the Autodidactic Podcast. It has been a while since I’ve done a season and I apologise, but I’ve been learning new stuff.

In today's episode I’m going to cover self-learning and topics include, Goal Setting and Planning, Developing Effective Study Habits, Leveraging Technology for Learning, and Leveraging Technology for Learning, and much more. In this episode we’ll touch on these briefly, but over the course of this season we’ll explore self-learning in a lot more detail. I’ll put the transcripts of each episode with the others on my website autotdidactic.info.

So let’s get started with Goal Setting and Planning:

Setting clear and specific learning goals is essential for successful self-learning. It's time to define what you want to learn and, more importantly, why you want to learn it. Take a moment to reflect on your passions, interests, and aspirations. What knowledge or skills do you want to acquire?

Once you have a clear goal in mind, it's important to break it down into manageable chunks. By dividing your goal into smaller, actionable steps, you create a clear roadmap to follow. This helps prevent overwhelm and allows for steady progress.

To ensure your goals are effective, consider using the SMART framework. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Let's break it down further:

Specific: Be specific about what you want to achieve. The more precise your goal, the easier it is to work towards it.

Measurable: Set measurable criteria to track your progress. This allows you to see how far you've come and stay motivated.

Achievable: Make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. While it's great to aim high, setting unattainable goals can lead to frustration and demotivation.

Relevant: Ensure your goals are relevant to your overall aspirations and align with your interests and values. This ensures that your learning journey remains meaningful and purposeful.

Time-bound: Set a deadline or timeframe for achieving each goal. Having a timeline creates a sense of urgency and helps you stay focused.

Now that you have your specific goals in mind, it's time to break them down into actionable steps. Identify the key milestones or steps needed to achieve your goals. This allows you to create a clear roadmap for your learning journey.

Creating a timeline or checklist can be immensely helpful in tracking your progress. By visualizing your goals and the steps required to reach them, you can stay organized and motivated. Consider using calendars, apps, or productivity tools to plan and track your schedule. These tools can help you allocate dedicated time for learning in your daily or weekly routine.

Remember, it's important to prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency. Not all tasks are equally vital, so focus on the ones that will have the greatest impact on your learning goals.

By setting clear and specific goals, breaking them down into actionable steps, and creating a study schedule or learning roadmap, you lay the foundation for a successful self-learning journey. Now, let's move on to the next section: effective learning techniques.

When it comes to self-learning, employing effective techniques can significantly enhance your understanding and retention of new information. Let's explore some valuable strategies:

Active learning methods: Engaging in hands-on practice, discussions, and interactive activities is key. Actively immerse yourself in practical exercises, experiments, or projects relevant to the subject you're learning. By doing so, you'll gain a deeper understanding and develop valuable skills. Additionally, participate in group discussions, join study groups, or engage in online forums to exchange ideas and perspectives. Teaching others or explaining concepts to someone else is an excellent way to solidify your own understanding.

Using varied resources: Broaden your horizons and explore different mediums to gather information and perspectives. Don't limit yourself to just one source. Read books, articles, or research papers related to your topic of interest. Take advantage of online courses, video tutorials, podcasts, or documentaries. Each resource offers unique insights and can deepen your understanding from different angles.

Incorporating spaced repetition and review: Regularly reviewing and revising previously learned material is crucial for long-term retention. Use spaced repetition techniques to reinforce your knowledge. Flashcards or spaced repetition software can be effective tools for this purpose. Test your knowledge periodically by challenging yourself with quizzes or practice questions. This reinforces your understanding and helps solidify the information in your memory.

By actively engaging in learning through hands-on activities, discussions, and teaching, using varied resources to gather information, and incorporating spaced repetition and review into your study routine, you can optimize your self-learning experience. These techniques will enhance your understanding, retention, and application of the knowledge you acquire. Next, let's explore the importance of developing effective study habits.

Developing Effective Study Habits:

Creating a conducive learning environment is essential for effective self-study. Let's explore some strategies to optimize your study environment:

Find a quiet and comfortable space: Identify a dedicated area where you can focus without interruptions. It could be a quiet corner in your home, a library, or any other peaceful environment that allows you to concentrate on your studies.

Minimize distractions: Turn off notifications on your devices and limit internet browsing during your study sessions. Keep your phone on silent mode or place it out of sight to avoid temptations. Organize your study materials, tools, and resources in a way that they are easily accessible, reducing the time spent searching for what you need.

Managing distractions and staying focused: Practice techniques like the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working in focused bursts with short breaks. Set a timer for a specific period (e.g., 25 minutes) and work intensively during that time, then take a short break (e.g., 5 minutes) to refresh your mind. Repeat this cycle, and adjust the timings based on your preference and concentration span. You can also use website blockers or apps that limit access to distracting websites or apps during your study sessions. Additionally, employ mindfulness or concentration exercises to improve your focus and concentration.

Utilizing time management techniques: Effective time management is crucial for productive studying. Break your study sessions into shorter, focused blocks of time. For example, you can study for 45 minutes to an hour and then take a 10-minute break. Set timers or use time management tools or apps to track and optimize your productivity. These tools can help you allocate specific time slots for different subjects or tasks, ensuring you make the most of your study time.

By creating a conducive learning environment, managing distractions, and utilizing time management techniques, you can maximize your study efficiency and create an atmosphere that promotes deep concentration and effective learning. Now, let's explore the role of technology in self-learning and how you can leverage it to enhance your educational journey.

Leveraging Technology for Learning:

In today's digital age, technology offers a multitude of resources and tools to enhance your self-learning journey. Let's explore how you can leverage technology effectively:

Exploring online learning platforms and resources: Research and utilize reputable online platforms that offer courses and educational content. These platforms provide a wide range of subjects and learning materials tailored to your interests and goals. Take advantage of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that offer free or affordable courses from renowned universities and institutions. Additionally, explore websites, blogs, and forums dedicated to self-learning and educational resources. These platforms often provide valuable insights, discussions, and additional learning materials to supplement your studies.

Utilizing productivity tools and apps for organization: Technology provides various productivity tools and apps that can help you stay organized and manage your learning materials effectively. Use note-taking apps or digital organizers to capture and organize your study notes, research findings, and important information. These tools allow you to easily access and review your materials whenever needed. Employ task management tools or to-do list apps to track your learning goals and progress. These tools help you prioritize tasks, set deadlines, and monitor your progress towards achieving your learning objectives. Additionally, consider trying productivity apps that assist with time management, focus, or habit formation. These apps can provide reminders, timers, or techniques to improve your study habits and boost your productivity.

Using technology for research and accessing educational content: The internet is a treasure trove of information and resources for self-learners. Leverage search engines to conduct research on specific topics or concepts you want to explore further. Make use of digital libraries and academic databases that offer a vast collection of scholarly articles, research papers, and publications. Access e-books, audiobooks, and podcasts to broaden your knowledge and gain different perspectives on the subject matter. Engage with online communities, webinars, or virtual conferences that provide learning opportunities and allow you to connect with like-minded individuals.

By exploring online learning platforms, utilizing productivity tools, and leveraging technology for research and accessing educational content, you can tap into a wealth of resources that can enrich your self-learning experience. Technology serves as a powerful ally in your educational journey, enabling you to expand your knowledge and skills with ease. Now, let's delve into the importance of self-assessment and feedback in self-learning.

Engaging in Self-Assessment and Feedback:

Self-assessment and feedback play crucial roles in your self-learning journey. Let's explore how you can effectively engage in self-assessment and seek valuable feedback:

Regularly evaluating progress and adjusting learning strategies: It's important to reflect on your learning journey and regularly assess your understanding and progress. Take the time to reflect on what you have learned, how well you have grasped the concepts, and whether you are moving closer to your learning goals. Identify areas where you need improvement and be willing to adjust your study methods accordingly. Set milestones or checkpoints along the way to track your advancement and ensure you are on the right path.

Seeking feedback from mentors, peers, or online communities: Sharing your work or progress with trusted individuals can provide valuable insights and constructive feedback. Seek out mentors who can guide and offer expertise in your field of study. Engage with peers who share similar interests or are studying the same subjects. Their perspectives and feedback can offer fresh insights and alternative viewpoints. Additionally, participate in online communities, forums, or social media groups dedicated to self-learning. These platforms provide opportunities to seek input, ask questions, and gain feedback from a wider audience.

Reflecting on successes and areas for improvement: Along your self-learning journey, it's essential to celebrate and acknowledge your achievements and milestones, no matter how small they may seem. Recognize your progress and the effort you have put into your learning. Celebrating successes helps to motivate and reinforce your dedication. Equally important is identifying lessons learned from both successes and failures. Embrace the valuable insights gained from your experiences and use them as stepping stones for growth. Continuously strive for improvement and embrace a mindset of continuous learning and personal development.

Engaging in self-assessment and seeking feedback are powerful tools that can enhance your self-learning experience. By evaluating your progress, seeking input from mentors and peers, and reflecting on successes and areas for improvement, you pave the way for continuous growth and improvement in your learning journey. Now, let's move on to explore the mindset necessary for effective self-learning.

III. Mindset for Self-Learning

A. Cultivating Curiosity and a Growth Mindset

Cultivating the right mindset is essential for successful self-learning. Let's explore how you can develop a mindset that fosters curiosity and embraces growth:

Embracing a love for learning and exploration: Nurture your curiosity by actively asking questions and seeking answers. Maintain a sense of wonder and fascination with the subject matter you are studying. Stay open to new ideas and perspectives, as they can enrich your learning experience and broaden your knowledge.

Recognizing challenges as opportunities for growth: Embrace difficulties as opportunities to learn and develop resilience. Rather than being discouraged by challenges, view them as chances to expand your understanding and skills. Shift your perspective and see mistakes as valuable learning experiences that contribute to your growth.

Overcoming the fear of failure and embracing mistakes as learning experiences: Adopt a mindset that treats failures as valuable feedback. Understand that making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process. Learn from your mistakes and use them as stepping stones for improvement. Develop a healthy attitude towards errors, recognizing that they provide opportunities for growth and deeper understanding.

By cultivating curiosity, embracing challenges, and learning from mistakes, you develop a growth mindset that fuels your self-learning journey. This mindset encourages continuous improvement and enables you to approach your studies with enthusiasm and resilience. Now, let's explore some practical tips for maintaining motivation and staying committed to self-learning.

B. Developing Self-Discipline and Motivation

Developing self-discipline and staying motivated are crucial aspects of successful self-learning. Here are some practical strategies to help you cultivate self-discipline and maintain motivation:

Setting intrinsic motivations for learning: Take the time to identify your personal reasons and values that drive your desire to learn. Connect your learning goals to your long-term aspirations and passions. When you understand the intrinsic rewards and benefits of self-education, it becomes easier to stay motivated and committed to your learning journey.

Creating a personal reward system or incentives: Set up a system of small rewards or incentives to motivate yourself after completing tasks or reaching milestones. These rewards can be as simple as taking a short break, treating yourself to something you enjoy, or engaging in a favorite activity. Celebrate your progress and achievements along the way to maintain motivation and discipline.

Building self-discipline through habit formation: Establish a routine that incorporates regular learning sessions into your daily or weekly schedule. Start small and gradually increase the duration or intensity of your study sessions as you build momentum. Use habit-tracking techniques or apps to monitor your progress and reinforce your learning habits. By consistently engaging in your learning routine, you develop self-discipline and make learning a natural part of your life.

By setting intrinsic motivations, creating a personal reward system, and building self-discipline through habit formation, you empower yourself to stay motivated and committed to your self-learning journey. These strategies provide practical ways to overcome challenges and maintain consistency in your studies. Now, let's explore the importance of reflection and self-care in the process of self-learning.

C. Embracing Resilience and Persistence

Embracing resilience and persistence is key to overcoming challenges and staying motivated throughout your self-learning journey. Let's explore practical ways to cultivate resilience and persistence:

Overcoming obstacles and setbacks in the learning process: It's important to expect and accept challenges as natural parts of the learning journey. Recognize that obstacles and setbacks are opportunities for growth and learning. Develop problem-solving skills to effectively tackle obstacles. Be proactive in seeking support or guidance when facing difficulties. Reach out to mentors, peers, or online communities to gain insights and strategies for overcoming challenges.

Cultivating a mindset of resilience and determination: Foster a positive and optimistic outlook, even in the face of challenges. View setbacks as learning experiences that provide valuable lessons for improvement. Cultivate perseverance and tenacity in pursuing your learning goals. Embrace the mindset that setbacks are temporary and that you have the ability to bounce back stronger. Develop resilience by acknowledging your progress and focusing on the long-term benefits of your learning journey.

Celebrating small wins and progress along the way: It's important to acknowledge and appreciate incremental achievements and milestones. Take time to reflect on your progress and growth, no matter how small. Celebrate small victories to boost your motivation and maintain momentum. This can be as simple as treating yourself to something you enjoy or sharing your achievements with others. By celebrating small wins, you reinforce a positive mindset and fuel your determination to continue moving forward.

By overcoming obstacles, cultivating resilience and determination, and celebrating small wins, you develop the ability to navigate challenges and stay motivated in your self-learning journey. Remember, resilience is a skill that can be developed and strengthened over time. Now, let's move on to explore the importance of reflection and self-care in the process of self-learning.

D. Seeking Continuous Improvement and Adaptability

To continuously improve and adapt in your self-learning journey, it's important to adopt a growth mindset and embrace new ideas and perspectives. Let's explore practical ways to seek continuous improvement and adaptability:

Embracing a growth mindset and seeking constant improvement: Adopt the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort and dedication. Embrace challenges as opportunities to stretch and grow, rather than obstacles to avoid. Actively pursue ongoing learning and improvement in various aspects of your life, not just in your chosen field of study. Cultivate a mindset that values continuous growth and lifelong learning.

Being open to new ideas and perspectives: Cultivate a willingness to explore diverse viewpoints and alternative approaches. Engage in discussions or debates that challenge your existing beliefs or assumptions. Seek out experiences or learning opportunities that expose you to different perspectives, whether through reading diverse literature, attending seminars or workshops, or engaging in conversations with individuals from different backgrounds. Embracing new ideas and perspectives broadens your understanding and enhances your ability to adapt and innovate.

Adapting learning strategies based on feedback and changing circumstances: Be flexible and willing to adjust your study methods based on feedback or new information. Recognize when a different approach may yield better results or when circumstances require a change in strategy. Embrace change and adapt your learning strategies to suit evolving circumstances. Stay attuned to feedback from mentors, peers, or online communities, and use it as valuable input for refining your learning approach.

By embracing a growth mindset, being open to new ideas and perspectives, and adapting your learning strategies based on feedback and changing circumstances, you foster a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptability. This allows you to stay relevant and effectively navigate the ever-changing landscape of knowledge and skills. Now, let's move on to the conclusion of this episode.

IV. Conclusion

In this episode, we have explored various strategies and mindsets for successful self-learning. We discussed the importance of goal setting and planning, effective learning techniques, developing study habits, leveraging technology, engaging in self-assessment and feedback, cultivating curiosity and a growth mindset, and embracing resilience and persistence. We also highlighted the significance of seeking continuous improvement and adaptability in your self-learning journey.

We encourage you, our listeners, to implement these strategies and mindsets in your own learning endeavours. Remember to set clear and specific goals, break them down into manageable steps, and create a study schedule or roadmap to stay organized. Embrace active learning methods, utilize varied resources, and make use of technology to enhance your learning experience. Develop effective study habits, seek feedback, and regularly assess your progress.

Additionally, cultivate curiosity, embrace challenges, and view mistakes as opportunities for growth. Set intrinsic motivations, create a reward system, and build self-discipline through habit formation. Embrace resilience, celebrate small wins, and stay open to new ideas and perspectives. Seek continuous improvement, adapt your learning strategies, and foster a growth mindset.

To further explore these topics and continue your self-learning journey, we recommend exploring additional resources and readings. Look for books, online courses, or educational websites that align with your interests and goals. Engage with online communities, attend webinars, or participate in virtual conferences to expand your knowledge and connect with like-minded learners.

Remember, self-learning is a lifelong journey, and your dedication and commitment to continuous growth will lead to fulfilling and enriching experiences. So, go forth with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a thirst for knowledge.

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and I’d like to thank you for listening.

View Details

Today we'll explore the methods to deal with demotivation.

View Details

Giving an update on how I have changed my study schedule because of the impact created by a new job. Looking at time management for help.

View Details

Today we'll investigate how you can create quizzes and tests for yourself as an autodidactic learner.

View Details

Using textbook markups in my destupidification project. I'll talk about how I plan to read, study, and review textbooks as well as creation of pop quizes for myself.

View Details

Today I'll cover all the things I'm doing to get resources for learning at no cost, how I'll use mnemonic techniques and create a retrospective timetable for my study plans.

View Details

In season three I'm going to explore using all the methods and techniques I've spoken about in seasons one and two. I'm going to be using myself as a guinea pig.

View Details

Hello and welcome to the autodidactic podcast Season 2, Episode 13. This is the last episode in this season. I decided I would spend a little time telling you what I will be doing over the next few months with regards to my own self-study plans and what my plans are for this podcast.

Hopefully you’ll be able to take something from my plans in order to use for yourself and you’re own autodidactic study.

I’m currently focusing on five main areas for self-study.

Learning new programming languages
Learning natural languages
Learning maths
Learning electronics
Lock picking

The two programming languages I’m focusing on are assembly language for the ARM processor, and Rust. A lot of listeners will not be familiar with these but they are low level programming languages which are very helpful when programming computers. The reason for learning these is that they are closely related to one of my other learning projects which is electronics. Learning all three of these topics at the same time tends to reinforce each other. Understanding the electronics and logic chips used to build a computer, helps to understand the syntax and usage of both assembly programming and Rust programming. Learning the assembler shows how the binary operating codes used by the electronics is used in software. I’m also writing a program assembler in rust, so creation of software used to write software ties everything together.

Perhaps you have two or more topics of interest which you are learning that you’ll be able to create linkages between. I’m creating an 8-bit CPU from wires and logic chips, and writing all my own software from scratch. This type of synergistic project forces me to use the learnings from each of the three topics in a real world project. I’ve said before that having an actual use for what you are learning, and using what you are learning for a project outside the realm of the textbook exercises will do wonders for your understanding.

I also wanted to focus on the calculus and understanding and using it. Originally I thought I would go through all of the maths books I have on a shelf from basic maths through algebra, then trigonometry and into calculus. But I have decided that since calculus is want I actually want to know, why not just jump in and learn that?

Two weeks ago I shelved the algebra book I was working on and pulled down two of the calculus books I have. It didn’t take long to identify the things I had been doing in the algebra book were not of much use for calculus, but it also identified a weakness in some other areas of maths. So yesterday I put the calculus books back on the shelf and pulled down the trigonometry book. Boning up on sine, cosine, tangents is helpful for the chapter of the calculus book I’m on right now.

So here I’m not making a linear progression through one book to the next in order. For me, at this time, it is better from my study and motivation to go through the textbook in the topic where I want to be, and discover knowledge gaps. That way I can go back, plug the gap then return to the higher level book.

For some people skipping around like this is suboptimal, but for me it works much better since I’m time constrained. Some people will say this method will cause me problems in the future because I don’t have a grounding in the basics before moving on the more advanced things. Normally I would agree, but I did a lot of maths back when I was in school, and most of the books I’m falling back to are refreshers for me anyway.

The problem with not using knowledge is that in the 30 odd years since I first learned all this stuff it has mostly wasted away through non-use. But unlike the first time I learned it, a review is normally enough to remember what I need.

So is this method appropriate for what you need to know? Have a think about what you are studying and if it is unknown or if you are just slogging through a refresher course just because it is the next textbook in the sequence?

Again for many things I would advocate learning things in sequence from most simple to the most complex. But I find frequently I learn best when I hit a problem and I’m forced to then go back and redo or relearn. In the electronics self-study I have been doing the need to have an assembler program forced me to learn very complex software syntax. But in that project I had progressed through the entire rust programming book from cover to cover before using it.

What I’m saying is depending on the knowledge you need and the knowledge you already have, you may need to learn sequentially or it might be more advantageous to skip about. Only you will know, and only you can determine the best way. Just don’t be stuck with the assumption that all learning has to be sequential.

I’m also learning natural languages and by this I mean; French, Italian, Chinese and Korean. Studying these is by far the largest time-sink of all the study I’m doing. The software and electronics study are related to each other, and while you would thing languages would be as well, they are all actually very distinct things which have to be studied on their own separately. There isn’t a lot of overlap and you spend a lot of time learning vocabulary.

For these I split my time between conversation exchanges, reading, and TV programs in French and Italian, the two languages I’m most advanced in. The other two are coursebooks and some audio work with additional work in learning the Chinese and Korean writing systems.

Because natural languages are degrade over time, you need to use them or touch them daily. So assuming I were to spend only 30 minutes per day on each, that is still 2 hours of study time. So how do I break up this time?

Normally, I read or watch a show in French or Italian each day, and speak with a native at least once per week. I also review flashcards each day. For Mandarin and Korean I try to read a course book and watch a TV show each day.

However, because life often interferes it frequently isn’t possible to do each language every day, so I try to do at least 3 out of 4 languages each day. When I have to drop one I try to drop one of the stronger languages since it would take me a lot longer to forget what I’ve learned in those.

You might want to think about having a plan B for days when things don’t go well. Do you know what you could drop if you needed to? Do you have a prioritised list of things so you can quickly decide what to focus on when life blind-sides you again?

It is worth spending a little time which your schedule knowing that although you’ve allocated time for various activities your future self may not be able to handle those commitments. So try to give your future self some room to manoeuvrer.

The final thing which I’m studying is lock-picking. Why? Well, not good reason actually. I just find it interesting that people can circumvent locks with two pieces of metal and I’d like to know how to do it.

Lock-picking is a physical activity that you need to practice in order to get good at it. While the basic knowledge is readily available and the theory isn’t complex, many people still cannot do it. This is because it is a skill which needs to be honed via practice like juggling, or skateboarding.

Sometimes it is nice to learn something with your body rather than your brain. Have you considered learning a physical skill like juggling or lock-picking or skateboarding? If not think about including something like this into your plans.

Finally, I want to talk a little bit about the future plans for this podcast. Frankly there aren’t any. I do want to continue the podcast, but I have covered just about all the techniques you’d need for self-study and I’ve tried to give some inspiration through looking at the lives of famous autodidactics of the past.

As this is episode 13 the season has come to a natural end and I will be taking a break for a month regardless. I’ll use the time to think about either expanding the scope of the show in order to cover more information, or if I think I’ve covered enough for the podcast to come to a conclusion. I do need time between seasons, since I do many other things than study, such as YouTube videos, another podcast, write books and I work and have a family.

So it would be awesome if I could get suggestions from listeners. You’re input would be very welcome. Suggestions for future seasons or episodes or any suggestion you’d like to make really.

As always you can reach me with suggestions via the website or my email address: rick@autodidactic.info.

Thanks for listening.

Please visit:

My YouTube channel

The lollygagging podcast

Check out of my books:

African Extraction

Italian Détente

Wild Justice

View Details

Welcome to the Auto Didactic Podcast, Season two, Episode 12. This week, I want to discuss some learning processes that I use. That might be helpful for you as you become self taught.

One of the main issues that you may find yourself running into is motivation. So you start off quite well and you’re charging along learning whatever it is you wanted to learn and then you dip, you run into an intermediate learning stage where you’re not really learning much more and the subject doesn’t excite you as much as it did initially. And you basically run into the problem that you just aren’t motivated to continue to study this. Now, some things about this might be helpful if you just decide that you’re going to take a break.

Sometimes it’s very worthwhile just to have a break and then come back to it. Now you should decide in advance before you take your break how long that’s going to be. So you decide, well, I’m going to not bother to study for another week for example, but don’t just stop without a restart time and date in mind because otherwise you may just never start again. So this is what you need to keep yourself on track if you take a break and you need to restart. The other problem you may have is that you’re doing too long study period. So for example, if you’re doing study periods of five or 6 hours a day, then you can quite quickly get burned out on study and you’re not really interested. And it becomes a problem. You can avoid this by trying to shorten your study times or take a break or try and change things up in one way or another.

Something else that can help you stop procrastinating or not studying is to increase the urgency of why you need to study. So if you are learning a language for example and you look at it as a long term thing, uh you know, you’re going to go to Spain in 10 years time and you want to learn Spanish. The fact that it’s 10 years from now doesn’t give you a driving urgency to learn. So you need to add some urgency to your goal, assign a date to complete certain tasks. So you’re going to start having conversations in Spanish in two months time. Well this makes it a lot more urgent because two months isn’t very long compared to the 10 years. Set yourself a shorter deadline and a more dynamic thing that you need to do.

Now, one of the other problems that many people have when they’re studying is time management. For me, this is a bit of a misnomer because you can’t actually manage time. Everybody has the same 24 hours in a day, so you can’t actually manage time. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. What this actually is, is scheduling management, it’s scheduling your time properly to fit in, all of the things that you need to fit in and to do. I did a podcast on some time management aspects in season one, but realistically you need to manage your schedule not time because you can’t actually manage time. And part of the thing for managing your schedule is prioritizing your study time. So if you’re falling behind in your studies, it might be that you have not prioritised it over watching television or some other task that’s bit more pleasurable or you’re not finding the study time pleasurable, in which case you should try and find some way to make that, you know, a bit more interesting and a bit more fun.

Now, one of the ways that you can make your study time a bit more interesting is that actually use what you’re studying now frequently if you are learning a new skill, typically, if it’s a physical skill, like, I don’t know, juggling, you’re going to be doing this in a, you have to juggle in order to learn juggling. You can read a few books, but at the end of the day, you’re going to have to practice juggling. This really does work as motivation because you’re physically doing it.

Some other studies, such as computer programming, you can read a book and not actually do any programs and you work under the assumption that you understand what you’ve read, similar would be mathematics or some other textbook type topics. So you’ve read the textbook and you assume that you can do it. But in fact with programming, for example, until you’ve actually written a program that compiles and works, then chances are you don’t understand as well as you should or could you should try and do as many exercises as you can. Try and actually use what you’re learning less study and more use of what you’re learning, I think will help you to overcome any reticence to study or reasons that you don’t want to study and it will also help you understand and comprehend what it is you’re studying now. It might be that all of this extra practice slows down your progress through the textbook, but it will help you with your comprehension.

And so in fact, it’s probably better another problem that you may have when you’re practising or working on it. Your study is that you actually do or practice something that you already know how to do and you’re not pushing yourself if you are trying to learn how to play chess, for example, just constantly reviewing the same books and memorizing the same openings isn’t necessarily increasing your ability or your practice. In this example, you need to do deliberate practice.

You need to deliberately practice what you’re not doing as well. At for example, when I was learning French and I was having some difficulty with some grammar aspects of French. When I was doing conversation exchanges, I would ask my language exchange partner to focus on the grammatical mistake that I wanted to stop doing any time that mistake happened. They pointed it out and raised it to a conscious issue and discussed how it should have been in this example. They weren’t just correcting any mistake I made, they were specifically correcting mistakes that I knew I was making or that they had identified as a fault that I commonly made. And so we would practice correcting that issue even if it was just trying to invent sentences with the correct grammatical structure for a half an hour. But that type of deliberate practice will help you when you’re doing yourself.

Study when you practice, you need to be challenging yourself. Which is why when you read a textbook in programming or mathematics or whatever, there are typically exercises and you should be doing every one of those exercises as a self study, as an auto didactic person. You need to be doing the exercises. It’s difficult when you’re doing self study to get feedback about problems and gaps in your knowledge. So it’s hard to know whether you’re doing it correctly or not. For example, learning a language, it’s difficult to know if your pronunciation is correct, unless somebody is there to sort of critique you and to show you what you’re doing wrong. You can learn quite a bit on your own, but without some feedback mechanism, you will get stuck. What you need to do when you’re doing your study is try and get feedback and get that feedback scheduled in and periodic and that you’re always going to get it so that you’re constantly going to improve. Now the best form of feedback obviously is somebody who knows already what it is you’re trying to learn for languages that might be a native speaker.

It might be a mathematics tutor, it might be a programming mentor, whatever, but they will be able to give you targeted feedback. They can help you design a learning program that will overcome any gaps in knowledge and help you to progress quite often is difficult to find somebody who can help you. But, you know, the internet gives us a lot of opportunities to look around and find more people online to help when you’re learning, multitasking is not helpful. So when you’re learning something, you need to be focused on that for that period. And if we revert back to the time management thing, you need to be scheduling that into your learning activities. So for example, if you’re going to be doing practice or if you’re going to complete the exercises, you need to make sure that you’ve allotted time to complete all of that and you need to focus on it.

Don’t try and study while listening to music or watching the television, it’s just just not going to help you. Another thing that is helpful when you’re attempting to learn is regular review and lots of note taking before, I’ve often said that you should be writing a quiz for your future self every time you complete a study session. So every time you complete a study session you write yourself a little quiz for the future. You and every time you start to study session you should take the quiz that you wrote earlier. This helps reinforce what you learned and it also identifies what you have forgotten or got wrong and that helps you go back and review. So unless you’re going to review information you are not going to retain it in your long term memory. So it’s important that you don’t cram in a short space of time.

You need to spread out your reviews. You need to do reviews weekly, daily and you try and remember it for a short period of time. And the more often you try and recall it, the more likely it is to be pushed into your long term memory. It’s inefficient to reread text And we covered this in season one. But rereading tax is a time consuming and it really doesn’t give you a great deal of knowledge highlighting words is ineffective. That doesn’t really help either. One study even suggested that highlighting hinders learning because it draws attention to individual elements and not the whole context. When you’re doing your reviews, you need to be looking at the concepts and noting them down in notes and then one you’ve done your note taking review your notes and if you need more information you can always go back and reread that particular section of the textbook rather than try and just reread an entire textbook all the time. So there are some steps you can take to make sure that you’re learning as fast and efficiently as possible. Try and have someone who’s already learned or already knows what you’re trying to learn available to give you feedback tips and mentoring.

Try and immerse yourself in the learning process. Don’t do any multitasking. It’s a bad thing if you’re going to study study, try and learn in short bursts, so don’t do six or eight hour long study periods if you can avoid it because those tend to Make you tired and you’re not really paying attention at the end of it. So you’re better off studying. Many studies have shown in 20 to 30 minute chunks after that, your attentional dwindle and it just becomes difficult to learn, write things down in notes as opposed to trying to highlight things in the textbook.

We’re much better, human beings are much better, at remembering things that are written down because you are in effect reading it, thinking it and writing it at the same time, you need to focus on what you’re doing and practice deliberate practice. And we’ve mentioned this before. But trying to explain it to someone else forces you to reevaluate your knowledge and revisit it and internalize what it is you need to to know. Also in season when we discussed memory improvement and memory techniques such as mnemonics and memory palaces and things like that, you should probably, if you haven’t already go back and re listen to some of those tips because that will help you to remember what it is you need to do. But again, practising what you’re doing frequently will help you to get that information solidified and in your head as a comprehensible thing. It’s much more useful to practice 100 maths problems than it would be to read the same page of a Math book 100 times.

Because the fact that you have to do it and you have to internalize the methods and the processes for doing these exercises will help you much more than just simply rereading. It’s also helpful when you’re doing practice because you’re actually learning in multiple ways. So you’ve read the information in the book or online, you have looked at the exercise and you’ve done some exercise. But if you’ve got a little project that you need to finish, these will often bring up a little snags and learning opportunities that you wouldn’t get just doing the exercises in the book. So for example, if you were learning to do pottery making hundreds of bad pots is probably going to teach you more than trying to make one perfect pot.

So mistakes will help you improve trying practice, trying to deliberate practice to fix known gaps, but also practice any in and of itself is useful but a project. So, for example, if you’re learning to code actually creating a website rather than just reading the book and doing the exercises about creating a website will be a significant learning opportunity. One researcher, juvie Willis said the more regions of the brain that’s stored data about a subject, the more interconnections there are, and this redundancy means that people will have more opportunities to pull up related bits of data from their storage areas in response to a single clue.

This cross cross referencing of data means that we have learned rather than just memorized. Another helpful technique is to use related learnings to help with new learnings. So, for example, if you are trying to learn some form of geometry, help doing a lot of uh algebra may help or the what you know that you’ve done in algebra will help you learn more about geometry or trigonometry or calculus or whatever. But these related learnings, you can pull in while you’re doing your new learnings many times you forget what you’ve learned and Einstein famously said never remember anything you can look up.

Sometimes we forget the details of things that we’ve learned and we need to remind ourself about some tidbit of information and often you are better off just looking up the correct answer than trying to rack your brain and trying figure out what it is. And one study showed that the longer you spend trying to remember the answer to something, the more likely you are to forget the answer in the future. And this is because these attempts to recall previously learned information actually results in what’s called an error state instead of the correct response.

That’s it for this week. It was a bit impromptu and I hope it was helpful if you have any questions, please feel free to email me or to make a comment on the website and I’ll try and get back to you as soon as I can, or perhaps even make a podcast about what it is you wanted to know. Thank you very much for listening.

[I apologise for the transcription, it was computer generated and I didn’t have time to correct it.]

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 11. Before we begin I would like to do a little self-promotion and tell you about my other activities online. I have a YouTube Channel and I’ll put the link in the show notes, as well as a number of books both fiction and non-fiction. I’ll also put the links to some of these in the show notes. So if you want to see the links, or the transcript of these podcasts you can find them all at https://autodidactic.info/

Let’s get on with the show. This week I’m going to be talking about a not so famous mathematician. A person very few people will have heard of, and who even during his lifetime was considered an oddball and an eccentric. A self-trained English mathematician and a pioneer of electromagnetic theory. You may not have heard his name, but you may have heard some of the words he invented such as “impedance” or “inductance” especially if you work with or have knowledge of electrics or electronics.

Oliver Heaviside is the person I’m talking about. He was born on the 18th of May 1850 to Rachel Elizabeth West and Thomas Heaviside in Camden Town, a notoriously crime-ridden, lower class area of London. Thomas Heaviside was a wood engraver and water colour artist. Oliver was the youngest of four sons. Oliver Heaviside had a challenging and troubled youth. The family lived for years on the ragged edge of poverty their home was just around the corner from where Charles Dickens had lived during the most miserable part of his childhood.

Life in the slums was difficult enough, but a childhood bout with scarlet fever, which left him nearly deaf, added to his troubles. Heaviside’s mother ran a school for girls, which he attended rather than attending the neighbourhood school. This offered some protection from the influence of the local ruffians. Heaviside’s hearing impairment made making friends difficult, however his school results were rather good and in 1865 he was placed fifth from 500 pupils.

Despite being bright and a good student, by age 16 the socially awkward Heaviside had had enough of formal education and left school. Perhaps he was more disillusioned with school than with learning since he continued to study after leaving school, in particular he learnt Morse code, studied electricity and studied further languages in particular Danish and German. He was aiming at a career as a telegrapher and in this he was advised and helped by his uncle Charles Wheatstone.

In 1868 Heaviside went to Denmark and became a telegrapher. While working there, Heaviside noticed that signals from England to Denmark could be sent faster than those sent from Denmark to England. Those in the telegraph industry thought this was due to some strange and unknown property of the 347-nautical mile undersea cable carrying the messages. Heaviside wasn’t so sure and was able to show mathematically that if everything is identical on both ends of the cable, the maximum rate must be the same in both directions. He then showed, again mathematically, that any difference must be due to different resistance at each end. Simply put, the equipment in England had lower electrical resistance and could push more current faster into the capacitance of the cable, and thus could send at a higher rate.

He progressed quickly in his profession and returned to England in 1871 to take up a post in Newcastle upon Tyne in the office of Great Northern Telegraph Company which dealt with overseas traffic.

Heaviside quit the cable company in May 1874, at age 24, and returned to London to live with his parents. He never again held a regular job, but instead worked full-time on electrical problems. His brother Arthur provided financial support and collaborated on projects related to his engineering work, but for the next decade or more Heaviside worked in almost complete isolation in his parents’ spare room, pushing back the frontiers of electrical knowledge on his own.

Heaviside became increasingly deaf as he worked on his own researches into electricity. While still working as chief operator in Newcastle he had published papers on electricity, the first in 1872 and then the second in 1873 was of sufficient interest to the author James Maxwell a noted Scottish mathematician that he mentioned the results in the second edition of his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. From 1874 he continued working on Maxwells equations.

Heaviside was able to greatly simplify Maxwell’s 20 equations in 20 variables, replacing them by four equations in two variables. Today we call these ‘Maxwell’s equations’ forgetting that they are in fact ‘Heaviside’s equations’.

Heaviside results on electromagnetism, impressive as they were, were overshadowed by the important methods in vector analysis which he developed in his investigations. His operational calculus, developed between 1880 and 1887, caused much controversy however. He introduced his operational calculus to enable him to solve the ordinary differential equations which came out of the theory of electrical circuits.

Heaviside gave, for the first time, the conditions necessary to transmit a signal without distortion but Heaviside dropped the idea and it was patented in 1904 in the United States. Michael Pupin of Columbia University and George Campbell of ATT both read Heaviside’s papers about using induction coils at intervals along the telephone line. Both Campbell and Pupin applied for a patent which was awarded to Pupin in 1904.

Edmund Whittaker rated Heaviside’s operational calculus as one of the three most important discoveries of the late 19th Century.

In 1902 Heaviside predicted that there was a conducting layer in the atmosphere which allowed radio waves to follow the Earth’s curvature. This layer in the atmosphere, the Heaviside layer, is named after him. Its existence was proved in 1923 when radio pulses were transmitted vertically upward and the returning pulses from the reflecting layer were received.

At the climax of the musical Cats, chorus members sing about how Grizabella is about to rise “Up, up, up past the Russell Hotel/ Up, up, up, up to the Heaviside Layer,” they are alluding to Heaviside’s idea that there must be a conducting layer in the upper atmosphere—though I’m sure very few in the audience probably catch the reference.

He seemed to become more and more bitter as the years went by. In 1909 Heaviside moved to Torquay where he showed increasing evidence of a persecution complex. His neighbours related stories of Heaviside as a strange and embittered hermit who replaced his furniture with granite blocks which stood about in the bare rooms. Through those rooms he wandered, growing dirtier and dirtier, and more and more unkempt; with one exception. His nails were always exquisitely manicured, and painted a glistening cherry pink.

As on old man, Heaviside spent his final years comfortably, although his mental powers diminished. “I have become as stupid as an owl,” he once bluntly stated. Heaviside died at the age of 74 on the 3rd of February 1925 and was buried with his parents in a small grave in Tourquay.

What can we learn from Oliver Heaviside?

Overcoming adversity including poverty and a hearing disability to create a complex system of calculus seems to be something we can take away. Regardless of our own problems it is clear that it is possible to overcome adversity and to learn.

Not many people listening to this podcast will be living in Dickensian conditions of poverty, but even if you are you can take heart in the fact that it is possible to overcome. But Heaviside never actually overcame poverty, he returned to it after leaving the telegraph company in order to focus on mathematics. He lived in poverty most of his life and in his later years on a small pension. For him money wasn’t his driving force. Knowledge and working in a topic he loved were more important.

While many people study in order to get ahead, or to increase their monetary value in the workforce, it doesn’t mean it is required. Some people feel ashamed to tell others that they ae studying a new language or advanced maths or whatever just for fun. They think they will be looked down upon for not having a monetary reason for learning. Learning for no other reason than you want to, is a good enough reason.

In addition, Oliver Heaviside had help from family and friends. So getting external assistance from friends and family can be helpful when you’re feeling alone or struggling with your study.

Oliver Heaviside worked as a telegraph operator, but his job didn’t define him or his life’s work. Many people confuse what they do for a living with their life. It doesn’t have to be the same thing. If you are a computer programmer, but study beekeeping as a hobby, or vicversa so be it. You should allow yourself to explore the roads you want.

Well that is all for this week. I hope you’ve found it helpful or at least informative.

If you enjoy the show, please give a rating on the platform you’re using to listen, and please share the podcast with friends and family who might be interested. Also, please feel free to email me at rick@autodidactic.info, or leave feedback on the website autodidactic.info.

My YouTube Channel

African Extrication (Les Retraités Book 1)

Italian Détente: a Les Retraités Novel

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 10. I wasn’t able to publish a podcast last week due to some time constraints. Hopefully this episode will have been worth the wait.

This week I’m going to be talking about a famous mathematician who was vital in the creation of the digital age. I’m going to be talking about George Boole, an English mathematician who helped establish modern symbolic logic and whose algebra of logic, now called Boolean algebra, is basic to the design of digital computer circuits.

George Boole approached logic in a new way reducing it to a simple algebra, incorporating logic into mathematics. He also worked on differential equations, the calculus of finite differences and general methods in probability.

He was born on the 2nd of November 1815 and died the 8th of December 1864.

George Boole’s parents were Mary Ann Joyce and John Boole. John made shoes but he was interested in science and in particular the application of mathematics to scientific instruments. Mary Ann was a lady’s maid and she married John on 14 September 1806. The family were not well off, partly because John’s love of science and mathematics meant that he did not devote the energy to developing his business in the way he might have done. George, their first child, was born after Mary Ann and John had been married for nine years. They had almost given up hope of having children after this time so it was an occasion for great rejoicing. They went on to have three more children, two boys and a girl.

George first attended a school in Lincoln for children of tradesmen run by when he was less than two years old. After a year he went to a commercial school run by a friend of John Boole, where he remained until he was seven. His early instruction in mathematics, however, was from his father.

When he was seven George attended a primary school and his interests turned to languages. His father arranged for him to receive instruction in Latin from a local bookseller. Having learnt Latin from a tutor, George went on to teach himself Greek. By the age of 14 he had become so skilled in Greek that it provoked an accusation of plagiarism after his father had one of his poems published.

At this time George was attending Bainbridge’s Commercial Academy in Lincoln. This school did not provide the type of education he would have wished but it was all his parents could afford. George was able to teach himself French and German studying and studying other academic subjects that a commercial school did not cover.

At 16, George started teaching as an assistant teacher in Doncaster after his father’s business collapsed and he found himself having to support financially his parents, brothers and sister. While he maintained his interest in languages, began to study mathematics seriously at this time. The first advanced mathematics book he read was Lacroix’s Differential and integral calculus. He was later to realise that he had wasted four years in trying to teach himself the subject instead of having a skilled teacher.

In 1834 he opened his own school in Lincoln although he was only 19 years old. Four years later Robert Hall, who had run Hall’s Academy in Waddington, died and Boole was invited to take over the school. His parents, brothers and sister moved to Waddington and together they ran the school which had both boarding and day pupils.

Boole was studying the works of Laplace and Lagrange and working on what would become is first mathmatics paper. He was encouraged by Duncan Gregory who was in Cambridge and was the editor of the Cambridge Mathematical Journal. Boole was unable to take up the offer to study at Cambridge as he needed the income from his school to look after his family. In the summer of 1840 he had opened a boarding school in Lincoln and again the whole family had moved with him. He began publishing regularly in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal.

Again encouraged by Duncan Gregory he began a serious study of Algebra. In 1844 he had a paper published called “On a general method of analysis; applying algebraic methods to the solution of differential equations” in the Transactions of the Royal Society. He received the Society’s Royal Medal in November 1844.

Boole was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Queens College, Cork in 1849. Boole was to become the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork, and he took up the position in November. He taught there for the rest of his life, gaining a reputation as an outstanding and dedicated teacher.

In May of 1851 Boole was elected as Dean of Science, and he’d met his future wife Mary Everest (a niece of Sir George Everest, after whom the mountain is named) whose uncle was the professor of Greek at Cork and a friend of Boole.

July 1852 when Boole visited the Everest family in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, England. Boole began to give Mary informal mathematics lessons on the differential calculus. At this time he was 37 years old while Mary was only 20. In 1855 Mary’s father died leaving her without means of support and Boole proposed marriage. They married on 11 September 1855 at a small ceremony in Wickwar. It proved a very happy marriage with five daughters

It was in this period that Boole published his most important work. In 1854 he published An investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. Boole approached logic in a new way reducing it to a simple algebra, incorporating logic into mathematics. He pointed out the analogy between algebraic symbols and those that represent logical forms. It began the algebra of logic called Boolean algebra which now finds application in computer construction, switching circuits etc

Boole also worked on differential equations, the influential Treatise on Differential Equations appeared in 1859, the calculus of finite differences, Treatise on the Calculus of Finite Differences (1860), and general methods in probability. He published around 50 papers and was one of the first to investigate the basic properties of numbers, such as the distributive property, that underlie the subject of algebra.

Many honours were given to Boole as the genius in his work was recognised. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Dublin and Oxford and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1857). However his career, which was started rather late, came to a tragic early end when he died at the age of 49.

One day in 1864 he walked from his residence to the College, a distance of two miles, in the drenching rain, and lectured in wet clothes. The result was a feverish cold which soon fell upon his lungs. Boole’s wife believed that a remedy should resemble the cause. She put Boole to bed and threw buckets of water over the bed since his illness had been caused by getting wet.

Boolean algebra has wide applications in telephone switching and the design of modern computers. Boole’s work has to be seen as a fundamental step in today’s computer revolution.

So what can we learn from Boole to use for ourselves as Autodidactics. Boole’s realisation that he had wasted time by not finding a teacher is a critical point.

As an autodidactic you may struggle to understand some concepts which you are learning. You should take some time to evaluate if you should look into getting a tutor to help you. Here are some tips to help you to evaluate.

Is the work load taking you twice as long as you think it should? In subjects like math and science, concepts build on one another. Missing just one concept can have a snowball effect, and you may need some extra help.
If you start needing more help than usual—and find your normal go-to people or places can’t help you—you might want to consider enlisting a tutor.
If you are beginning to dislike the subject it might be a sign of frustration because you aren’t “getting it”.
You’re putting in the effort, but not seeing the results you expect, then it’s time to pinpoint the problem and get some extra help.
You are beginning to skip study times, or avoid the work. You’ve probably gotten frustrated to the point of quitting.

If you decide you need external assistance, then review your options. Would some kind of remote classroom or after work classes help? Do you need a lot of help on a particular subject, or is it just some concepts that you need to work on?

Here are some things to think about before going out to find someone.

How much help do you need? A full course or just some help with a few key concepts?
What is your budget for tutoring? Keep in mind a difficult subject will take longer to prepare, so expect to pay more for the extra preparation time. Cost varies greatly, depending on subject area, location, and the credentials of the tutor. Neighbors or friends may charge less, but remember, professional tutors charge professional rates.
What hours do you expect to have available for tutoring?
What references or qualifications do you want to see? You get references for electricians, doctors and dentists. Doesn’t it truly make sense to get a reference for a tutor?

How do you find a tutor? There are a number of places you can look and a lot depends on your location. Some places to start are:

Local colleges or universities will often have a bulletin board or lists of tutors per subjects.
Online websites like: https://www.personal-tutors.co.uk/, https://tutorful.co.uk/ or https://www.tutorhunt.com/
Ask friends and family. If you’re learning music perhaps your neighbour knows someone?

Depending on what you’re learning the way to find a tutor or mentor will be different. But before paying anyone you should check credentials, and remember to be safe before allowing anyone inside your home.

Well that is all for this week.

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast, Episode nine Season two.

If your first time listener, I wanna welcome you to the show and I’m glad you’re visiting. If you haven’t already, please visit the website autodidactic.info, where you’ll find links to all the shows that the show notes and the transcriptions and these contain. You need links to anything I talk about in the show.

This season. I’ve been covering autodidtactics and their methods for learning, but on this show I don’t want to talk about a specific autodidactic but rather talk about somethings all of the people I’ve profiled had in common, and these things are reading and a passion for learning, and then at the end, I briefly like to discuss creation of what I and others call the Forever project.

So if you have listened to all of this season, you will have noted a common thread among all of the other two tactics that I’ve profiled. And that is all of them have been. Readers, all of them, from childhood onward have continued to read a great number of books on a daily basis. This is in their topic of interest and outside generally. But you can find others who do this today as well, including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Stephen King, who read constantly and assess what they’re reading.

Reading is a great way to broaden your horizons and to expand the topic of interests. If you’re studying something solely to complete a particular project, then it’s a finite amount of time that you need to study and to complete. But generally, if you’re working toward a more general usage of this system.

So, for example, let’s say you were learning mathematics, and but you don’t generally have a direct need for it. But the knowledge of mathematics would help you in your job or your daily life in some way, shape or form. Setting up a strict regime for learning. This might not be appropriate, but as covered previously, you do still need a goal where you’re going to go and how you’re going to accomplish what it is you need on.

The first step is always to determine what it is you need. You have the issue of you don’t know what you don’t know and starting out there are things that you need to learn. But you don’t actually know that you need to learn them yet because you’ve not passed along on your journey far enough to realise that you need to know these things. So reading broadly in a topic prior to commencing can help you when you’re trying to define what it is you need to learn. And assuming that you are doing this as a forever project which will cover later rather than a specific, I need to know by X date, then reading more broadly in the topic.

Generalised reading or related topics as you come across them will help you to develop a study plan. Now, it might be that your topic is fairly specific and you don’t really need to read broadly in it that you have a really good idea of where you’re going and what you need to do to start, in which case, brilliant. But when you get into the topic, you are still going to need to read, and you’re gonna need to read a lot in order to learn the topic. I would advise you to listen to my previous podcast and I’ll put a link to some of the ones that are be of most interest about reading and studying reading for comprehension, reading for retention.

As well as highlighting and note-taking for the things that you’re studying. If you’re studying, for example, to become a better writer, it might be that you’re reading not to underlying a specific section of, a textbook, but more likely you are reading and highlighting passages that help you to understand character development or how to convey a sense of seeing or scenery this type of reading activity where you’re reading and you’re actually studying the material that you’re reading, as opposed to learning from the material that you’re reading.

I haven’t done a topic or a show on that, but I will in the future because I have done this myself where you’re analysing on author style or you’re you’re analysing a piece of work in order to help yourself learn how to construct that same type of thing later. Now the other thing that they all had in common was a passion for learning. All of them had the desire and the passion to learn on the motivation to learn a lot of people when they start their studies are looking at the end, go far more than the journey itself.

So, for example, if you’re a college student and you just enrolled, you’re actually looking at the goal of graduation, and you were thinking about what you will do when you graduate, but you really should try and enjoy the process of learning while you’re doing it. Try to make yourself enjoy the process of learning, because that will help you, too. Continue to be a lifelong learner and to enjoy learning, enjoy reading and have a passion for knowing new things. Which sort of brings me on to the topic. I want to discuss the primary topic for today, which is what is called a forever topic, and I’ll give you a couple links in the show notes for some plug posts people have made about this but forever. Project is a project you’re going to focus your time and energy on, but you are not using this as a source of income typically so, for example, this might be what most people would label as a hobby.

But the first element of forever project is to focus on a new topic that you aren’t investing time and energy. And so, for example, if you are a computer programmer on your forever project is carpentry. Um, you read about carpentry. You learn about different techniques. You might go to shows or conferences. You might speak to professional carpenters or furniture builders. So this is ah, forever project. Now, the point of a Forever project is that you, as the name applying implies, you can work on it forever. It’s an open into topic that you can explore for a long time without ever running out of challenges.

Now, normally, when we pick something to learn or to do, we have an economic goal because you’re learning this in order to get a job doing it, for example. But if you’re not doing it for an economic reason and you’re not time constraint, they economic reasoning behind doing the project breaks down a bit. So for someone who had an infinite lifetime, you’d have an infinite amount of money because you you know it doesn’t matter. You constantly be able to get more money. If you didn’t have money, you just carry on until you did get the money and then you start again because you have infinity to do it in.

You don’t have to choose between doing one thing or another, because in an infinite lifetime you can do both. So any any thinking along the lines of I’m wasting my time makes absolutely no sense at all. If you were going to live forever because you have an infinite amount of time and there’s no way that you could leave, lose it. And even if you spent half an affinity infinity on one topic, you still have an infinite amount of time left. Now, obviously, we don’t have forever to work on the project, but you can reason like you, too. And so ah, the economic drive to learn or to not go off on tensions or not, distract yourself or think about you’re wasting time, etcetera goes away. So a good forever project encourages you to wander through a variety of topics, and many of them will be new to you. And you can find something easy to learn about them or difficult to learn about them, that you’re constantly walking along the pathways and byways of knowledge that you’re gaining from this particular project.

In our example forever. Project of Woodworking you might go off on a tangent and study different types of wood and how it grows and what climates different trees globe grow in, and the relative strengths that gives to the wood before you come back to actually learning a technique for joinery. And it doesn’t matter to you because your reasoning is not Oh, I’ve wasted six months doing investigation of climate changes and how they affect would because you have forever to do it. So the reasoning process of wasting time has gone away.

A great deal of this show is talking about how to study and methods of studying. But why you study is really quite a personal thing Your reasoning behind studying a particular topic or not is completely up to you. But for the most part, most people have economic reasons for whatever project they’re choosing, and I would advise you to pick a project that actually has no economic benefit. But you find interesting because it will allow you to read, expand your horizons and to learn about something new and different, and keeps you engaged with the world without having the constant drive to improve yourself in an economic work related sort of way.

Now, for many people, this is not or may not seem valid. You know, we all have bills to pay and things to do and not a lot of time and not a lot of time to invest. But many people will have a small amount of time that they can use for a forever project, and you don’t need to pick a large. You need a large topic, something that will let you move through different areas. But when you’re doing a project within your forever project, it might only take you a day or a week or a month. Well, it’s been a quite a short show this week. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it’s going off on a bit of diversions, but hopefully you’ve enjoyed it. If you’re interested in the show and you want to give me feedback or suggestions, please email me at rick@autodidactic.info and I’d like to thank you for taking the time to listen to these podcasts, and I hope you believe that this is time well spent. So once again, thank you for listening

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 8. This episode was also delayed this week, but the reason for the delay was simple; I hadn’t yet finished the autobiography of this weeks featured autodidactic.

This week I’ll be looking at a modern autodidactic Richard Phillips Feynman. Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 and assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. He became known to a wide public in the 1980s as a member of the Rogers Commission, the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Along with his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. Richard Feynman was often referred to as “The Great Explainer” due to his ability to make complex topics understandable.

Richard Feynman was born 11 May 1918 in New York and died 15 February 1988 in Los Angeles, California. Feynman’s parents were Melville Feynman and Lucille Phillips. His father was born into a Jewish family in Belarus and immigrated to the US when he was 5 years old. Lucille Phillips was born in the United States into another Jewish family of Polish immigrants. They were married in 1917 and moved to Manhattan before Lucille gave birth to Richard in 1918.

Melville Feynman was a mediocre businessman but had always had a keen interest in science but never had the opportunity to study. Melville did all he could to interest Richard in science throughout his childhood.

Richard Feynman had two siblings, a brother who died just 4 weeks after being born, and his sister Joan who was born with Richard was 9 years old. The family moved several times during these years but when Richard was ten they settled in Far Rockaway.

Melville Feynman didn’t push Richard into science, his approach was much more intuitive and subtle. He never taught facts so much as questions. He encouraged young Richard to identify not what he knew, but rather what he did not know. This is the essence of Richard Feynman’s style of understanding. By absolutely asking what his ignorance consisted of, he freed himself from conventional wisdom.

Richard learnt a great deal of science from Encyclopaedia Britannica and taught himself elementary mathematics before he encountered it at school. He also set up a laboratory in his room at home where he experimented with electricity. In particular he wired circuits with light bulbs, he invented a burglar alarm, and he took radios apart to repair damaged circuits. When he entered Far Rockaway High School his interests were almost entirely mathematics and science.

He enjoyed recreational mathematics from which he derived a large amount of pleasure. When Feynman was 15, he taught himself trigonometry, advanced algebra, infinite series, analytic geometry, and both differential and integral calculus.

As a young man in school he found himself who would be perhaps the single most important person in Richard’s life, Arline Greenbaum.

After leaving high-school he applied to several universities. It was difficult for him to find a space even with is obvious gifts. Although his grades in mathematics and science were outstanding, he had performed much less well in other subjects. There was also the “problem” that he was a Jew and in the USA at the time there were quotas on the number of Jews they admitted to university.

Finally he was accepted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. He entered MIT in 1935 and, after four years study, obtained his B.Sc. in 1939. He went there to study mathematics but, although he found the courses easy, he became increasingly worried by the abstraction and lack of applications. His mathematics lecturers presented him with the view that one did mathematics for its own sake so Feynman changed courses, taking electrical engineering. Very quickly he changed again, this time moving into physics.

The physics course that Feynman took at MIT was not the standard one. He took Introduction to Theoretical Physics, a class intended for graduate students, in his second year. There was no course on quantum mechanics, a topic that Feynman was very keen to study, so together with a fellow undergraduate, T A Welton, he began to read the available texts in the spring of 1936.

Near the end of his time at MIT he began to think about studying for his doctorate. Since he had been so happy at MIT and also believing it to be the leading institution, he approached the head of physics, John Slater, requesting that he stay on to take a Ph.D. course. Slater told him that for his own good he had to move and he suggested Princeton.

Feynman was accepted by Princeton. His doctoral work at Princeton was supervised by John Wheeler. He then went on to develop a new approach to quantum mechanics using the principle of least action. He received his doctorate from Princeton in 1942 but before this time the United States had entered World War II.

During this time in his life he became engaged to marry Arline, which they’d do after completion of his Ph.D. However, Arline at one point started to display serious symptoms of some sort of illness. After some time she was positively diagnosed with tuberculosis, and was not expected to live too many more years. Richard figured that there was only one right thing for him to do, and that was to marry her as soon as possible. He wanted to be responsible for her welfare as much as he could muster. Although his family advised against it because of his unfinished Ph.D., the two were married in a simple civil ceremony.

Feynman worked on the atomic bomb project at Princeton University (1941-42) and then at Los Alamos (1943-45). Feynman began work on the Manhattan project at Princeton developing a theory of how to separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238, while his thesis supervisor Wheeler went to Chicago to work with Fermi on the first nuclear reactor.

Feynman went to the newly constructed Los Alamos site to work on the atomic bomb project. His remarkable abilities soon led to him being appointed as head of the theoretical division. Arlene died in 1945 just before the first test of the bomb.

After World War II, in the autumn of 1945, Feynman was appointed as a professor of theoretical physics at Cornell University. In 1950 Feynman accepted a position as professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. Since he had already planned a sabbatical leave before receiving the offer, he was able to arrange to spend the first ten months of his new appointment in Brazil. He remained at Cal tech for the rest of his career.

Feynman’s main contribution was to quantum mechanics, following on from the work of his doctoral thesis. He introduced diagrams (now called Feynman diagrams) that are graphic analogues of the mathematical expressions needed to describe the behaviour of systems of interacting particles. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965.

In early 1979 Feyman’s health had deteriorated and he had surgery for stomach cancer. This was very successful and his doctors believed that he would not suffer a recurrence. His final major task was as a member of a committee set up to investigate the cause of the explosion on the space shuttle Challenger on Tuesday 28 January 1986.

It was a very difficult time for Feyman since throughout the investigation his health was deteriorating. Near the end of 1987 cancer was found again in his abdomen.

Luckily for us as autodidactics, Richard Feynman left us details of his learning method and we can adopt these practices ourselves. While he didn’t leave a step by step guide his methods can be taken from his works and autobiography. Richard Feynman had cultivated a habit of deliberate learning, where he used to connect what he knew with what he did not know. Feynman started writing down every topic that was important for him to know which he had no knowledge about. He kept a notebook for the purpose. He called it ‘the notebook of things I do not know’.

The Feynman Learning Technique has been studied and produced by many biographers, and while many will list the steps slightly differently they are mostly the same.

The basic steps are:

Step 1: Write down the topic to study

Step 2: Teach the topic

Step 3: Review what you do not know

Step 4: Explain the topic to someone who knows nothing about the subject such as a child.

In Step 1, selecting a concept to study compels you to be intentional about what you don’t know. It also forces you to choose a topic that’s small enough that it could reasonably fit onto one or several pages.

In Step 2, true understanding requires a more active process like teaching. Start out by formally teaching yourself. Write out a summary in your own words without looking at your notes. Or explain it to yourself out loud. Then take it to the next level by teaching other people. Teaching also initiates a feedback loop, where critique or questions can help us learn and sharpen our thinking.

When working in Brazil teaching at a university he discovered students would memorise the terms and phrases in the textbook which would be on the exam, but didn’t understand the principles behind the terms. Feynman realized people can trick themselves into believing they understand something more than they truly do. These Brazilian students could quote the textbook, but couldn’t explain the concept or give examples.

When you have to truly explain something, whether through writing or aloud, you encounter the holes in your reasoning and the white spaces in your knowledge. Think of writing and teaching as a process to obtain understanding, not something you do once you already understand. When gaps in our knowledge arise and our explanations aren’t quite right, revisiting our primary and secondary sources can help solidify what we’re learning. Getting it right will likely take several iterations. That’s a good thing; the more you refine your explanations, the more your understanding will deepen.

Step 2 and 3 are linked. Review the explanation that you came up with, and pinpoint the areas where you were not clear or you felt your explanation was shaky. Then, return to your source material and notes to better your understanding. Practice step #2 again with your new, revised notes.

Step 4 is to explain this to a child. In order to do this you must simply the terms you use, remove jargon, and use simpler words.

Because science is filled with complex terms, Feynman’s diagrams became valuable to people who were struggling to teach and to people who were struggling to understand. His charts were able to simply explain things that other scientists took hours to lecture students on in an attempt to teach them.

This search for visual representations and simplification also increases you understanding. Using analogies when teaching forces you to meet your listeners where they are in terms of their level of understanding, and relate something they already know to the new concept you are teaching. It’s easy enough to commit terms to memory, and repeat them back when prompted. But memorization is not understanding.

Those are the basic four steps to the Feynman Learning Technique. You can learn these four steps in seconds and apply them in minutes. But the steps are relatively unimportant. What Richard Feynman had and what you need to cultivate is a constant need to question instilled into him by his father Melville. In fact you can further reduce the Feynman Learning Technique down to just simply asking what you don’t know, then finding that out, then repeat.

Well that is all for this week.

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 7. This week I’m taking a little break from exploring autodidactics of the past to focus on a different topic, how to create a rigorous standard for self-learning.

My friend and I had an argument. He said only people who learned at university had a rigorous education. I countered with the fact I knew more about computing and programming as a self-taught programmer than my daughter with a degree in computer science. But he did made some very valid points about the lack rigour most self-taught people have.

What is rigour in learning? A combined definition includes the following, most relevant, terms: Accurate, Exact, Exhaustive, Meticulous, Precise. The definition my friend was referring to mostly was exhaustive. He felt that people who are self-taught aren’t forced to learn the difficult things, and they tend to gloss over things without confirming they understand. Also he felt that people who self-study “wander all over the place” without actually having a meticulous or exact goal to achieve.

Some mistakenly assume that rigour in education means making things more difficult. Others believe it means piling on the work. Rigour is not quantified by how much gets crammed in, it is measured in depth of understanding.

Most people don’t have rigour in their self-education simply because there isn’t anyone “looking over their shoulder”. But if you want to learn a subject then you need to add rigour to your methods so that you’re learning and working to your full potential. But how do you do that?

Well, it’s different for everyone. If you can’t consistently negotiate rigorous tasks, either your understanding or thinking habits should be more closely examined. In this podcast I want to explore so ways you can add rigour to your learning.

In season one, I stressed quite often that you should be testing yourself daily with quizzes you build up from the previous sessions study. Each day when studying you need to generate a small quiz for the next session, and then group these quizzes periodically into an examination. There are a number of other things you can do to add rigour.

Use someone else’s curriculum

The first and most easy way to add rigour is if what you are studying a subject which is also taught at a university you can use their curriculum, many universities publish their curriculum. In university the rule-of-thumb is you are supposed to devote twice as many hours outside of class as in class. To add this type of rigour to your own studies you should have a self-study rule-of-thumb that 2/3 of study time should be problem solving or exercises, aka “homework”.

Transfer your understanding.

This means to teach someone else what you’ve learned. This requires you to apply knowledge in new and unfamiliar situations, an inherently rigorous process. But what if you don’t have anyone to teach? Then teach yourself. Put together a slide presentation showing what you’ve learned as if you’re going to be giving a course on it. You might even consider creating a YouTube video teaching what you have learned. This would be on public display and would encourage you to ensure what you’re showing is correct and you really understand it.

Mix multiple sources of information into a single source.

You typically have multiple sources of information available to you. Many textbooks, YouTube lectures, podcasts, etc. Take these multiple sources of inputs and perspectives and synthesize them together. This is similar to the exercise above, but here the output would be an essay showing the information and citing it. When you have to analyse, internalize, and reconcile multiple perspectives to into a new position, perspective or format, rigour is a requirement.

Create your study periods with Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical classification of the different levels of thinking, and should be applied when creating course objectives. Course objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of the course. The full power of learning objectives is realized when the learning objectives are explicitly stated.

The framework elaborated by Bloom consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Modern cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists revised this into more action orientated wording.

Remember: Recall basic facts and concepts

Understand: Explain, describe, classify concepts

Apply: use the information in new situations

Analyse: draw connections between ideas, differentiate, contrast

Evaluate: Justify, argue and defend a stance or decision biased on the information

Create: Produce an original work

Think about exercises you can do which will force you to use the information and skills you are learning to complete Blooms Taxonomy.

Find divergent perspectives and media

Find and use authors, philosophers, experts, or other thinkers who make authentic cases of their own that offer contrasting perspectives. Try to reconcile these various points of view. Don’t just stick to one type of input, use video, audio, textbooks, tweets, or interviews to gain different perspectives.

Require design thinking and project-based learning

Build design thinking into your study, be sure that elements of design thinking, creativity, and the “tinker culture” are used to help you to find success. For example, if you’re learning programming, think of a large project you can do along with all the exercises you’re doing in the text books. Give yourself exercises in such things as identifying patterns, cause-effect analysis, and problem-solution thinking.

A simple way to incentivize yourself is to work on a project on the side while you are going through the tutorials/courses. Building something cool and interesting is a great way to trick yourself into learning.

Complete an essay periodically

Essay questions are extremely effective for measuring complex learning. Opportunities for guessing are removed, so you can truly measure what you understand. So schedule in numerous essays into the learning plans and activities for practice.

Always pick good resources with exercises and do them

As a self-learner, it’s critical to pick books with exercises and solutions. Pick resources with better exposition, motivation, and examples. You don’t have the luxury of a lecturer who can “fill in the blanks”, and these expositions can be critical. Do all the exercises in the book. Even if you think they are trivial and a waste of time. It forces you to apply what you have learned, and if it is easy for you, great. If it isn’t easy then it is giving you feedback about where you’re lacking.

Resources with worked problems make a text much more valuable and useful; even students in a class may spend a lot of time doing self-study. For self-study, without worked problems a book is only useful as a reference while working problems from elsewhere. Try to find a book with lots of examples, problems and projects for you to work through.

Challenge yourself

As you look to develop rigour in your study, make sure you’re providing relevant challenges you want to rise and meet. It is not just about “getting it done,” but about seeing how far you can go and how much you can improve.

Have a lesson plan

In EP11: Study Plan Creation for Self-learners, I covered a lot of information about how to create a study plan for yourself. It included 3 phases:

Initial assessment of level
Resource gathering
Study scheduling.

In EP12: How to evaluate resources for study, I covered how to evaluate resources you can use.

But in hindsight I can see that one of the things lacking is a method for developing a lesson plan. I assumed you’d be able to take the lesson plan from the book or resource you’re using, but my friend convinced me otherwise. So lets quickly look at how to develop a lesson plan for your study periods.

The basic self-study lesson plan includes for basic phases.

Challenging objectives for the lesson
Instruction and presentation of information.
Practice and production
Verification of objectives

Writing out the objectives for each lesson can be formal, or it can just be a single sentence on a post-it-note, but you need to know the goal if you’re going to know if you’ve done it or not. Don’t just write a simple objective; “Explain merge sort algorithm.” instead do something like; “Explain merge sort algorithm in contrast to other algorithms such as bubble sort or insertion sort.”

Complete the instruction and presentation of data. This might be simply reading the textbook chapter, or watching the video. Relate this to your learning objective.

Practice and production is where you should be spending most of the time. Remember the self-study rule-of-thumb that 2/3 of your study time should be doing exercises and practising the skill. Make sure to think about and use Bloom’s Taxonomy when you’re thinking about exercises and practice.

Finally verification is taking a quiz or test. In many of the podcasts in season one I recommended creation of a quiz from the material you’re learning today. Here you need to create this simple quiz and take it before the next study session to make sure you understand the lesson. Otherwise you should repeat the relevant portions which you missed on the quiz. Exercises and practice also help to verify and confirm that you know and understand what you’ve studied.

Spending a little time creating a simple lesson plan before you start with a challenging objective will add rigour to your study times. The need to look forward in the book at the section headings, etc., in order to define your objectives will help you focus on the study material. I mentioned this in EP7: Textbook Study Methods, when I discussed various methods of reviewing textbook material. These methods were the P2R to reading and studying system, the SQ3R studying system and the S-RUN-R reading and studying system.

Please re-listen or reread those podcasts if you need more information. I put transcriptions of the podcasts on my website so they are available to read as well as listen.

Well that is all for this week.

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 6.

This week I’ll be talking about a German autodidactic who one of the great thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is known as the last “universal genius”. He made deep and important contributions to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, logic, philosophy of religion, as well as mathematics, physics, geology, jurisprudence, and history.

Who? It is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1 July 1646–14 Nov 1716) a prominent German polymath and one of the most important logicians, mathematicians and natural philosophers of the Enlightenment.

A contemporary Denis Diderot an eighteenth-century French atheist and materialist said: “When one compares the talents one has with those of a Leibniz, one is tempted to throw away one’s books and go die quietly in the dark of some forgotten corner”

As a representative of the seventeenth-century tradition of rationalism, Leibniz developed, as his most prominent accomplishment, the ideas of differential and integral calculus, independently of Isaac Newton’s contemporaneous developments. Mathematical works have consistently favoured Leibniz’s notation as the conventional expression of calculus.

He became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators. While working on adding automatic multiplication and division to Pascal’s calculator, he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685 and invented the Leibniz wheel, used in a device called the arithmometer, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator. He also refined the binary number system, which is the foundation of nearly all digital (electronic, solid-state, discrete logic) computers, including the Von Neumann machine, which is the standard design paradigm, or “computer architecture”, followed from the second half of the 20th century, and into the 21st.

Leibniz made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in philosophy, probability theory, biology, medicine, geology, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. He wrote works on philosophy, politics, law, ethics, theology, and history.

He wrote in several languages, primarily in Latin, French and German but also in English, Italian and Dutch.

Leibniz was born in Leipzig on July 1, 1646, two years prior to the end of the Thirty Years War, which had ravaged central Europe. His father, Friedrich Leibniz, was a jurist and professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Leipzig, and his mother, Catharina Schmuck, the daughter of a professor of Law.

Leibniz’s father died in 1652, and his subsequent education was directed by his mother, uncle, and according to his own reports, himself. He was given access to his father’s extensive library at a young age and proceeded to pore over its contents, particularly the volumes of ancient history and the Church Fathers. His father’s library enabled him to study a wide variety of advanced philosophical and theological works—ones that he would not have otherwise been able to read until his college years.

Access to his father’s library, largely written in Latin, also led to his proficiency in the Latin language, which he achieved by the age of 12. While young, Leibniz immersed himself in history, poetry, maths, and other subjects, gaining knowledge in many different fields.

At the age of seven, Leibniz entered the Nicolai School in Leipzig. Although he was taught Latin at the elementary school, Leibniz had taught himself far more advanced Latin and some Greek. As he progressed through school he was taught Aristotle’s logic and theory of categorising knowledge. Leibniz was clearly not satisfied with Aristotle’s system and began to develop his own ideas on how to improve on it. In later life Leibniz recalled that at this time he was trying to find orderings on logical truths which, although he did not know it at the time, were the ideas behind rigorous mathematical proofs.

In 1661, at the age of fourteen, Leibniz entered the University of Leipzig. It may sound today as if this were a truly exceptionally early age for anyone to enter university, but it is fair to say that by the standards of the time he was quite young but there would be others of a similar age. He studied philosophy, which was well taught at the University of Leipzig, and mathematics which was very poorly taught. Among the other topics which were included in this two year general degree course were rhetoric, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He graduated with a bachelors degree in 1663

Leibniz then went to Jena to spend the summer term of 1663.

At Jena the professor of mathematics was Erhard Weigel but Weigel was also a philosopher and through him Leibniz began to understand the importance of the method of mathematical proof for subjects such as logic and philosophy. Weigel believed that number was the fundamental concept of the universe and his ideas were to have considerable influence of Leibniz. By October 1663 Leibniz was back in Leipzig starting his studies towards a doctorate in law. He was awarded his Master’s Degree in philosophy for a dissertation which combined aspects of philosophy and law studying relations in these subjects with mathematical ideas that he had learnt from Weigel. A few days after Leibniz presented his dissertation, his mother died.

Despite his growing reputation and acknowledged scholarship, Leibniz was refused the doctorate in law at Leipzig. It is a little unclear why this happened, but Leibniz was not prepared to accept any delay and he went immediately to the University of Altdorf where he received a doctorate in law in February 1667.

Leibniz dedicated his working life to serving two German families that were very important to the society of the time. He had proposed to a plan to revitalize and protect German-speaking countries after the devastating and opportunistic situation left by the Thirty Years’ War. Although the elector listened to this plan with reservations, Leibniz was later summoned to Paris to explain the details of the plan.

In the end, this plan was not carried out, but it was the beginning of a Parisian stay in Leibniz that lasted for years. This stay in Paris allowed Leibniz to be in contact with several well-known personalities in the field of science and philosophy. Having been in contact with all these specialists, he realized that he needed to expand his areas of knowledge.

Leibniz decided to follow a self-education program. This program had excellent results, even discovering elements of great importance and transcendence, such as his investigations linked to the infinite series and his own version of differential calculus.

The reason why Leibniz was summoned to Paris did not take place and Leibniz was sent to London for a diplomatic mission to the government of England. During these years he took the opportunity to present to the Royal Society an invention he had been developing since 1670. It was a tool through which it was possible to make calculations in the field of arithmetic. After witnessing the operation of this machine, the members of the Royal Society appointed him an external member.

While in London, he learned that the elector Juan Felipe von Schönborn for whom he worked had died, and Leibniz had to find another occupation. Leibniz began working as a private justice counsellor for the House of Brunswick. While Leibniz dedicated himself to providing his services to the House of Brunswick, they allowed him to develop his studies and inventions, which were in no way linked to obligations directly related to the family.

Then, in 1674 Leibniz began to develop the conception of calculus. Two years later, in 1676, he had already developed a system that was coherent and that saw the light of day in 1684.

1682 and 1692 were very important years for Leibniz, as his documents were published in the field of mathematics.

During the first decade of the 1700s, the Scottish mathematician John Keill indicated that Leibniz had plagiarized Isaac Newton in relation to the conception of calculus. This accusation took place in an article written by Keill for the Royal Society.

This institution then carried out extremely detailed research on both scientists to determine who had been the author of this discovery. It was eventually determined that Newton was the first to discover calculus, but Leibniz was the first to publish his dissertations. Today historians believe both men made the discoveries completely independently and both are credited with the invention of calculus.

The last part of Leibniz’s life was plagued by the controversy. In 1714, George Louis of Hanover became King George I of Great Britain. Leibniz had a lot to do with this appointment, but George I was adverse towards him.

Leibniz died in Hanover on November 14, 1716. He was 70 years old. Leibniz never married, and his funeral was only attended by his personal secretary. George I did not attend his funeral, which shows the separation between the two.

So what can we take away from Leibniz? Well he had two periods of intense self-learning. The first as a child in his fathers library, and the second from 1672 in Paris. Leibniz studied mathematics and physics under Christiaan Huygens a Dutch scientist in 1672 and it was Huygens who encouraged to read and gave him an extensive reading list. This list included, works of many famous mathematicians such as Pascal and Descartes.

In both of these periods he read extensively. Like many of my previous podcasts about famous autodidactics reading was a keystone for Leibniz as well. Ray Bradbury a writer I featured recently called the library his college. For Leibniz reading was a critical method for extending his knowledge. Leibniz didn’t just read in a single area of knowledge, he read extensively in all areas he was interested in.

In this podcast let’s focus on becoming more prolific readers. If you’re listening to this then you’re probably already doing a lot of study and like most people you’re short of time. Using what we know about Leibniz and his two periods of intensive study let me propose some things to help become voracious readers.

First, make a list of books to read.

Leibniz started both his periods of intense self-study with reading lists. The first was his intention to read all the books in his fathers library. You can picture him as a young child entering the room, pulling the book from the top most shelf on the left wall, and working his way around the room book by book. The second period he was given a list to start with by a friend and mentor.

It doesn’t really matter how you get a starting list, you’ll come across other books as you read. Or you might find a topic mentioned in one book which leads to another set of books. But the trick is to have a list of books you’ll be reading next. From your starting list, just keep adding more and more books as they appear on your radar.

Set a reading goal.

Have a target for how many books you’ll read, and how many pages or chapters per day. But most importantly set a daily goal. For example 20 pages every day.

Always have a book handy.

Like the famous advert said, “Don’t leave home without it.”. Always have something to read with you. I know someone who used to rip books into 20 pages. Then carry around the 20 page sections to read in his pocket. Personally I don’t think I could bring myself to destroy a book like that, but it worked for him and he read all the time.

In addition to books, try audio books.

I used to listen to some audio books while driving from the Great Course company. It is very useful to have a book to listen to when driving alone, since you’re not wasting any time.

Make reading a priority.

You need to put reading in a higher category than other things you might be doing now. Park the TV or the Xbox, stop using Instagram and read instead.

Set a deadline for each book.

When you don’t set a deadline to complete your book, there isn’t a sense of urgency, and when something isn’t urgent, you tend to procrastinate and your books get left on the shelves untouched and unread. Set a deadline to avoid this problem. You can have a general deadline like complete any book you open in 2 weeks.

Read in layers.

For non-fiction books you may want to read contents page, headers, etc. first. You can find more information in the autodidactic podcast, Season 1, Episode 7: Textbook Study Methods. I’ll put a link in the show notes.

Well that is all for this week.

Thank you very much for listening.

EP7: Textbook Study Methods

https://www.burrosabio.net/gottfried-leibniz-biography/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz http://www.themarginal.com/emc2/gottfried_wilhelm_leibniz.htm

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/gottfried-w-leibniz-536.php

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 5.

This week I’ll be looking into a British autodidactic named Thomas Henry Huxley who was born on the 4th of May 1825 and died 29 June 1895. Huxley was a biologist and anthropologist specializing in comparative anatomy. He was known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his advocacy of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

His father taught mathematics and was assistant headmaster at a school in Ealing which Thomas Henry attended for a brief period. But after his father lost his job he no longer attended school. For his general education Huxley was largely self-taught; while still in his teens he read extensively, particularly in science and metaphysics, and gained a facility in reading German and French. He learned Latin, and enough Greek to read Aristotle.

Though raised as an evangelical, Tom devoured books of a distinctly anti-evangelical nature written by subversives such as William Lawrence and David Hume and William Paley. Though he wanted to grow up to be an engineer, he became a medical student instead–at the advanced age of 12, he was introduced to medicine as apprentice to brother-in-law Dr. John Scott. This began his life-long commitment to investigating the engineering of the body, to anatomy, morphology, physiology.

He was apprenticed to his sister Ellen’s husband, John Charles Cooke, a medical materialist. Transferred to a London dockside practitioner early in 1841, Huxley was shaken by the lives of his pauper patients. As an apprentice, he would walk the streets of the East End on his way to patients, observing the dreary and dangerous life lived by the poor.

In September 1842 Huxley and his brother James were awarded free scholarships at Charing Cross Hospital. The lecturer on physiology, Thomas Wharton Jones, had a strong influence on Huxley’s interest in physiology and anatomy and helped teach him methods of scientific investigation. Under Wharton Jones’ guidance, Huxley published his first scientific paper demonstrating the existence of an unrecognized layer in the inner sheath of hairs, a layer that has been known since as Huxley’s layer.

He passed his first exams at London University, but didn’t present himself for the second exam and consequently didn’t qualify for a degree. However, this first exam results were enough to allow him to apply for the Royal Navy. Huxley was too young to apply for the Royal College of Surgeons for a license, but because he was deeply in debt he applied for the navy. He was interviewed by Sir William Burnett, the Physician General of the Navy, who arranged for his competence to be tested and he was made Assistant Surgeon on the HMS Rattlesnake.

The Rattlesnake left England on 3 December 1846 and, once they had arrived in the southern hemisphere, Huxley devoted his time to the study of marine invertebrates. He began to send details of his discoveries back to England, where his papers were published by a friend Edward Forbes.

The value of Huxley’s work was recognised and, on returning to England in 1850, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In the following year, at the age of twenty-six, he not only received the Royal Society Medal but was also elected to the Council. Huxley, who had learned German when he was a teenager and had begun serious scholarly investigation of German science upon his return to England. He regularly corresponded with, and sometimes had as household guests, Anton Dohrn, Ernst Haeckel, Dr. Leuckart and other German biologists.

Huxley effectively resigned from the navy (by refusing to return to active service). In 1851 recently returned from the Rattlesnake voyage, was so desperate for a job that he applied to the University of Toronto. Fortunately for England and perhaps for science, Toronto rejected him in favor of a politician’s relative. In July 1854, he became Professor of Natural History at the Royal School of Mines and naturalist to the British Geological Survey in 1855. He was active in the British scientific circles for the remainder of his life.

He was also Fullerian Professor at the Royal Institution; Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons; President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; President of the Quekett Microscopical Club; President of the Royal Society; Inspector of Fisheries; and President of the Marine Biological Association.

In 1890, he moved from London to Eastbourne where he edited the nine volumes of his Collected Essays. Finally, in 1895, he died of a heart attack (after contracting influenza and pneumonia), and was buried in North London.

When Huxley himself was young there were virtually no degrees in British universities in the biological sciences and few courses. Most biologists of his day were either self-taught, or took medical degrees. When he retired there were established chairs in biological disciplines in most universities, and a broad consensus on the curricula to be followed. Huxley was the single most influential person in this transformation.

Huxley was also a major influence in the direction taken by British schools: in November 1870 he was voted onto the London School Board. In primary schooling, he advocated a wide range of disciplines, similar to what is taught today: reading, writing, arithmetic, art, science, music, etc.

Of all his public speaking Huxley was most interested in the serious of workingmen’s lectures which gave regularly, beginning in 1855, by which he wanted “the working classes to understand that Science and her ways are great facts for them.”

While Huxley is best known for his defense of Darwin’s hypothesis, he did not accept it uncritically and did not consider that the problem was finally settled nor that natural selection was by any means proven as the mechanism. For Huxley it remained a hypothesis because of the lack of experimental proof.

Huxley’s close friends were Charles Lyell, whom he met shortly after his return from the voyage, Herbert Spencer, Michael Foster, John Knowles, Charles Darwin, Joseph Hooker, and John Tyndall. The number of letters exchanged between Huxley and these people hints at the degree of closeness.

Later an idea came to these friends: to institute a club, Huxley’s title for which was Blastodermic. The first meeting of the X Club, as it came to be designated, was in January of 1864. The club became an admired and feared cabal, since it not only had the talent to write most of a scientific encyclopedia, but from its members came four Presidents of the Royal Society, five Presidents of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, officers of the Royal College of Surgeons and many societies, the London Mathematical, the Chemical, the Geological, the Ethnological.

According to its members, the club was originally started to keep friends from drifting apart, and to partake in scientific discussion free from theological influence. A key aim was to reform the Royal Society, with a view to making the practice of science professional.

The scientific eminence, social status, hard work, and political astuteness of the X Club’s members were all essential to the group’s success. By electing one another to office and through effective networking, these men were influential in scientific societies and became leading advisers to the government. As popular lecturers, contributors to elite journals, and textbook writers, they were among the prime interpreters of science for the industrializing and secularizing society of Victorian England

What can we take away from Huxleys life and learning? Firstly like all the autodidactics and polymaths I’ve reviewed so far he had an insatiable love of reading. He also was hard-working and dedicated. I can tell you as a fellow language learner, Huxley’s learning of multiple languages, German, French, Greek, and Latin was not mean feat and would have consumed many hours of study, reading and practice.

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has created a practical reference for people interested in learning a foreign language. The list contains difficulty ratings and the estimated number of classroom hours necessary to learn each language at a semi-proficient level.

German is rated as a category 2 language and considered to be similar to English. The FSI estimates that German takes approximately 30 weeks, or 750 classroom hours to learn. This study was conducted on a group of language students who spent 25 hours per week in class, and three hours daily on individual practice.

Without a teacher or modern methods such as electronic flashcards and working only with books and meetings, Huxley would have had a much more difficult time, and probably would have spent longer. Remember that a bachelor’s degree in most areas can require between 124 to 128 college credits particular to a specific program of study. Where as a C2 – CEFR certification in German is estimated at well over 1500 hours of study.

So we know that Huxley had dogged determination and great motivation to learn a language. We know he was a vicarious reader. But one thing we can also take away from Huxley’s life and study practices is his network of people. Huxley was a prolific correspondent and wrote letters all his life. Starting in his early years while studying and corresponding with various mentors.

In addition, the creation of the X-Club was specifically designed to have a peer system. Today we’d call this a Mastermind Group. Napoleon Hill, his classic book Think and Grow Rich, coined the phrase “mastermind group” and pointed out that the most successful people throughout history had a personal “Board of Advisors” that helped them reach their goals. Huxley was one of these people.

Surrounding himself with like minded people, and creating a network of friends and mentors via correspondence was a core feature in Huxley’s life and learnings. These mastermind groups have been around a long time. One of the people I previously reviewed, Ben Franklin established a group called “The Junto” in 1727 who met together for mutual improvement by discussing moral, political, and scientific topics of the day.

As a self-learner you may struggle with a topic and it is often good to get an outside perspective on the issue. For example, yesterday I sent some computer code to a friend asking him for help. He didn’t give me the answer, but managed to start me down the correct path to get the answer myself. Often when you have a knotty problem to figure out, just explaining the problem to someone else will trigger the answer to pop up into your head without them saying a word.

If you research a Napoleon Hill mastermind group, it will be different from what I’m proposing for an autodidactic. Typically the groups outlined by Hill are for career progression and business mentoring. What I’m suggesting is more like what Huxley used in his youth. A group of people who are knowledgeable in a subject your are learning and would be willing to assist you. It is also helpful if you know something they are learning so you can pay them back, but often people will assist you simply from kindness or friendship.

Huxley corresponded via letter with knowledgeable people in his field of study. Asking questions and having discussions about what he was learning.

A few years ago I was looking into statistics and wanted to do a small experiment. I read a number of books on the subject and had a general idea how to go about it, but didn’t know any specifics. I decided to write the author of one of the books I was studying, a professor at the University of Bath. I sent an email and told him I was reading his book, and why I was reading it. I asked the specific question about my project and hoped for an answer. Not only did he reply he advanced some suggestions for improvements in my project and we continued to correspond via email for a few weeks.

You can have a group of mentors for your own learning. You need to identify people who could help you, and may want to help you. Remember that you shouldn’t badger people into helping you, nor depend on a few people. But here are some ways you can start to pull together a learning mastermind group.

Create a list of people who are knowledgable.
Determine the best way to communicate with these people.
Determine what you can do for them.
Have a hotseat.

A diverse group has been proven to be a far better way to solve our problems than one or two individuals. Groups that are too much alike find it harder to keep learning, so try to diversify. For example, if you’re learning computer programming having a mathematician around would be extremely helpful to you.

Communication could be as a group, or to individuals. You might decide to meet with your six friends who are all learning the same subject as you each week. Or you might decide to create a WhatsApps or Signal group in order to share learnings and problems. You might decide that you’d rather meet one-to-one or use email correspondence for communications.

Determine what you can give back to these people. It might be that you don’t have anything to give back, but they help simply because they enjoy helping others. Don’t abuse people for your personal gain, try to help them if you can. Always be available to answer their questions if they have them.

If you’re going to meet regularly have a hot-seat that rotates through all the members so they can ask questions about their issues and seek answers from the group.

Remember that while the authors of books, professors, or other people might seem to mighty to answer your simple questions, they are people just like you. A rather famous, but insightful saying is; Don’t ask, don’t get.

Well that is all for this week.

Thank you very much for listening.

References:

https://mathcs.clarku.edu/huxley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 4. I had an email in my mailbox this week from a listener named Kenyatta (forgive me if I have mispronounced your name). She was wondering about my definitions of Autodidactic, Polymath, and self-learner. So I thought I would expand a little on these terms this week, and how I tend to use them.

She also asked why I ask for donations. Well that one is easy to answer, I don’t have any corporate sponsor, and I pay for all the podcast hosting and things myself. So the donation is just if someone liked the show, and wanted to show their appreciation by buying me a coffee.

Back to Kenyatta’s musings. I’ll give you the dictionary definitions then talk a little more about each one.

Self-Learner – Learning done by oneself, without a teacher or instructor.
Polymath – a person of great learning in several fields of study.
Autodidactic – a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.

So you can see that a self-learner and an autodidactic are actually the same. It is someone who learns by themselves. While this might mean they are learning one thing only, they could be learning in multiple fields. Autodidactics then may or may not be a polymath, and a polymath, may or may not be an autodidactic.

In this podcast I try to explore techniques and methods for self-learning and hopefully this is of some use to either type of autodidactic, polymath or non-polymath. But one assumption that I have a tendency to make is that many people who are listening to the podcast are more likely to be polymaths and trying to learn skills in multiple fields.

Using myself as an example; I self-learn mathematics, electronics, programming, metal working, knife-making, cooking, and languages. While I’m certainly no expert in all of these, I enjoy working in these disparate fields. As a writer I find it helps to have a broad knowledge of a lot of topics in order to write characters convincingly.

Autodidacticism and self-learning we’ve covered, but let me explore polymathism with you.

A polymath is from the Greek and means “much learned”. So this is a person who has knowledge in multiple fields of study, but might not be self-taught. In the renaissance, a period in Europe covering the 14th through the 17t centuries, started in Italy in the late middle ages. The idea of a “Uomo Universale” or universal man was someone who could play musical instruments, speak many languages, write poetry, paint and so on.

Normally these ideal persons were nobility or sons of nobility and required a rounded universal education. Interestingly, the idea of a universal education was essential to achieving polymath ability, hence the word university was used to describe a seat of learning. The idea behind a university was not to specialise but to give a general well-rounded education to these young courtiers so they cound then go forward and specialise in a specific field.

Marching forward to the 21st century we find a renewed interest in polymathy in the scientific community. Robert Root-Bernstein worked in the area of polymathy and two other types of categories which were the specialists and the dilettante. He regards a specialist as someone who has great depth in a subject with without a breadth of knowledge, and a dilettante is someone who has superficial knowledge of many subjects. However, the dilettante unlike the polymath has acquired these skills without any regard to understanding broader applications or implications and without integrating knowledge across these fields.

So for Robert Root-Bernstein a polymath is someone who has knowledge in multiple fields, but can “put a significant amount of time and effort into their avocations and find ways to use their multiple interests to inform their vocations”.

Robert Root-Bernstein argues in favour of polymathy. The argument that universality of domain favours the creative processes. Which means other interests outside of the primary domain can feed the mental tools required to generate creative ideas. A prime example often cited is Albert Einstein and his love of the violin. Einstein once said that if he hadn’t been a scientist, he would certainly have been a musician.

In “Life Stages of Creativity”, Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein suggest six typologies of creative life stages.

Type 1 represents people who specialize in developing one major talent early in life (e.g., prodigies) and successfully exploit that talent exclusively for the rest of their lives.
Type 2 individuals explore a range of different creative activities (e.g., through worldplay or a variety of hobbies) and then settle on exploiting one of these for the rest of their lives.
Type 3 people are polymathic from the outset and manage to juggle multiple careers simultaneously so that their creativity pattern is constantly varied.
Type 4 creators are recognized early for one major talent (e.g., math or music) but go on to explore additional creative outlets, diversifying their productivity with age.
Type 5 creators devote themselves serially to one creative field after another.
Type 6 people develop diversified creative skills early and then, like Type 5 individuals, explore these serially, one at a time.

So why is there a decline in polymathy since the middle ages? Well Peter Burke, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College at Cambridge believed that due to the rapid increase in knowledge from the 17th century onwards with was increasingly difficult from an individual to master as many disciplines as before. Professor Burke warns that in the age of specialization, polymathic people are more necessary than ever.

Michael Araki is a professor at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil, who sought to formalise the polymathic development. Professor Araki’s work shows although there are many different perspectives and definitions of a polymath, they generally assert three elements which are; Breadth, Depth, and Integration.

Breadth means a comprehensive knowledge of the subjects, rather than a narrow specialisation. This is the primary indicator of a polymath. Depth refers to the accumulation of knowledge, as opposed to the dilettantes superficial knowledge. Finally there is integration which requires connecting, articulating and synthesising knowledge from different frameworks.

How do I use these terms? Well I’m assuming that you wouldn’t listen to this podcast unless you are a self-learner, or my mother. I also make the assumption that my listeners are studying in multiple fields of study. But even if you aren’t a polymath, I need to try to make my podcasts relevant to the person studying biology as it is to the person studying avionics just because of a diversity of listeners.

Also I think that a lot of people who are willing to put in the effort to self-learn, to be an autodidactic will naturally want to study and understand more than one topic.

Autodidacticism is simply education without the guidance of subject matter experts such as teachers or professors. In general an autodidactic has chosen the topic themselves and might be trying self-learning for the first time. When you need to select your own study material, create your own study plans and find the time yourself, it is useful to know that you’re not alone and that many people have trodden this path before. There is a well worn path, you just need someone to point it out to you.

It might be as an autodidactic you’re studying independently as a complement or an alternative to formal education. For example, learning how to program a computer could be a skill which is a complement to work you’re already doing.

In this pandemic lots of people are using their newly acquired spare time to learn other topics they have an interest in. A 2016 Stack Overflow poll reported 69.1% of software developers appear to be self-taught and I suspect in the current climate these numbers will only increase.

Well that is all for this week. It was a bit shorter than normal, but hopefully enjoyable. Next week I plan to return to the investigation of an autodidactic and try to ascertain their methods and adopt them for us to use.

If you enjoy the show, please give a rating on the platform you’re using to listen, and please share the podcast with friends and family who might be interested. Also, please feel free to email me like Kenyatta did to rick@autodidactic.info, or leave feedback on the website autodidactic.info.

Thank you very much for listening.

“Polymath” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 3. I’m happy to say that I’m appearing on another podcast soon. I was interviewed by Kris Brohom from Actual Fluency Podcast about my language learning activities and advice for people studying during the pandemic. I’ll put links in the podcast transcription on the autodidactic.info website.

This episode I’m going to be looking into the study habits of a great writer and autodidactic. Before I tell you his name, let me read a quote from him.

“Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

He is one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American writers, and worked in a variety of genres including fantasy, science fiction, horror, and mystery fiction. I’m speaking of Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920, died June 5, 2012). He was born in in Waukegan, Illinois to Esther Bradbury a Swedish immigrant and Leonard Bradbury who was a telephone lineman.

Bradbury’s most famous works include “Fahrenheit 451” and “Something wicked this way comes.”

Bradbury began writing his stories at age 11 (1931), during the Great Depression—sometimes writing on the only available paper, butcher paper. Bradbury was a firm believer in writing something every day. One incident which Bradbury attributed to his lifelong writing habit was, in 1932, when a carnival entertainer, one Mr. Electrico, touched the young man on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, “Live forever!” Bradbury wanted to be immortalised forever through his writing.

Bradbury remarked, “I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico … [he] gave me a future … I began to write, full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago.”

In addition to writing Bradbury was a keen prestidigitator, otherwise known as a magician. As a boy, Bradbury attended several performances by Blackstone the Magician and, in 1931, was given a book on magic for his eleventh birthday. He was soon performing his own magic act for various service clubs and lodges, and was invited to appear at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall on Christmas Eve.

In high-school Bradbury was a member of the drama club and was a keen actor. Bradbury married his wife in 1947 and they were married for 56 years until her death in 2003. His wife was the first and only woman he’d ever dated, and they had four daughters. Bradbury never obtained a driver’s license, but relied on public transportation or his bicycle. Bradbury witnessed a fatal car accident when he was 16. Later he said:

“I saw six people die horribly in an accident. I walked home holding on to walls and trees. It took me months to begin to function again. So I don’t drive. But whether I drive or not is irrelevant. The automobile is the most dangerous weapon in our society—cars kill more than wars do.”

Bradbury was a strong supporter of public library systems, raising money to prevent the closure of several libraries in California facing budgetary cuts. He said “libraries raised me”, and shunned colleges and universities, comparing his own lack of funds during the Depression with poor contemporary students. Bradbury permitted the publication of “Fahrenheit 451” in electronic form provided that the publisher, Simon & Schuster, allowed the e-book to be digitally downloaded by any library patron. The title remains the only book in the Simon & Schuster catalogue where this is possible.

It took Bradbury just nine days to write Fahrenheit 451—and he did it in the basement of the UCLA library on a rented typewriter. (The title of his classic novel, by the way, comes from the temperature at which paper burns without being exposed to flame.)

Bradbury remained an enthusiastic playwright all his life, leaving a rich theatrical legacy, as well as literary. Bradbury headed the Pandemonium Theatre Company in Los Angeles for many years and had a five-year relationship with the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena. Not only was Bradbury highly creative with language—he was also an exceptional visual artist. He would use the basement office as his studio, doodling, sketching, and painting.

He once said that when he died, he planned to have his ashes placed in a Campbell’s Tomato Soup can and planted on Mars. A more fitting memorial is the one NASA gave him when they landed a rover on Mars a few months after Bradbury’s death in 2012: They named the site where Mars Curiosity touched down “Bradbury Landing.”

So what can we take away from Ray Bradbury that would help us as autodidactics? The first is obviously the use of libraries and reading. He was at the library three days a week for 10 years. Even if he spent only an hour or two, he still invested between 520 and 1040 hours of time in the library. But from other statements he made while doing fund raising for libraries we can see that he invested a lot more time than that. He said:

“I read everything in the library. I read everything. I took out 10 books a week so I had a couple of hundred books a year I read, on literature, poetry, plays, and I read all the great short stories, hundreds of them. I graduated from the library when I was 28 years old. That library educated me, not the college.”

So Bradbury in the 10 years he invested time in the library he read about 5200 books. You can see from this quote that he was investing that reading time focused on his primary interest which was writing and theatre. Earl Nightingale said many years ago that one hour per day of study in your chosen field was all it takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do. Bradbury did it for 10 years, and for more than an hour.

To paraphrase self-help guru Brian Tracy: Read all you can about your field. Subscribe to the executive book clubs and book summaries. Build your own library of important books in your field. Never be cheap about your education. If you read one hour per day in your field, that will translate into about one book per week. One book per week translates into about 50 books per year.

As autodidactics much of our primary focus will be on using books for learning. Even if you’re learning a more physical skill such as sailing or painting there are numerous books written by professionals in your area of interest. If you’re interest is more academic then the library shelves are full of things you need.

Where I live the library provides an online catalogue of all their books, not just in my local library, but all the libraries run within the district I live in. They allow me to place an order for any book in any of the 75 libraries under their control and they will deliver it to my local library for me to walk over and pickup. While not every library provides this type of service, it is certainly worth investigating what is available to you via your local library.

Libraries contain not only books for study, but audio and visual works as well. If you’re learning a language then there is a good chance you can pick up some courses at the library with audio included.

Another thing we can take away from Ray Bradbury is the concept of Synergistic Learning. I don’t mean some kind of new-age buzzword. But rather knowledge gained in pursuit of one area, often has application in others. Bradbury introduced a concept of magic or mystery into many of his stories, and used the plays and poems he’d read to help give his writing a more lyrical feel. He applied his writing to a number of areas. In fact Bradbury’s first pay as a writer was for a joke he sold to comedian George Burns.

Being an autodidactic typically means that you’ll be learning more than one topic. These topics of interest can spread over a widely divergent set of things, but can be related. Synergistic learning is simply looking at your various topics of interest and seeing if there is any common ground. If there is you can focus on that area and gain knowledge in two interests not just one. For example, many topics need a good knowledge of maths.

Often we think of self-study as being simply sitting at a desk with a textbook. While that is valid, it isn’t the only thing that should be done. If you’re interested in Nutrition Science. You shouldn’t just be reading textbooks, you should try to also read websites, government guidelines, weight watchers magazines, cooking books, watch YouTube cooking channels, read about agriculture techniques, gardening books, wine and food magazines, etc.

Don’t narrow your focus too much, try to keep an open approach. You can focus when you start to get overwhelmed with information, but having a wider general knowldege of the subject will benefit you when you narrow your focus as well.

Well that is all for this week. If you enjoy the show, please give a rating on the platform you’re using to listen, and please share the podcast with friends and family who might be interested. Also let me know if you find these explorations of the methods used by other autodidactics useful, and if there is someone in particular you’d like me to research. As always you can leave feedback on the website autodidactic.info, or send me an email to rick@autodidactic.info.

Thank you very much for listening.

Actual Fluency Podcast

View Details

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic podcast, season 2 episode 2. I’d like to apologise for the delay in getting this weeks episode out. I ran into some technical issues and also getting a quiet area to do the recording. Hopefully I’ll be able to be more consistent in future.

This week I’m going to start delving into the lives and study methods of autodidactics through the ages and into modern times. I’m going to start with a person who most listeners inside the United States would need no introduction. I haven’t yet worked out the format of these podcasts about autodidactics, but I will generally start with telling you a little about the person, what they accomplished, and what we know of their methods. Then I’ll try to dig a little deeper into the methods they used and relate it to what we can emulate today.

The person I’m going to talk about today is Benjamin Franklin. Ben Franklin was born in what would become the United States on January 17, 1706 and died on April 17, 1790. Franklin was an American autodidactic and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23.

Benjamin Franklin became a luminary in everything from politics to physics, and he did this without modern educational techniques such as schools, teachers, or the Internet.

Franklin was a prodigious inventor, but Franklin never patented his inventions. Probably the first advocate of opensource/open knowledge movement he wrote: “… as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”

Franklin studied, electricity, ocean currents, population and demography, wave light theory, meteorology. He was an avid chess player, and with a friend learned Italian. The loser of these matches had to perform some task given by the winner, such as reciting sections of Italian grammar, or 100 animal names at the next meeting.

Ben Franklin’s autobiography can give us many clues about the man and how he used his time and many of his writings are available online to read. I’ll put links to his writings at the end of the transcript on the autodidactic.info website.

Although there is a lot to learn from his writings, I believe that Franklin had two methods we can emulate as autodidactics. The first is known today as “deliberate practice” and the second is measurement or monitoring.

Of all the things Franklin does these two things lend themselves most to self-study and autodidactism.

First let’s look at deliberate practice. What is it?

Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance. What sets deliberate practice apart from other training methods is a rigorous sequence of ongoing performance assessment, tailored goal-setting, and systematic skill-building informed by expert feedback.

Franklin shows us how he used deliberate practice when he taught himself to become an author and better writer. Let me read an excerpt from his autobiography.

About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try’d to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them.

—Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography

Here Franklin is doing what is known as “deliberate practice” in order to improve his writing. K. Anders Ericsson likens it to how artists practice by trying to imitate some famous work. Mathematicians are taught to attempt to prove most theorems themselves when reading a book or paper — even if they can’t, they’ll have an easier time compressing the proof to its basic insight.

Deliberate practice can be used to learn any skill from music to computer programming.

Let’s use some examples of how you could use deliberate practice for something other than writing as Franklin does.

Many people are self-taught programmers who use a programming textbook to learn a programming language. But if you just read the book and cover to cover you’ll not get the maximum value from it. Instead when you come to a section in a chapter showing a small snippet of code to open a file. Look at the snippet, close the book and actually try to create the program yourself without opening the book. Chances are you’ll fail, however when you open the book back up you’ll be able to compare your work against the snippet. You’ll get some immediate feedback about where you’ve gone wrong.

Otherwise when studying you can use this method by simply reading a page of the book you’re learning from, a recorded lecture, etc. Close the book or pause the video/audio and try to write down everything you’ve just read or listened to. Try not to do a summary, but to remember everything. It would be tedious to reproduce and entire book verbatim but this method would give immediate feedback about knowledge gaps. It might show you that the information you’ve missed tends to always been at the end of paragraphs, so you can modify your behaviour to focus on the end of paragraphs as well.

But deliberate practice is bigger than this. The exerpt I read from Franklin didn’t cover the three primary things you must do for deliberate practice. Mostly because Franklin himself had done the other steps “off camera”.

The three steps are:

Have a specific goal, and break it down – Break down what you want to know or practice into a well defined small amount. For a textbook this might be into chapters for example.
Create a plan – Have a written plan for how you’re going to practice, with times and a schedule. For example, you might decide on a chapter per week, with X number of exercises.
Get a coach (or some form of feedback) – this is probably the most important thing to have. Remember Franklin used the original Spectator articles as feedback to compare against his own writing. You also need some type of feedback mechanism. In the programming example you have the authors version of the file opening snippet.

When you do your plan you need to keep your goal in mind. When you break this down into practice sessions you need to have a goal in mind for each section.

Goals like:

Play or sing a certain song at a specific speed with no mistakes three times in a row.
Memorise the first 10 digits of pi.
Type at 50 words per minute with no errors.
Summarise each page of the textbook with no gaps.

If you’re interested in deliberate practice I recommend the book Peak by K. Anders Ericsson

The other area we can emulate from Franklin is tracking or monitoring of progress. Franklin had a little book where he would track his errors each day, monitoring himself to try to improve.

A phrase most managers in most companies will immediately recognises is “You get what you measure.” It’s human nature to shoot for the objectives set, and it is human nature to pay attention to the metrics which are being measured. However, a word of caution here. You need to make sure that you’re measuring the correct thing, or that the instrument you’re using to measure is correct. Just measuring time studying doesn’t indicate amount learned.

Sir Arthur Eddington, an English astrophysicist, told a short story involving a scientist studying fish by pulling them up with nets. After checking all the fish hauled up, the scientist concludes that there is a minimum size of fish in the sea. But the fish seen were determined by the size of the holes in the net, the smaller ones having slipped through, unmeasurable. The instrument you use affects what you see.

So you need to think carefully about what you are trying to learn and try to find a way to measure your ability.

If you are learning from a textbook you might create a simple form to fill out at the end of each chapter with some questions rating from 1-7 where 1 is defiantly not, and 7 is defiantly yes. Some statements might be:

“I understand ALL the concepts in this chapter.”

“I found this chapter easy.”

This type of survey would let you judge how well you learned from this book, and if you should re-read, or find an easier or more difficult resource.

If you were learning a skill such as learning how to remember names you might score yourself 2 points for all names remembered and -1 point for any name forgotten. Then you review your scoreboard each week, plotting it to spot trends. You might discover you typically fail to remember when introduced to a group of people at the same time, but are ok individually. Then you can use deliberate practice to focus on remembering names at group introductions.

If you were learning photography you might have your photos scored based on framing, lighting, focus, filtering, exposure, etc. Then you design practice sessions with deliberate practice on the elements you score low in.

For monitoring you need to:

Break down and list your goal into things which can be measured.
Eliminate things from the list who’s measurement isn’t essential
Be clear on what you need to measure, why you are measuring it, and how you’ll measure it.
Schedule periodic reflections on the measures
Design repetitive, deliberate practice to overcome measured defects.

Remember you can’t improve what you don’t measure, but measuring the amount of time spend generally isn’t useful. Review what you’re measuring in order to design better practice, and review your measures to ensure you’re still measuring essential matrix.

Thank you very much for listening.

Writings of Ben Franklin

NOTE: I apologize for the transcript not being 100% accurate this week, I had some difficulties getting it out.

View Details

Today we'll explore the methods used by ben Franklin for self-study and learning

View Details

Hello and welcome back to the autodidactic podcast, episode 1 season 2. If you’re a returning listener Welcome back! If you are new to the podcast then welcome aboard.

This episode I want to just give a brief introduction to the new season and the types of things I’ll be covering. Let me start by quoting the first few lines of a Rudyard Kipling poem.

I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

Season one of the podcast was focused primarily on how to study and various methods to use. This season I’d like to explore two of Kipling’s honest serving men, Why and Who. So I’ll do this episode on why being an Autodidactic is a good goal to pursue and the remainder of the season I’ll focus on Who.

Therefore, the season will primarily focus on Who. The reason for this is that I believe if we look at some autodidactics such as Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Malcolm X, and many others we can try to discover and adopt their methods for learning.

In many cases it is difficult to find any record of the methods which they used for study. Some are relatively easy to find information about, for example Ben Franklin wrote about his methods in his autobiography. Others we’ll have to find through research and contemporary writings.

I would also like to attempt to interview some living autodidactics and try to understand their methods.

But first let’s get into the Why of becoming autodidactic and what I mean when I talk about an autodidactic.

An autodidactic is a person who is a life-long learner and while they might study for to enhance their careers or job prospects when I speak of an autodidactic I’m talking about someone who doesn’t just learn for work purposes. A Uomo Universale an ideal developed in Renaissance Italy which considers humans limitless in capacity for development and that everyone should embrace knowledge and develop their capacities to the full. Exemplified by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), whose gifts were in the fields of art, science, music, invention, and writing.

Many of the benefits and reasons why someone should be autodidactic will apply to both autodidactics and anyone who is learning by themselves.

The first two reasons are ones that everyone can relate to, they are time and money. Self learners can save money by not enrolling in formal courses and time as well. The reason a self learner can save time is they focus on what they don’t know and can skip information they already know. While in a classroom environment you would have to sit while the lecturer brings others up to speed with things you already know.

Self-learning is neither location constrained nor time-bound. With proper planning and tools you can do your study anywhere and at any time.

Another often over looked advantage is tangents. Self-learners are allowed to go off on a tangent and then return later, since they have no constraints. For example, while studying computer science you might spark and interest in basic electrical systems and spend a few months on a tangent where you learn more about electrical systems and maths related to electricity before returning to your computer studies.

When you contrasts this with formal education where you have to attend the classes or miss out, the obvious benefits of self-learning becomes apparent.

Then there are the emotional benefits. A sense of accomplishment and pride. It will also make you happier according to Vanessa King, a positive psychology expert. Scientific research from the 1990s shows, a challenged, stimulated brain may well be the key to a vibrant later life. These studies have also shown a link to learning and the delay or negation of mental and physical ailments and diseases.

The one thing in life which is guaranteed is change. Change is the only constant around us, and in modern society the pace of change continues to increase. Many people believe that the economy of the future will require people who can continue to learn new skills and continue to adapt. This is because many jobs are already being automated out of existence. Lifelong learning enables us to keep up with society’s changes – especially the technological ones.

An autodidactic with the notion of Uomo Universale will pick topics and skills to learn outside of the work they do. A relentless focus on building a single skill is not, for most people, the best formula for leading a happy life.

So these are some benefits for becoming autodidactic. Thanks for listening, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the podcast. I’m always interested in hearing what you’d like me to discuss. So as always you can email me at rick@autodidactic.info, or you can leave a comment on the website: https://autodidactic.info

View Details

Hello and welcome to the autodidactic podcast. This is season one, episode 13. If your a returning listener then welcome back! If you have just started to listen then welcome aboard.

We are at the end of season one. I had intended to do another show with answers to any questions I’ve received, but I think I can cover those at the end of today’s show. So unfortunately I’m going to end on unlucky number 13 for this Season.

I’m ending this season a bit early for a couple of reasons. The first reason is another Lockdown in the UK because of the Covid virus will mean I’ll not have the peace and quiet required to record a show, and because it is quickly approaching the holiday season. Therefore, I’m going to end Season One and return again next year for Season Two.

I haven’t yet made the show schedule for Season Two, so if you’re interested in hearing something in particular please email me at rick@autodidactic.info. If you’d like me to expand on anything we’ve already discussed in Season One I’m happy to do that as well.

Today I’m going to talk about getting qualifications or certifications for things that you’re self-studying. This is a difficult topic to cover in detail, since I don’t know what you may be studying. However, I’m going to give some examples of qualifications or certification testing which you can do in some topics which I’m familiar with and hopefully you’ll be able to apply what I’m saying to the area that you’re studying.

Professional qualifications are vocational training courses relating to a specific industry or career path. They are typically regulated and awarded by relevant professional bodies, and are designed to ensure that everyone employed in a particular job meets the minimum required standards of professional expertise.
The first example I’m going to give is related to Information Technology. Previously I had mentioned surveys indicated over 60% of all programmers were self-taught. Many Project managers, or other IT professionals are also self-taught and then take a relevant certification test in order to prove their knowledge to a standard. Some examples are Prince2 project management training, Togaf technical architect training, Microsoft Certified Engineers and many others.

For some jobs in the UK for example a professional qualification is required. For example, to work as a qualified solicitor you must take the Legal Practice Course (LPC), and to become a chartered accountant you’ll need to pass the relevant exams.

There is some form of professional qualification available in most industries. In the UK these include:
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
These are just a small selection – there are many more.
• HR courses
• Management courses
• Marketing courses
• Sales training courses
• Social work courses
• Travel and tourism courses
The entry requirements for professional courses depend entirely on the qualification and what it leads to.
Many professional bodies offer different levels of vocational qualification, suitable for school leavers, graduates and experienced professionals. Typically, when you complete one exam, you become eligible to work towards another qualification at a higher level. Possessing some relevant work experience or having a demonstrable interest in the subject is often essential.
So how can you find out about some of these? Well in the UK you can contact the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) – the trade association for professional awarding organisations offers a wealth of information and contacts. If you’re not in the UK search for trade organisations in the area that you’re studying and see who awards any qualifications or certifications.

Another area where you might want to gain qualifications is languages. For example the DELF, HSK, or other language proficiency examinations which will give you a standard level which you can then use as your official level in the language.

But outside of vocational training and languages what can you do to apply your self-study toward a degree program?

In the USA you can get some college credits using CLEP testing. CLEP stands for “College Level Examination Program.” It’s a set of tests developed and administered by the College Board.

So what exactly are the CLEP tests? They’re exams that test your knowledge of a variety of academic subjects. Many colleges and universities will give you credit towards a degree for each CLEP test you pass.

CLEP exams are much cheaper than a full college course. With the right CLEP tests and undergraduate program, you could get your degree in as little as a year. But you must find a University which accepts CLEP testing. There’s no point in taking CLEP tests if you can’t transfer your passing scores for credit.

Many countries will have similar systems for allowing you to bypass courses in favour of self-study.

Many MOOCs (Massive open online course) will allow credit if your signed up with the University.

It might be that you’ve decided you’re going to do a self-study course through a “mail-order” course, although nowadays they call it “distance learning”, which gives qualifications at the end. This is a good approach, and in the UK you can even get a degree completely through distance learning from the Open University.

So although it is difficult for me to give anything other than general guidelines, hopefully you can see that there are many different ways to have your self-learning and autodidactic work recognised by the rest of the world through some type of testing.

But remember that it isn’t always necessary to have a qualification to become a recognized expert. A simple example of this was my father, who although never had a single qualification as a car mechanic managed to have everyone we knew around to the house anytime there was a problem with their car. He loved working on cars and through self-learning had taught himself everything need to repair a car.

I’m sure you can think of someone who is a recognised subject matter expert without any formal qualifications.

Well that covers just about everything I can think of regarding getting qualifications as a self-learner. Lets move on to the questions I’ve had from listeners.

The main question I’ve been asked boils down to: “What have you taught yourself?”

I have taught myself quite a bit over the years by self learning. I’ve alluded to some of these in previous podcasts. I don’t want to “toot my own horn”, but since you’ve asked…

I have taught myself French and Italian to a good level over a number of years, and I’m currently toying with Mandarin Chinese. I also administer a language learners forum (links in the show notes) and so get a lot of advice and assistance there. If you want to learn another language then I highly suggest you take advantage of all the great advice and lists of resources available there. It is all free, no advertisements or anything so make use of that if you can.

I have taught myself a lot of programming languages over the years, so many in fact I’ve probably forgotten a few I did know. But these include Assembler, C, C++, Java, Javascript, Rust, Perl, Python, Tcl/tk, and a lot of database stuff, SQL, PLSQL, etc.

I taught myself Lean management, which used to be called the Toyota method. But having a need for this I read every book and resource I could find for over a year, averaging 5-10 books per week on the subject until I knew just about everything there was to know.

Another question I have gotten is related to this. “What are you studying right now?”

Right now I’m teaching myself basic electronics, ARM assembler programming, Flutter programming, and Mandarin Chinese. I also have an entire bookshelf of maths books ranging from basic maths to Calculus and Discrete Mathematics. I’m slowly making my way through these books a few minutes each day.

So you can see that I really do practice what I preach.

And the final question I want to cover is one that came in recently. Francois asked: “I have tried mnemonics but I still struggle to remember the stuff I’m reading. How can I improve my retention?”

There are a couple of things you can do, some of which I’ve covered before but just to emphasise they are:
• Take notes about what your are reading. Write them in the margins or in a notebooks
• Make up questions about what you are going to read and try to find the answers while you’re reading.
• Reading out loud frequently helps with retention. So if you can find somewhere you will not be disturbed and read out loud.
• Try reading at night. According to some studies retention is better if you read in the evening, and the reading is processed while you sleep.
• Where possible use physical books rather than ebooks. It seems readers forget more of what they read in an ebook.
• If you are going to use an ebook, try to get an ereader which will read to you. Some programs like Fbreader will read the text to you.
• Always skim before reading checking out the headings and making questions.
• Read in smaller chunks. Don’t read 10 chapters a day, read 10 pages and try to suck all the information you can from those few pages. Bite-sized is better.
• Try to summarise in your own words what you have just read. You can do this at the end of each page, just say it out loud.
• Always quiz yourself on what you have read.

So that is it for Season One!

I hope you enjoyed the show and the rest of the podcasts and I look forward to returning in the New Year. Meanwhile I hope you have a wonderful time of study and learning while we are apart. I really would like to gather listener feedback about the shows, and I’m interested in hearing what you’d like me to discuss in Season Two. So as always you can email me at rick@autodidactic.info or you can leave a comment on the website: https://autodidactic.info

See you next year.

View Details

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 12, Season 1 of the autodidactic podcast. If you’re a new listener welcome, and welcome back to returning listeners.

This is episode 12 and we are nearing the end of Season One. We’ll get a couple of more shows in before taking a break for the holiday period. The last show of the season I’ll try to cover off all the listener questions which I’ve had. If you have any questions you want to get on to the prompt sheet for the show make sure to send them in soon. The email address is rick@autodidactic.info.

Today we’re going to talk about evaluation of resources when you’re creating your study plan, or just generally when selecting resources. Not all information is created equal, and not all of it is accurate. First we’ll talk about information generally, then we’ll cover off how to evaluation textbooks and other traditional resources, and then finally we’ll look at Internet resources and how to evaluate them for study purposes.

I’ve drawn heavily from papers created for university students for resource evaluations for essays and other school assignments, but it is all relevant to the self-learner, perhaps even more so. These include:

Meriam Library, California State University
Flinders University Australia
The American Library Association and the Reference and User Services Association
International Association of University Libraries

What are the Characteristics of Information? * Good information is that which is used and which creates value. * Good information is relevant for its purpose, sufficiently accurate for its purpose, complete enough for the problem, reliable and targeted to the right person. * It is also communicated in time for its purpose, contains the right level of detail and is communicated by an appropriate channel, i.e. one that is understandable to the user. * Information should be easy to obtain or access. * Information needs to be accurate enough for the use to which it is going to be put. + To obtain information that is 100% accurate is usually unrealistic as it is likely to be too expensive to produce on time. + The degree of accuracy depends upon the circumstances. * Reliability deals with the truth of information or the objectivity with which it is presented. + You can only really use information confidently if you are sure of its reliability and objectivity. + When researching for an essay in any subject, we might make straight for the library to find a suitable book. We are reasonably confident that the information found in a book, especially one that the library has purchased, is reliable and (in the case of factual information) objective. The book has been written and the author’s name is usually printed for all to see. The publisher should have employed an editor and an expert in the field to edit the book and question any factual doubts they may have. In short, much time and energy goes into publishing a book and for that reason we can be reasonably confident that the information is reliable and objective. * Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required. * Information should contain all the details required by the user. * Information should be in a form that is short enough to allow for its examination and use. There should be no extraneous information. + For example, it is very common practice to summarise financial data and present this information, both in the form of figures and by using a chart or graph. We would say that the graph is more concise than the tables of figures as there is little or no extraneous information in the graph or chart. Clearly there is a trade-off between level of detail and conciseness. * The presentation of information is important to the user. Information can be more easily assimilated if it is aesthetically pleasing. * Information must be on time for the purpose for which it is required. Information received too late or too old will be irrelevant.

If you’re evaluating traditional resources it can be simpler than evaluation of non-traditional resources such as websites. This is because traditional resources have associated workflows. So for example a textbook publisher employs fact-checkers, editors, etc.. They ensure that information published is as accurate as possible at the time of publication or broadcast.

When you’re selecting resources try to select sources use the CARS Checklist. CARS stands for Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support. If you learn to use the criteria in this list, you will be much more likely to separate the high quality information from the poor quality information.

| Credibility | Trustworthy source, author’s credentials, evidence of quality control, known or respected authority, organizational support. Goal: an authoritative source, a source that supplies some good evidence that allows you to trust it. | | Accuracy | Up to date, factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive, audience and purpose reflect intentions of completeness and accuracy. Goal: a source that is correct today (not yesterday), a source that gives the whole truth. | | Reasonableness | Fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth. | | Support | listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied. Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it). |

You can also use some of the librarian guidelines for picking resources. Try search for Research Guides, also known as Library Guides, or LibGuides, which are a series of tools librarians create to help their community with searching and common questions. Google for libguides for more information. Scholarly information usually refers to information that you find from your Library’s resources. In general, scholarly works are written by experts in the field and are vetted for accuracy and scientific rigour via accepted scholarly publishing standards such as peer review or editorial processes in the case of books. A level of credibility is assumed when an item is found within the Library. However even if your evidence is sourced from the Library, the quality of the information itself should be assessed critically.

Authority

Who is the author?
What else has the author written?
In which communities and contexts does the author have expertise?
- Do they represent specific gender, sexual, racial, political, social and/or cultural orientations?
- Do they privilege some sources of authority over others?
- Do they have a formal role in a particular institution (e.g. a professor at Oxford)?

Purpose

Why was this source created?
- Does it have an economic value for the author or publisher?
- Is it an educational resource? Persuasive?
  - What (research) questions does it attempt to answer?
  - Does it strive to be objective?
- Does it fill any other personal, professional, or societal needs?
Who is the intended audience?
- Is it for scholars?
- Is it for a general audience?

Publication & format

Where was it published?
Was it published in a scholarly publication, such as an academic journal?
- Who was the publisher? Was it a university press?
- Was it formally peer-reviewed?
Does the publication have a particular editorial position?
- Is it generally thought to be a conservative or progressive outlet?
- Is the publication sponsored by any other companies or organizations? Do the sponsors have particular biases?
Were there any apparent barriers to publication?
- Was it self-published?
- Were there outside editors or reviewers?
Where, geographically, was it originally published, and in what language?

Relevance

How is it relevant to your studys?
- Does it analyse the primary sources that you’re researching?
- Does it cover the authors or individuals that you’re researching, but different primary texts?
- Can you apply the authors’ frameworks of analysis to your own research?
What is the scope of coverage?
- Is it a general overview or an in-depth analysis?
- Does the scope match your own information needs?
- Is the time period and geographic region relevant to your research?

Date of Publication

When was the source first published?
What version or edition of the source are you consulting?
- Are there differences in editions, such as new introductions or footnotes?
- If the publication is online, when was it last updated?
What has changed in your field of study since the publication date?
Are there any published reviews, responses or rebuttals?

Documentation

Did they cite their sources?
- If not, do you have any other means to verify the reliability of their claims?
Who do they cite?
- Is the author affiliated with any of the authors they’re citing?
- Are the cited authors part of a particular academic movement or school of thought?
Look closely at the quotations and paraphrases from other sources:
- Did they appropriately represent the context of their cited sources?
- Did they ignore any important elements from their cited sources?
- Are they cherry-picking facts to support their own arguments?
- Did they appropriately cite ideas that were not their own?

If you are thinking about using a printed book, Google the book title with the word “review” appended and read what others think of the book.

After you find some resources, enter them into Google and append one of the following words or phrases: controversy, dispute, disagreement, alternate views, debate, arguments for and against. This will help you broaden the scope of your resources and information.

The facts we learn today may be timely now, but tomorrow will not be. Especially in technology, science, medicine, business, try to get the latest information where possible.

Next we come to evaluation of resources from the Internet. For this I recommend using a system developed by the Meriam Library, California State University (2010). It is called CRAAP which stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.

| Evaluate | What to look for in Web sites | | --- | --- | | Currency | Does the paper/assignment require the most current information, historical information, or information over a period of time? When was the Web site published or created? (look for a copyright date on the homepage) When was the site last updated or revised? Are the links up to date? | | Authority | Who is supplying the information? Is it an educational institution (.edu extension)? A government agency (.gov)? A commercial supplier (.com)? A non-profit organization (.org)? Is the supplier a reputable organization? (look for an “About Us” link on the homepage) Is there an author or contact person named? What are the author’s credentials (see “What to look for in books and periodicals”)? Has this site been reviewed by experts or professional organizations? | | Validity/Accuracy | Are sources of information cited? Compared to other sources, is the information complete and accurate? Are the links also complete and accurate, or are there discrepancies? Is selection criteria provided for the links found in the Web site? Does the site appear to be carefully edited, or are there typographical errors? | | Audience | Is the site appropriate for your needs, or is it too technical or too elementary, or too full of jargon? Who is the intended audience? Experts or the general public? | | Point of view (bias) | Does the information appear to be filtered or is it free from bias? Could the organization sponsoring the site have a stake in how the information is presented? Is the site free of advertisements? Are various points of view, theories, techniques, or schools of thought offered? | | Purpose/context | What is the purpose of the site or article? Is it to share new, scholarly research? is it to report developments in an evolving news story? Or is it to rant about a government conspiracy? How closely does the web site relate to the purpose for which you need that information? |

Many sites on the Internet have legitimate useful information. But it also has a lot of information which is in accurate, but often repeated, sometimes virally.

Appearances can be deceiving. Don’t assume that a great-looking Web site is automatically credible. Very professional and sophisticated Web page templates are available for a few dollars, so that anyone can put up a site that looks expensive and authoritative.

Wikipedia can be a great place to start to get an understanding of a topic. It may also lead you to relevant, high quality resources. Try looking at the references of a Wikipedia page (at the bottom of each Wikipedia page) and assess the quality of the references you find. Many Wikipedia entries will cite scholarly resources (including books and journal articles) in their references.

We’ve covered a couple of acronyms CARS & CRAAP, but you might want to remember just AAOCC (Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency, and Coverage). The same basic questions should be asked of all information sources: books, journal articles, web pages, blogs, videos, sound recordings and e-books.

These questions will help you identify good resources. Bad resources can be identified relatively easily. If it makes a lot of value statements: He is the worlds best player vs He won 5 consecutive world championships. If it references a lot of vague or unnamed groups or people. It has few or no references to other publications.

However, remember that to locate fair, objective material, you must be fair and objective, too. A major error that too many researchers make is to look only for sources whose ideas, findings, or arguments they already agree with. Confirmation bias.

There is no single perfect indicator of reliability, truthfulness, or value. Instead, you must make an inference from a collection of clues or indicators, based on the use you plan to make of your resource.

Hopefully this has given you a good idea of how to evaluate resources for your study. I’d be interested in hearing your evaluation of this podcast as a resource. Thank you for listening.

Next week the topic will be getting certifications or qualifications in the topics which you’ve self-studied and how an autodidactic can gain qualifications.

See you next week.

View Details

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast Season one Episode 11.

This week we’re going to talk about how to structure a study plan when you’ve not got a lot of knowledge about the subject which you want to start learning. So when you first decide, you’re going to learn a new skill rather than rushing out in finding new resources, there’s a lot of things you should do first.

So when you first decide that you’re going to learn a new skill rather than rushing out and finding new resources there are a large number of things you should do first. The first thing you need to do is determine why it is you want to learn this new skill or gain this new knowledge. And then you want to be really clear about what it is you plan to do with this skill or knowledge. So let’s examine this in a little bit more detail with some examples.

Let’s take an example where you have decided that you want to learn cheesemaking. You know the skills you want to gain but how far is it that you wish to take this. Are you going to be doing this just as a hobby in your spare time or at weekends? Are you just going to use it to give some gifts of cheese to people that you know? This will tell you what types of resources you’re going to need and how far you’re going to take it. It should also give you some indication of how long you’re going to have to spend on learning this new skill. Why does this make any difference? If you are going to do cheesemaking simply as a hobby and you were not going to sell the product then you really don’t need to worry so much about government food safety standards. You will not need to know about lavatorial testing for bacteria or viruses. You will not need to know about industrial food processing equipment. You will not need to have any related knowledge about accounting, logistics, refrigerated storage, et cetera et cetera. So this is an example which I’ve just picked out of the air but it does illustrate the levels of knowledge around the skill can depend on what you plan to use that skill to do.

It might be that you don’t have a “practical” skill that you want to learn by simply knowledge for the sake of it. But even here you would still need to try and assess the level which you want to attain. Do you want to have a general knowledge of the subject or do you want to be an expert?

So you really need to understand how you intend to use the knowledge once you’ve gained it. Will you be using it for personal development, problem-solving, general interest, a prerequisite for some others skill you wish to develop, et cetera. This

This is also a good opportunity to try and identify where you are currently at with regards to the skill. Obviously you are a beginner, but you may already have related skills which you do not need to learn. If we go back to the cheesemaking example, if you’re already an accountant then you will already be able to leveraged business related knowledge. You need to assess what prior knowledge you may have about this material because this will help you identify the gaps you need to fill.

So this initial assessment should tell you:

– what is it you want to get out of this self-directed learning.

– What level do you want to achieve once the learning is over with.

– What areas will you need to cover in order to gain the level of knowledge you require for what you want to do

It is at this point you might try and write down what you will now at the end of your self-directed learning. So this is basically the goal toward which you are striving. And it might be something along the lines of. “I will know enough about cheesemaking to make five different types of cheese as a hobbyist.”

Now that you have assessed your goal and what types of knowledge you will need generally you can begin to reflect on the design of your study plan. Remember that your study plan will be an ever-changing ever-growing document. You’re not going to be able to start off listing everything that you will need to know simply because there are things that you don’t know that you don’t know.

Now hopefully on a piece of paper you will be able to write down the skill you wish to learn and the level which you want to attain. You will be able to write down how you will use this skill and any prerequisites or associated skills that you may need to learn as well. At this point we can start to construct a study plan.

At this point it’s useful to sit down with a piece of paper or perhaps this spreadsheet and began to list into columns your current knowledge and any missing knowledge and limitations. This is not going to be an exhaustive list but it is a good starting point for the next step of finding resources.

In the current knowledge column, you will need to explore your assumptions about the subject, any personal experience you already have, any knowledge you may have already gained. Listing your current knowledge should hopefully trigger ideas about what to put in the column for missing knowledge. The things you want to include in your missing knowledge column are things like: who, what, where, when, why, how.

If your goal skill is a more academic one, then it would be useful for you to try and find a syllabus or a course structure for a degree in that particular subject. Many universities provide publicly accessible course pages that contain freely available lecture notes. So these will give you a predefined structure to work with or at the very least help identify gaps in your knowledge.

So if we returned to our cheesemaking example. Who makes cheese in my local area? What are the ingredients I would need? Where would I be able to do this activity? How do I buy ingredients? Where can I find a local tutor? Is it possible to learn all of this from a book? Where can I find video courses? What is the maximum capacity of industrial cheesemaking equipment?

The more questions you can ask, and the more entries you can put into your missing knowledge column, the more you will be able to identify the gaps in your knowledge. And knowing where the gaps are allows you to fill in the gaps.

The final column was limitations. Here you want to try and identify any limits or issues that you will have to overcome. So things in this area would be for example timeframes, budget restrictions, scheduling restrictions, et cetera. For example this might be something you can only learn at the weekend while in your kitchen. Or it might be that you cannot afford to spend more than the cost of five or six books. Or you are limited to only 20 minutes a day for study time.

Knowing these restrictions and limitations upfront will help you when you began to look for resources and to plan and schedule your study. Once you’ve got a nonexhaustive but fairly comprehensive list in your three columns you can start looking for resources.

So where can you find out what it is you need to know? The two main places to find resources are the traditional resources and online sources. Traditional resources include books, articles, film, conversation, mark courses, seminars, workshops, et cetera. Online resources include websites, forums, blogs, wikis, YouTube videos, podcasts, online learning courses. I find the best way to identify the resources that I’m going to need is to go back to the missing knowledge column, select and item from the list and try and brainstorm as many resources as possible. Let’s go back once again to the cheesemaking example.

Let’s suppose that one of the things you had listed as missing knowledge was “how do I find recipes?”. Again using paper or a spreadsheet or whatever your preferred method, write down this question, or gap in your knowledge and start to think about howt ACTIONS you could use fill in that gap. So using this example we might brainstorm items such as:

– Buy a recipe book.

– Search for recipes online.

– Go to the grocery store and look at the ingredients lists on all of the cheeses.

– Join a local cheesemaking club and swap recipes.

– Find a local cheesemaker for tutoring and recipes.

So without a lot of effort I managed to come up with five different ways to fill that particular knowledge gap. And it was one question and of hopefully many. So using this technique if you had managed to come up with 20 or 30 questions, you may have potentially a 100 to 150 different avenues to explore.

Now that you have a large number of avenues to explore you can start your official study plan. I recommend that you use a spreadsheet but you can do whatever you please. Your study plan should include the activities that you want to do and a deadline for when they will be done. You should try and have three plans. So if you’re using a spreadsheet you can have three workbooks and these are labelled Today, This week, This month. There is optional fourth workbook called future where you can list all of the things that you will need to learn but not this month.

The today workbook is simply a todo list. And you list out the things that you are going to do today. This can include actual study, but you should also include resource searches, resource evaluation, et cetera. Having a list of things that you’re going to do each day will help you estimate the amount of time is going to take you to get through the list.

The workbook labelled this week should be a list of all the activities you are going to do in the first column, and then seven columns with the name of the weekday as the header. And then you simply put an X on the grid to show what day of the week you will be doing which activity.

The workbook labelled this month should have a list of all the activities you are going to do, and then the week number that it will be done, 1-4.

So using this spreadsheet or paper if you prefer, make up entry into one of the three workbooks for the actions that you identified based on your questions. So one of the actions I thought I was by a recipe book, I’ll put that in the today workbook. I’ll put search for recipes online into the today workbook. I might put go to the grocery store and look for ingredients into this week. And everything else I put into this month.

Now that you’ve started your study plan it simply a matter of continuing to update it as you learn more things. Before we move on to how to keep your study plan updated, I would just like to point out that this simple exercise done before you start studying will help you enormously.

After you have done some of the actions from your planning session you might have some resources which you can start to do the actual studying. For example you may have downloaded a textbook from one of the free online distributors and you want to start studying. Looking back at your constraints column let’s assume that one of those constraints was time. You only have 20 minutes each day for textbook study. With this in mind open the textbook and do a swift evaluation of how long you believe each chapter will take you to study, generate questions, and take notes related to the chapter. Then determine how many chapters or what percentage of a chapter you can get done in the time constraint that you have. Then you need to map this into your study plan schedule. You may determine that you can complete the entire textbook within one month if you do one chapter every two study period. So then you just need to schedule that in. And having this in your schedule allows you to not get yourself overbooked. It means that you can stagger the purchase of resources, for example additional textbooks, until after you’ve completed this one.

One thing to note when you get online resources is that the Internet is awash with information produced by people with varying experiences and opinions. You should be sceptical of any resource that you get online. You should try and ensure that you get peer-reviewed academic databases, for example Google scholar or world cat if you’re looking for reliable resources. Now Georgetown University has a guide to research and evaluating Internet content. I’ll put the link in the show notes but it’s worth reviewing it.

Each time you complete a resource you will most likely identify yet another gap in your knowledge. When this gap has been identified it’s worth doing this exercise again on a smaller scale to identify what resources, time, et cetera, are required to fill this gap. And in fact you need to evaluate if you should even bother to fill the gap.

As you progress with your study plan you need to be constantly assessing whether your learning is successful. So revisiting your initial evaluation of missing knowledge or gaps is useful to see if you are getting the results from the efforts that you put in. You should be assessing what went well and what didn’t, and trying to determine how you could improve efforts processes and outcomes in the future.

You should also be assessing your knowledge against your goals. There is probably an infinite amount of things you could learn but if you already know enough to have attained your goal should you continue studying? The decision to continue studying is obviously yours based on how close you are to your goals.

Another problem that you may have is if you’re not assessing yourself against your goals, you might discover that you had gone off on a tangent and you spent five months studying something that really wasn’t particularly relevant to your end goal. So you need to work with your end goal in mind and be constantly assessing what your resource is you’re using and the study that you’re doing and the time and effort that you’re putting in against that goal. And it might be that you decide that you want to revise your goal.

You decide that you want to take this further than your initial goal. So if you’re cheesemaking example, you had initially thought you would be a hobbyist. But now you just decided that you want to do this is a full time job or start a company doing it. This constant evaluation will help you work through your knowledge, knowledge, gaps and your study plan, and you should be constantly reassessing your study plan as well to make sure that it’s working for you. and it’s worth trying to improve your study plan. Improve your scheduling, Improve your notation. Uh, improve the way that you identify resource is etcetera. So always be trying to improve what it is that you’re doing against your study plan.

Okay, that’s it for this week. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at Rick@autodidactic.info and I’ll try and help you or make a podcast about any future requests that you may have next week. I’m going to try and delve a bit deeper into resource evaluation on how you can evaluate resource is that you may get online. How you can evaluate traditional resource is before you buy them on. Just generally go through how to pick out. The best resource is for what you need for for your studying to attain your goal. Thank you very much for listening

View Details

Hello and welcome to the auto didactic podcast. This is Season 1 Episode 10 If you’re a long-time listener, welcome back to the show. And if you’re joining us for the first time, welcome aboard. As always, I just want to say that I enjoy getting feedback for the show. So if you have any feedback, feel free to email me at rick@autodidactic.info, and you can request topics or give feedback or give your experience.

Today we’re going to talk about concentration. Now, when you study, concentration is very important, and it’s something that you may have in abundance or something that you might not have, but it is definitely something that can be acquired.

So what is Concentration? Concentration is focusing your attention on what you’re doing, and concentration is an important in just about everything, especially reading or listening or studying. It’s very difficult to say what concentration is, but it’s very easy to explain what it isn’t.

For example, if you’re reading a chapter in your textbook, you’re concentrating only as long as you’re thinking of nothing else, as soon as you start to think about how many pages you have left to read or what time you’re gonna eat dinner or a soon as you start to think about something else then you’ve been distracted and you’re not concentrating.

So if you think about the fact that you should be concentrating, that means you’ve actually lost your concentration. So, for example, if you were in some sort, of course, or watching a YouTube video and you become interested in something that’s happening outside your window or behind you or other people talking, then you’ve lost your concentration. And you’ve probably missed some of the points that the person was trying to make.

Being distracted interferes with your ability to focus, and in each of the sort of examples I’ve given you are actually concentrating on something. The problem is, you just were concentrating on something other than what you wanted to be. Now the difficulty with concentration is a pretty common place for most people on.

I think basically, there three types of concentration and improving your concentration is something that’s very important if you’re going to become an autodidactic. Studies say that there are three levels of concentration.

So as you’re reading your text assignments. Time yourself for 20 minutes, and each time you think of something else or look up from what you’re doing, put a tick mark in the margin of your book. You’ll find out that you probably weren’t concentrating at the level that you should have been. And at some points during the 20 minute period, you’ll have noticed that you were more focused on the material than other times. If you look back at the tick marks that you made in your books, you can see where you were starting to lose concentration. And typically, most people find that these are in the early parts of the study section or the section, which you’re studying.

Why is that? Basically, most people are less distracted toward the end of the 20 minute period. Let’s take a little look at how concentration works. You have what they call light concentration, moderate concentration and deep concentration. A light concentration is typically when you first sit down and you first start a task. So at this stage it lasts, probably for the first five or 10 minutes of your activity on. Then, as you get settled into reading or studying or whatever it is you’re doing, you can see that in the first few minutes you’re not really as focused as you should be, and you wiggle about in the chair or you pull your hair or you start twiddling a pencil or doing something.

So when you’re in light concentration mode, you’re easily distracted. So if somebody starts talking behind you or you see people walking around outside or whatever or some noise occurs, you may find yourself thinking about other things, and you typically don’t accomplish much in a light concentration phase.

Now, after that first five or six minutes, you start to move into a moderate concentration mode, and at this point you begin to seriously pay attention to what you’re doing on the task that you’re doing or what you’re reading, etcetera. Now you may find that you’re actually interested in in this material on what you’re doing, and at this stage you’ll find that you’re not as easily distracted as you were before. So although you might lose your concentration at this point if somebody actually speaks directly to you or knocks on the door or whatever, typically you’re going to stay focused on what you’re doing, and then at some point you might move into deep concentration.

And this means you’re completely engrossed in what you’re doing reading, studying, etcetera and you aren’t thinking about anything except what you’re doing. It’s this. This is the sort of phase where you jump when somebody comes up behind you and touches your arm because you’re so sort of engrossed in what you’re doing that you didn’t even notice the person. Enter the room or say your name when you’re in deep concentration. You’re not really aware of doors opening, clock’s ticking, other sounds that you may have found distracting. And this is the stage of concentration where you’re working the most effectively and you’re gonna have the highest comprehension.

This is the mode that you want to get into, and this is where you’re gonna learn the most and complete the most amount of work.

How do you get into a deep concentration? Concentration typically is a cycle, and you might be thinking that it’s easy to get to a high level of concentration. You know you work for 10 or 15 minutes and then buying you’re in deep concentration, but it really doesn’t work like that. What typically tends to happen is you’ll be able to work up into deep concentration for 40 minutes of say in our study session. Typically, the first few minutes is not really any good to you. And unfortunately, some people never actually get into deep concentration. They flip back and forth between light and moderate because they’re more or less constantly distracted.

Every time you’re distracted, you move back to a lesser stage of concentration. So if you’re in deep concentration, you get distracted urine sort of moderate, and then if you’re in moderate, you go back to light. What you need to do is keep interruptions very short if they happen or not at all. And you need to do this until you get deep into the material. This might take you. You no longer than five or 10 minutes to do. But you’re still gonna have to move through these two other steps of light and moderate before you could get into deep or heavy concentration. And this is gonna take you a while.

So you’re gonna need to study in places where you’re not interrupted as much where you’re you’re gonna be able to basically concentrate for longer periods and your your ability to concentrate. It’s gonna vary from task to task and depends on what you study in the text and things on the time what you’re doing, it etcetera. One of the things you definitely don’t want to be doing is studying in a noisy or distracting area where there’s loads of people and you should actually try and study at the same time each day because you just get into a habit of studying. Most people, as I said, have concentration problems. But most people don’t actually have problems concentrating, which sounds a bit weird, but people have the ability to concentrate. No problem. They just have problems getting into concentration.

So there’s three kinds of problems that are typically found. There’s difficulty focusing at will like you know immediately when you want to. There’s a difficulty sustaining that focus over a longer period of time, and there’s a different difficulty in limiting the focus toe one task at a time. So let’s discuss the first one focusing it will. So have you ever noticed that you have difficulty concentrating when somebody starts lecturing or when you start to the video you may find yourself looking around or thinking about you know, when you’re when you’re gonna be able to get thio whatever you’re doing next. But you basically have trouble focusing all your attention on the task at hand, and this is focusing at will, being able to turn your attention on and off like a light switch. Now some people can concentrate immediately. Others find it difficult.

Many people have developed techniques to focus their attention on the task at hand. You picture yourself of that critical minute when you’re gonna make your move, and you go through some sort of ritual to calm yourself or focus your attention. People that play sports ballplayers, bowlers, tennis players, runners, etcetera have strategies to focus their attention. Many people use self talk to focus yourself, so you might say things like, Okay, pay attention. I’m gonna do this. Some people give themselves a little pep talk. You know, pay attention. I need to do this. I need to concentrate, etcetera. Some people have sort of a totem, you know. They put a pen or highlighter in front of them, and they, you know, they know that they’re going to start studying or they have ah, particular place where they study and they associate their concentration with that area, so these sorts of things help them to focus their will.

The other problem that people have is sustaining that concentration once you actually start, as we discussed previously, the concentration is a cycle, so it’s not as easy as it sounds just to keep in that mode. And some people have difficulty maintaining concentration. Regardless of the task, Some people can focus for long, long, long periods without ever becoming distracted. Why is there this difference? Well, the difficulty of the task level, the person’s interest in the material, their motivation can all be factors in what is the ability to sustain this focus? The final type of problem is, uh, limiting your focus toe one task at a time.

Now, a lot of people think that it’s good to multitask, but most of the time this isn’t a good idea, especially when you’re studying or trying to learn something, you need to focus your attention on the task at hand without being distracted by, you know, another uh, text that you need to review or another thing that needs to do but happen or something else on your to do list. Various strategies around this include, you know, having a good study environment that helps you avoid distractions.

Strategies for setting goals and time management and prioritization will all help you. When you find yourself thinking of other things staring out a window or being distracted, you may have difficulty focusing at will, sustaining your focus or limiting your focus on one task. The rial cause of most problems for concentration are simply a lack of attention, lack of interest or lack of motivation. The two main signs of poor concentration are external internal distractions. Distraction is anything that divert your attention from the task at hand. So external distractions or things like doorbells or people walking past etcetera, internal distractions or things that you’re thinking about or you’re worrying about, or you know, something that pops into your head while you’re while you’re working.

Common internal distractions, air sort of anxieties, personal worries, indecision, etcetera. You probably find that it’s really easy to concentrate when you’re interested in what you’re doing. So when you’re focused on something that you’re doing, like a hobby or or whatever you find it easy to let the time slip away. You’re very focused on what you’re doing. Your level of interest in this particular course from the material that you’re studying, maybe part of the problem with A without having a high level of interest. It’s easy to get distracted, especially when you’re surrounded by distractions. I like the motivation is another cause If you really don’t care about what you’re studying or you have no motivation to complete on, learn what you need to learn, then you’re really not going to see the relevance, uh, toe what you’re trying to study or or what your you’ve assigned yourself to do on. It’s hard to exert.

You know that extra willpower to get it done, you really need to have a motivation and and find out, you know, why am I doing this? Why am I trying to learn this? You know what is my motivation and keep that motivation of mind. It will help you improve your concentration. If you’re motivated to succeed, these problems can be marked. Is AIM (Attention, interest and motivation).

And they’re the real reasons that distractions interrupt you. Internal distractions are difficult to put away. It’s very difficult to not worry about personal problems or think about what you have to do later, or if you’re feeling hungry or tired, you know is another common distraction. You need to make sure that you try and solve these types of problems before you sit down to study, you know, have a snack. Eat something before you start. Try and make sure you’re getting proper sleep and things so that you’re not tired, and you need to make sure that you’ve got the right attitude towards what you’re doing so that you’re motivated, that you know what you want to do and you’re ready to do it. There’s a lot of people have concentration problems when they’re reading assignments, unlike the person speaking or varying the pitch of their voice or the tone or the changing environment around them. These folks can keep you from being distracted and can keep you interested in what’s happening. But if you’re lying in bed reading a textbook, well, you know it can affect your ability to concentrate. If you try and read late at night, you’re gonna experience more difficulty staying focused because you’re tired.

Concentration actually requires effort, so it’s hard to make that effort if you’re tired and you have difficulty maintaining concentration when you’re reading for long periods of time without a break. Okay, So how do we improve concentration? How do we go about making the concentration better? Well, by now, you realize that concentration is pretty common for everybody. And although it makes you feel a bit better to know you’re not the only person who has this problem. It doesn’t actually help you.

Look at ways to fix our concentration strategies. There’s various motivational and organizational strategies we can use to improve concentration. And probably the most helpful ones are a positive attitude. A general interest in the task in hand, goal settings and scheduling yourself. You know, your study periods.

So you need to develop a positive attitude towards what you’re gonna what you’re gonna do. You need too. Want to do the study you need to see it is relevant and valuable and important. So before you even begin to do all of this stuff, have to think about how it benefits you, right? And, answer the question of why you want to do this and then have some self belief. You know, you can do this assignment. It’s not a problem. You have successfully completed things before and you’ll successfully complete.

If you’re having any self doubts or frustration, they’ll interfere with your concentration. You need to have a positive attitude, and then you need to be interested in the task If you’re not already interested and you’re gonna have a lot of difficulty in doing, uh, this task If you need to read a two part data sheet on, uh, microprocessors or something, then you’re gonna need to be interested in that. In order to sustain your focus, you’re gonna need ways to find to make this material interesting on dso that you can generate an interest in what you’re doing.

Now, one way is to preview the thing before you read, so you have a good idea of what you’re going to go through. You know, we’ve talked about this before where you review the chapters. You look at the headings, you sort of have a good idea of what’s gonna happen before you start to read. And in order to increase your motivation, you start to ask some questions from the headlines on the headers so that you are looking to answer these questions as you’re reading along so that that gets you more motivation and more interest in the topic because you’re actually searching for answers at this point.

Another thing that you might try is to break up, break up this task into smaller chunks so that you don’t have to read eight Chapter Section one of this book. You break it into smaller chapters or half a chapter so that you’re basically doing one task at a time, and you’re taking your way through it so it won’t matter as much if you’re distracted midway through if you’re only midway through a relatively small section. The other thing you might try is if you’re not particularly interested in this particular topic and you have another topic what you are interested in, you can try flipping between them so that you know you force yourself to do 20 minutes of mathematics in order to read 20 minutes of history book.

Now you can use goal setting strategies, so set a clear specific goal to help you concentrate. So if you know what you need to accomplish, then you can limit your focus to that tasks of it again. If we go back to asking questions, you’re focusing on answering your own questions rather than just reading the text. But having a clear purpose in mind can help you limit the distractions that you run into on time. Management strategies are very important, you know. Have a to do list. Have a reverse revision, spreadsheet, that sort of thing. To develop a steady schedule study schedule for yourself each day. Then you need to create a positive environment. You need to be able to reduce the number of external distractions on.

The easiest way to do that is just just eliminate them by going and hiding away somewhere where you’re not gonna be distracted. You can avoid most external distractions by closing yourself off or getting yourself alone somewhere. Find yourself a nice, quiet study place. Limit your distractions. So even in your study place, you can put your desk against the wall. Eso you can’t look out the window. Turn off emails, etcetera. Use your desk to study, you know, Don’t use it for everything else. Don’t eat your dinner there. You know it’s just for studying and don’t get a comfy chair to study in. Get something that’s not too comfortable that basically keeps you awake. Never study while you’re lying in bed, because basically, you fall asleep. Um, you can try and turn off your phone, or at least screen your phone calls. Turn off radios, televisions, radio, etcetera. If you need something sort of white noise, you can use soft, familiar music or because even APS you can download that have sort of a sound of falling rain. Etcetera.

Try and study when where you’re at is the most quiet. So if you’re studying at home, when your family members or asleep or outside, um, try and consider going to maybe a library or somewhere quiet If you can’t get any quiet time at home, try and just reduce or remove all distractions in order to get your place. Get yourself into a place where you could go into deep concentration. Now again, everybody says multitasking is great, but really multitasking is not great for study. You need to focus on what you’re doing. You can’t be, you know, studying mathematics While watching football on television. You might think that you’re able to but you just can’t because you’re concentrating on neither thing. If you’re trying to listen to your, you know, respond to text messages on your phone while you’re studying, it’s just not gonna work. Don’t do it. Focus on the task at hand. Minimize all your distractions.

Try not to focus yourself internally, so don’t think about you know the things you could be doing or should be doing or want to be doing. Uh, that’s not the time to be focusing on that. Focus on what you’re doing. Task at hand. And when you find yourself drifting off and thinking about something else, pull yourself back and the more often you pull yourself back and focus, the easier it will be for you to focus later. So one of the better ways to keep distractions from actually getting to you in the first place is to generate a high level involvement using active learning strategies. You may understand video tutoring better if you’re writing notes at the same time. If you’re physically actively writing notes, um, or you know you may have other um, strategies for, I don’t know, looking for grammatical errors and sentences, etcetera. So all of these sort of active strategies to get you involved and focus your attention on the task.

The other problem that you may have is that your you prefer one type of activity over another. So, for example, you may prefer to watch video tutorials rather than read text, which is fine. But you need to be able to make sure that when you’re doing a an activity that you don’t particularly like so much that you’re focusing and concentrating on that as well. Now, one of the things we said earlier was to put a check mark or a tick mark in the book. Every time you’ve got distracted Onda at the end of the study session, you can count the number of interruptions. One of the things that you can do with this is you can use this as a monitor to see if you’re improving your concentration. The way that you do that is, you basically put a tick mark or something in the margin of your study book or in your notes.

If you’re in a lecture hall or you’re watching a video or whatever, each time you get distracted and then what, you’re gonna try and do is make a commitment to reduce the number of ticks and distractions in order to force yourself to concentrate when you notice that you’re distracted or day dreaming or thinking about something else and you’re putting that tick in the in the margin or in your notes or whatever, then have a think about what actually caused you or triggered you to lose your concentration. And if you can pinpoint the cause of your distraction than your step closer to coming up with a solution.

So, for example, if you if you’re studying and you over the course of two or three days, you notice that you’re always constantly distracted by the the postman putting post through the letter box, it might not be, you know, a good idea to stop the postman from delivering your post, but you can at least try and schedule your study time after the postman has been, for example, or if you know, approximately the time that they’re going to show up. Schedule a study break, then, rather than having it being forced upon you many benefits to improve concentration, and obviously the most obvious one is that you’re making better use of your time, and you’re actually studying more but improves concentration while studying has another benefit, which is, Actually, it improves your concentration the rest of the time, bringing your attention back on point. Every time it goes off, you’re training yourself to become more focused and more aware of what you’re doing and better able to fix your concentration at will on a particular thing.

This is something that a lot of people who meditate have found that their ability to meditate and to focus on one thing allows them much, much better ability to get in the flow of something and focus and concentrate. Monitor your distractions so you can hold yourself accountable and try and figure out what is causing these distractions or lack of concentration. So you can try and come up with some sort of improvement method or system or something that will help you do it. And if you’re putting in the time but not getting much done, then you probably have a concentration problem, and you and you need to work on fixing your concentration problem.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks podcast, and I hope you have found something to take away and improve your studying and improve your concentration.

Next week in next week’s podcast, I want to cover off something that you might have been wondering, which is has an auto didactic. You don’t have a teacher or professor or someone showing you what to learn. And, of course, you yourself don’t actually know yet about this subject in full. So how do you go about creating your own self directed learning plan or curriculum for yourself? Next week? We’ll cover off some of those topics just to try and cover what it is you should try and look for when you first start out and how you plan create an Evolve, a learning plan that helps you become a lifelong learner and also to cover the topic that you’re interested in. So that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed the podcast. And, as always, if you have any feedback, please email me at rick@autodidactic.info. Uh, with any questions, feedback, anything you want to discuss. Thank you very much.

{{This transcription was computer generated and may contain errors.}}

View Details

“Hello, everyone, and welcome back. This is Episode 9 Season 1 of The Autodidactic Podcast. If this is your first time, I welcome you, and if you’re a returning listener, thanks for coming back.

Today I want to cover the topic of lecture notes. As an Autodidactic, self-learner you’re probably not gonna attend many formal lectures, although you might. Other than attending class every day, taking good lecture notes is probably the single most important activity for college students, but if you’re self learning, you might not think you need to worry about this sort of thing.

However, like I pointed out last week, a lecture may take many different forms. It could be an online lecture, or it could be a class from an on line tutor. It could be a speech at a conference, or it could be a podcast or YouTube video. If someone is verbally imparting knowledge to you, you should consider it a lecture and try and take some notes.

If it is recorded audio or video lecture, you could re listen. But this isn’t a very efficient use of time. With these types of information, you’re not going to get things spoon-fed to you like you did back in high school. There probably isn’t a blackboard where the important stuff is itemized in a list for you. You’re going to have to listen closely and pick out the most important parts for yourself.

Developing good note-taking skills takes both time and practice. Taking lecture notes

promotes active listening, provides an accurate record of information, provides an

opportunity to interpret, condense, and organize the information, and provides an

opportunity for repetition of the material. Learning and practising effective strategies for how to take lecture notes will help you become a more successful autodidactic.

By taking notes, you can improve your concentration because you’re focusing your intention on what is being said. You have a purpose, which is listening for the next point that the speaker will make so you can write it down.

Taking notes is a very active process. You can generate a high level of involvement in your own learning by taking notes. Note taking involves more than just writing down what the instructor is saying however, it includes thinking about what is being said, determining what is important, recognizing the different points and how they relate to each other. Anticipating what will be said next and putting the information into your own words and organizing the information in your notes, condensing and interpreting the information helps make it more meaningful for you, which helps you to learn it. The process of taking good lecture notes can help you become both an active listener and an active participant.

Research studies indicate that without rehearsal, you may forget 50% of what you hear in a lecture within 24 hours and 80% of it in just two weeks. And in fact, in one month you may have forgot 95% of it. So you can’t rely on your memory of the lecture, you need your notes too. Taking lecture notes forces you to interpret, condense and organize information.

You’ll quickly find that you can’t write a quickly if someone can speak. If you could write that fast, you could simply write down a lecture verbatim and then re-read it later. But re-reading is the same as re-attending or reviewing a video recorded lecture. It just isn’t an efficient use of your time.

You have to condense the information and you have to think about each sentence and interpret it, often putting the information into your own words as you write down the information in a condensed form, you’re also forced to create a system of organization that separates the main and supporting points. You structure the information your way and in a way that will make sense to you.

So now that we know why it’s important to take notes, how do you do it? You can judge the effectiveness of your notes by reviewing them against recorded lectures were possible in making sure that you’re picking out the important information and condensing it properly.

I wrote a book about note taking; and the majority of the book covers ways of making notes faster by using abbreviation and speed writing and also some general methods for note taking and meetings, etcetera. I’ll put the link in the show notes. (Effective Note-taking: Note-taking for business)

When you start doing lecture notes, you need to consider the organization of the notes and the way that you’re going to structure the material. If you just try and write down everything as quickly as possible, you’ll end up with a tangled mass of disassociated ideas and sentences so it’s important to separate the main points from the details and show the relationships between the ideas.

Therefore, before you even start to watch the lecture or enter the lecture hall or go to the conference centre, you need to have prepared your notebook or your app or whatever you’re going to use. You should try and be familiar with what’s going to be discussed a much as possible. And if you have a textbook on the subject, study it before the lecture so it’ll be easier for you to pick up on the main points and organize your notes if you have a good idea of what’s gonna happen next.

Personally, I recommend that you use a paper based notebook simply because it allows more freedom and it allows you to do some additional work with it after the lecture, and we’ll cover that a bit later. Now, remember that you only get one chance to listen to a lecture unless, of course, it’s been recorded. But you can read the textbook or your notes as many times as you want.

Try to make sure that you see and hear the speaker and that you’re not going to be distracted. So to take the notes, you need to:

Decide that you want to listen.
You need to be paying close attention to the lecture.
You need to select the relevant information and ignore any distractions.
You need to interpret the information to make sure it’s meaningful. And you need to condense the information before writing it down.
organizing the information into appropriate headings and subheadings
you take notes

When writing down the notes in your notebook, never, ever right on both sides of the notepaper. And I’ll tell you why in a little while.

People often confuse hearing with listening on listening means that you’re engaged in. You’re paying attention and you’re interpreting what you’re hearing, and you’re trying to assign meaning to it. Active listeners air physically, intellectually and emotionally involved in the lecture. Some strategies to become Active listener are:

read any text you can before the lecture to build up a background on the topic
review your last set of notes before a lecture begins. (If this lecture is related to a previous one)
make sure that you want to listen.
Focus your attention by physically sitting up and making eye contact with the speaker. (If the if the lecture is live but otherwise sitting forward and paying attention to the screen or the audio, focus your attention mentally by eliminating or avoiding distractions.)
Listen with an open mind and set aside your own biases. So don’t be distracted by things you might find unappealing about the message or the messenger and concentrate on what’s being said.
Try and control your emotional response to what is being discussed.
Listen for the main points and the related details.
When you’re taking your notes, ask any questions if that’s possible for recorded materials right down the questions as they occur to you so that you can review and look up later.
Monitor your listening. In other words, check that what you heard or think you heard is what was actually said. So you can do this by checking with the lecturer or another audience member if it’s live or if you’re unsure the information, or you can just watch it again if it’s recorded. So basically, just monitoring to make sure that what you thought you understood, you actually understood and then hold yourself accountable for the material that was presented, you know, make make yourself learn what is being discussed.

One of the systems for note taking is the Cornell system developed at Cornell University, which has an excellent format for setting up your note page. But I recommend that you have different notebooks for different topics. So don’t mix up your I don’t know mathematics study with your Electronics study, for example.

Although there are many, many note taking systems, there are three that worked particularly well for lectures.

They’re called the Informal Outline, the Block and the Modified Block style, and they all work well in lectures. So try them all and see which one works best for you.

The informal outline is similar to the formal outline that many people learned in school where you have the headings with a capital A and in subheadings are 123 etcetera. The end former outline is a very similar system, but you just don’t label things you know ABC or 123 etcetera. In addition on informal outline contains a lot more information. So you’re not just putting single word headings and subheadings you’re actually writing, you know, full sentences. And after writing the main points next to the you know margin line. You just use indentation to show that the following points are subordinate to the lines above.

And now the block style of note taking is another very simple system. Block notes are especially useful if you need to record a great deal of information very quickly. Are you listening to someone who talks so fast that you can’t keep up who never goes back over information? Well, when taking block notes, you need only to write down the heading and then focus on writing as many details as you can. So block notes are written continuously across the page, separating any details by dashes or slashes.

The modified block method is similar to an outline. However, you simply have a heading and then a paragraph underneath of it with all of the details.

The block and modified-block methods allow you to take notes efficiently and

effectively because you have to concentrate on only two things:

writing down the main points (headings) and
writing down any details about them.

You don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out where to place or how to label

each new piece of information.

But still, there’s the question. What should I write down? Or perhaps you find yourself thinking. Should I write that down? If you’re asking yourself the question, should you write that down? Then the answer is yes.

After you’ve written your notes in the lectures done, congratulations. You have completed the first draft. Now you have to edit your notes.

You need to edit, revise your notes and correct errors. Clarify meanings. Make additions improve organization etcetera. Editing your notes helps you become a better note taker because you’re basically giving yourself feedback on the quality of your own notes. And as you go through the notes checking for accuracy and filling in gaps and information and proving organization, you can see where you made mistakes, and this feedback will help you take better notes next time.

Editing provides you with an opportunity to review both the text and the lecture material, and it gives you a chance to integrate the course material textbooks or other subsequent information. This additional repetition, which requires both critical thinking and active structuring of the data, helps you to reinforce what you read and heard and leads to a better understanding of the material.

So editing your notes, you need to do within 24 hours of the lecture, because if you wait too long, you’ll have for gotten too much.

Note editing is very straightforward. There’s basically five steps that you’re trying to do.

Fill in the gaps and missing information. As you read your notes it will jog your memory and you’ll be able to add more detail.
Refer to a textbook or other information sources to help fill in gaps in your notes.
Check for accuracy. If you notice some incorrect information in your notes or if you’re unsure of the accuracy of some points, check with the lecturer if possible or textbook or other sources of information to verify whether the information is correct.
Expand your notes. Make your notes more understandable, expand abbreviations, finish sentences, correct spellings, etc.
Rewrite your notes in order to improve the organization of the information.

This last point is the reason why I said earlier, never right on the back side of the paper. As you’re taking your notes, the back side of the page is blank, but because it’s related to the information other side, you can rewrite your notes on the back in a more organized and accurate way. And then later, when you review your notes, review the back side of the notepaper, not the front.

And to review your notes is similar to the other reviews that I mentioned in previous podcasts. You need to develop recall questions and generate many quizzes to test yourself. If you need to go back and review previous a podcast, now would be a good time to do it, because now you know how to take lecture notes while you’re listening.

Okay, so that’s it for me this week. Next week we’ll try and cover concentration while studying. So how to make sure you’re concentrating on your studying your concentration levels, concentration problems, strategies for overcoming issues?

Thanks for listening and as always if you have any feedback I would love to hear from you. You can email me at: rick@autodidactic.info or you can put comments on the website. Thank you very much for attention on. I’ll see you soon.

View Details

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the show. This is Episode 8, Season 1 of The Autodidactic Podcast. Today we’re going to discuss textbook highlighting.

If you’re new to the show I would like to welcome you and if you are returning, I’d like to welcome you back. As always, I really enjoy getting feedback for this show. So if you’re interested in giving me some feedback, you can email me at rick@autodidactic.info. You can make comments on the website as well where I will be uploading the show notes for this show as well as others.

Why should you mark up your text books?

When done correctly, text marking promotes active reading, condenses the

material for later review, increases your comprehension, and serves as a mini

comprehension-monitoring system.

Active reading

By marking your textbooks as you read, you can achieve a high level of concentration and knowing that you should mark specific sections as you read helps keep you alert. It gives you a purpose for

reading. To mark your text effectively, you have to think about the content of the chapter. You constantly need to make decisions about what’s important and what isn’t.

Condense Material

Because you are highlighting the important areas, there is not need for you to read the entire section again for review. You only need to review the highlighted areas.

Increased Comprehension

Identifying and marking the main points and then looking for supporting details help you understand the text. When you highlight you’re effectively reading twice, because your eyes will follow the marker and reinforce the reading.

Feedback on comprehension

Highlighting also monitors your comprehension because it gives you feedback on if you are paying attention. If you’ve highlighted everything, then it means you have not been looking for the important information and making decisions about what is or isn’t important. If you haven’t highlighted anything in a large section it means you’ve not understood well enough, or that you were distracted while reading.

So how do you go about marking up your textbook? The main two methods are underlining or marking with a pencil. You can use either, but I would recommend that you use a highlighter, since this forces you to read a second time. You might think you get the same effect with underlining but studies have shown that people tend to look at the pencil like rather than the words. Highlighting doesn’t have this disadvantage.

Before you underline or highlight anything, you need to have completed the reading of the section. After you’ve read the section, have a little think about what parts were important, then go back and find those areas and highlight them. Don’t mark anything until you complete the section. If you start marking right away then you might mark something important which actually isn’t. In addition marking while reading interferes with comprehension.

When you do mark, make sure to highlight in the direction of the text to force a second reading. Don’t highlight the text backwards. You also should you a soft shade like yellow or pink, this is because highly fluorescent colours tend to cause eye-strain when you go back to do your reviews.

When marking, markup sentences where possible. If you ‘re highlighting keywords, then you need to use linking to connect them together. While marking just try to remember to mark things in a way that they’ll make sense when you review a month or six months later. This is why it is better to mark meaningful phrases instead of just words.

I recommended you only do highlighting, but don’t throw away the pencil just yet. While you’re marking up the textbook use your pencil to make notes in the margins. Mark margin notes about areas where you disagree with the author, or put a question mark if you need more information about this particular point. You can use margin notes to make a summary of the keywords and creating a link between them.

But don’t over use the margin notes. You defeat the object of highlighting if you’re creating huge summaries in the margins.

Keep It Simple Stupid – The kiss principle.

Diversity is great, but not when it comes to text highlighting. You’ve probably seen people who have 10 different colour highlighters and they have one colour for facts, one for opinion, one for keywords, another colour for examples, etcetera. I would advise against this. It makes you think more about the colouring than the content. Using two colours is really the maximum.

One thing about colours however. If you’re using a used textbook which has already been highlighted make sure you get a different colour for your highlights. This might be difficult if the previous owner was a multiple-colour highlighter.

Another time consuming exercise in futility is the multiple symbol method. This is where people underline, double underline, circle, bracket, use asterisks, etc. The idea being you have a set of symbols you use to encode the review material. This is very time consuming, and often leads to over-marking the text. You spend too much time thinking about the system instead of the content.

A simple system will help focus on the important information without the distraction of remembering various symbols, or colour combinations.

Now that we have discussed how to mark, the next step is figuring out what to mark. In the past you’ve probably caught yourself thinking; “I wonder if I should mark this?” Until you become experienced at marking, it’s better to mark a little too much rather than not enough.

There is no real set of rules for what you should mark. But, headings, subheadings, main ideas, supporting details, definitions, examples, and statistics are important. Even though they’re not always identified by bold or italic print. So let’s go through some good practice guidelines for marking up information.

Mark headers. It is very likely that headings in the text are important, since typically, they are a summary of the most important idea of the section.

Mark the main ideas of the section. Main ideas are the general statements that the author makes about the topic. The main idea statement, or topic sentence, is generally found in the first or second sentence of a paragraph. Sometimes authors don’t directly state the main ideas; they only imply them. However, as you practice looking for these main ideas you’ll find the implied ones. You want to write the implied idea in the margin notes.

Focus on the supporting details. Look at definitions, examples, facts, statistics, and signal words, etcetera. You should absolutely highlight definitions, and perhaps even load them into a SRS, spaced repetition program in order to learn them off by heart.

Look through the examples and highlight where the example is illuminating the idea.

Lists or enumerations, like definitions, should almost always be highlighted. They contain itemised information.

Facts or statistics are also worth highlighting a because they will support the main idea.

Some important information is found outside the regular body of the text. You need to read and mark any definitions for technical terms, even if they’re in the left-hand margin. Don’t omit information included in charts, graphs, and other diagrams. The information under photos, in footnotes, and in boxed features is also important to your understanding of the material.

For Math or Science books make sure to highlight all formulas, as well as any problems that

you want to review. Be sure you also mark the text material that explains or discusses that formula or problem. The prose material material is as important as or perhaps even more important than the problems.

Finally it is probably worth highlighting negation words like, but, however, on the other hand, conversely, etcetera. This is because they are showing a change in the authors direction in this area. So you’ll need to highlight them in order to avoid confusion later when reviewing.

So now we know how to make, and what to mark, how much should we mark? Well, the correct answer is “just enough”. But what does that mean. Firstly, you don’t want to over mark since this will lengthen your review times, if you highlight everything, you might as well just read the book again. You need to be actively looking for important ideas and information.

However, being overly concerned about over-marking can lead to another problem which is under-marking. Marking too little means you’re probably only marking the headlines or key words. But you should also highlight related details. You may miss important information by trying to pick out only one or two important points in each paragraph or headed section. You may have heard or read that you should mark only one main point in each paragraph or that you shouldn’t mark more than 20 percent of the words on a page. This might be good rules-of-thumb, but actually you need to mark all the information which you need in order to understand and retain all the important information.

So both over-marking and under-marking are a problem. Just like Goldie-locks you need the find the one that is just right.

Remarking and review. After you’ve marked your textbook, on the next review don’t leave the highlighter behind, pick a second colour for your second review. So I recommended you only use one colour when you highlight, but this time you’re not highlighting, you are re-highlighting and therefore you need a different colour from the first time.

The idea here is if you have to remark the material you are once again engaged and actively reading the material. As you reread the marked selections, you can determine whether or not the information is important enough to review again. The first time you read the chapter, everything was new

to you. At that time, many things may have seemed important. After having completed the chapter, worked through text questions or a study guide, read or listened to other material, you should be able to reduce the text material even more.

When you review you might also want to rewrite and summarize the information into a notebooks. One really good method of review is to generate a mock examination from the information on a separate sheet of paper. Don’t make multiple choice questions however since this might lead you to remembering incorrect information. Write a broad question for each heading or subheading and then

as many specific questions as you can.

After your review, have a think about your markings.

Did they make sense?
Did you mark all the important information the first time around?
Does the markings retain and contain the meaning of each section?

Giving yourself feedback on your markings will help you in future markings. You’ll get better at it as you go along. For an autodidactic, there probably isn’t going to be a test or examiniation in your future. So you’ll need to review your books periodically and having a good well thought out set of markings will reduce the time you need for review.

That is all for today, thanks for listening and I’m glad you joined me. Next week, we’re going to talk about taking lecture notes. Thank you very much.

View Details

Welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast with your host Rick Dearman.

Hello, and welcome back to the Autodidactic Podcast. This is Episode seven Season one. Today I’ll be covering the topic of studying and reading textbooks and the methods that you can use to read textbooks in order to get the most out of them.

I’ve struggled to record the podcast this week because I’ve been so busy myself studying. I recently began or rather re-started doing some assembler language programming using a raspberry pi. And this led me down a rabbit hole that had me reviewing various microprocessors. And assembly language instructions on day finally down to electronics and on creating an eight bit computer with a bread board on some chips. One of the reasons for mentioning this is I’m planning to do a short podcast sometime in the future that discusses how you can keep yourself from being distracted from your primary goal of learning and study and not going down a particular rabbit hole because you find something interesting and go off on a tangent. But that’s for a later date.

Today we’re going to discuss text reading and studying and there are a lot of systems for doing this, but today we’re going to cover three of them in particular, So let’s get into it.

The three systems that I’m going to talk about today are called the P2R to reading and studying system, the SQ3R studying system and the S-RUN-R reading and studying system. Now there are probably at least a dozen different systems developed to help students understand what they read, and they’re all very similar.

We’re going to discuss these three today, but it doesn’t really matter how you use each system or how much of it, and you just need to choose the one that works best for you. And you might discover that one method might work well with one type of study, and another one works better with a different type of study. Or you might decide to mix-and-match and chop-and-change to create your own method as appropriate. And all of that is fine. It’s not a problem, but these are the standard systems that most people will be taught if they are taught a reading and studying system.

Most people don’t like to teach or to learn long complicated systems, and although some systems are very long and do work, the students don’t use them because they take too much time. So you can try and get a much out of your textbook as you can with a simpler approach.

And now the first one we’re gonna talk about is a three step approach called P2R and it’s designed for textbooks from easy to average level of difficulty. This isn’t for the really difficulty or information dense textbooks, but more of the sort of, you know, easier level or average level.

So you use the P2R to on the entire chapter or on 10 page chunks. If the chapters are too long, all right, and basically, what you’re doing is your previewing, you’re reading it actively and then you’re reviewing it.

So the first thing you do is you preview the entire chapter or the 10 page chunk that you’ve chosen to study and you actively read by highlighting or taking notes as you read. And then finally you review using an active strategy, such as reciting it, answering your review questions or writing questions in the margin. So that you’re not just sitting there reading the text chapters. You need to be engaged, actively reading and reviewing.

I mentioned this in a previous podcast where I said, When you study, you should be writing yourself out little test questions so that you can give yourself quizzes weekly and and examination monthly, sort of thing. So the three steps again, our preview read actively in review.

So in the preview, you should always preview the chapter before you read it, and the preview is a brief overview of the chapter, which you do before reading. So previewing doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, and you can usually do it in like five minutes. So the first thing you do is you read the title of the chapter, then the introductions, the outline, any structured overview. You look at any visual displays of key information at the beginning of the chapter, etcetera.

If it doesn’t have an introduction or an outline, you just read the first couple of paragraphs. And as you turn the pages of the chapter, read all of the headings. Anything that’s in bold print, have a look at any pictures or tables or graphs. But you know, don’t bother reading the text that the bulk of the text that goes along with it. Here you’re just trying to get a summary in your head and an overview of what it is you’re going to be studying. If you don’t have a lot of information, visual tables, that sort of thing. What you can do is just read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs in order to get sort of a summary.

Once you’ve previewed, write down any information that you gleaned while previewing, right yourself. Some sample questions describe a brief summary of it of what you think you’re going to get and then move on to active reading.

Now, the second step is active reading, so you need to be doing something whilst reading. So one way that you could become an active readers by marking up your text and you see a lot of people do this with markers, you know you’re going through and you’re highlighting things. So after you read a paragraph or a headed section pause to think about what you read and then go back with a highlighter to mark any material, you think you want to review again. So that you’ve highlighted any information that you believe will be relevant to yourself, and you’re trying to condense this into a summary for your review later.

Now you can run into a lot of problems with highlighting, and I’ll probably wind up doing another podcast where we just discuss highlighting text, because many people over highlight things. But just keep in mind when you’re when you’re highlighting. You’re just trying to highlight things that will be useful and relevant in summary later.

Okay, so you’ve completed the first two steps, and then the final step is the review. So after you’ve completed your chunk of reading or at the end of the chapter, you need to review and do something to reinforce the important information. Now there’s a number of ways that you can review the text material, but the four most common ones are.

First, you look at your highlighted entries or the notes, and you read them aloud. You write questions in the margin of your text or notes at the end of each chunk, and then when you finished reading the entire chapter, you recite the answers to your questions
Secondly, used the headings to recite the key information on cover the details with your hand and then recite using only the headings as a clue.
The third ways to do some or any exercises or questions they may have at the end of chapter. Many textbooks have this sort of thing, at the end of chapters.
And finally, you can take the end of chapter tests or online test to review and monitor what you’re learning.

You don’t need to use all of these strategies, but you should try as many of them as you can, after you complete your reading. And then try and find the one that works best for you that allows you to remember the most. Now the advantage of the P2R reading study is it’s very efficient with text material by previewing actively reading and then reviewing your text. You should be able to significantly increase your comprehension, and you may find it takes less time to read the chapter, and then you have an increase in interest, and it builds up a background for your comprehension.

Previewing the chapter basically builds up this background before you start reading and then it reduces the reading time. You would think that previewing would appear to add time to your reading, but it probably reduces the total time it takes you to read the chapter and you can test this yourself. Just select a section in a chapter, and time yourself is you read it and then select another one where you’ve done the previewing and then read it and, you know, figure out which chapter took more time.

You generally find that you’ll get an increased interest in the chapter because of the previewing. And this is especially true when you’re reading something that you find boring. Because as you preview, you may notice a particular topic in the middle, which seems more interesting. And then you’ll be able to read to get to the good stuff as it were. And then because you’re reviewing periodically either 10 pages or a chapter, it helps you reinforce this information that you get, and without reviewing, you can’t really be sure that you understood the material and that you need to be quizzing yourself and then marking up your your the text or taking notes.

In addition to aiding your comprehension will actually help you prepare later for another review. Or if you do have actually to take examinations, it’ll help you when you’re reviewing, for for those sort of things. So that’s the first system. The P2Rreading system, and then the next one we’re going to discuss is something called the SQ3R. Now the SQ3R was developed by a fellow called Frances Robinson in 1941 on is probably one of the most widely taught system. So if you’re going into a sort of a high school or university, someone probably would teach you the SQ3R system.

What does it stand for? SQ3R is an acronym for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. And this time we have five steps. And use these five steps to review textbooks. Some of the steps are very similar to those in the aforementioned P2Rmethod, but the main difference is that the steps were performed on each headed section rather than on 10 page chunks on whole chapters.

So, as you see, this difference makes this particular method a bit more time consuming. Because of this, you may want to save that SQ3R for more difficult textbooks. And because although it will take, ah, lot of time, many people find this a bit more effective for longer or more advanced textbooks.

So the five steps are:

Survey- So you survey the chapter before you read it. You go through the chapter quickly, you glance at the headings, you read the final paragraph to get a general idea and the main points so very similar to the previous method and then question.

Question – Before you begin to read each headed section of your chapter, you turn the heading into a question. For example, you may have a heading “housing population” and so you would typically turn that into a question. What is and then the heading, But formulating a question forces you to think about what you’re going to read before you read it.

Read – So the next step is to read the material underneath the heading to try and find the answer to the question which you generated. Turning heading into a question helps you focus your reading, and the reading in this section helps you locate the answer to your question. Hopefully, and so you’ll get actively involved in the reading material. As you read the selection, see if you can answer your question and then the next bit is recite.

Recite – So at the end of the section the headed section, recite the answer to the question that you formulated. Recite the answer in your own words, though, so that it’s a summary without looking back at the text. And if you can’t recall part or all of the answer, then go back to the section again and then try and jot down the answer in a sort of an outline or a summary form. But don’t take any notes until you’ve read the entire section, and then the next step, the final step is review.

Review – So after you finished reading through entire chapter, look over the notes that you made to familiarize yourself with the important information and then check your memory by covering up your notes and reciting the main points out loud, and then cover each point in your notes and recite subordinate points that you’ve noted. So this type of review should only take five minutes because you’re only review in a very small subset of what you’ve, that you’re only studying a small subset.

Some of the advantages is that it breaks the task down into very small segments and has a built in comprehension system. There’s a great deal of repetition here, so this is another advantage because it allows for repetition of important information. And because you’re focusing on smaller segments of the material. If you’re focusing on smaller segments of a really difficult or advanced textbook, it can make it a lot easier for you and very helpful. Because it’s a smaller chunk and it feels more manageable and you’re not being overwhelmed. And then, of course, you have your built in comprehension model / monitoring because you’re you’re testing yourself on this, repeatedly as you go through.

You can change this to be more effective. You don’t have to use it for every reading assignment. Usually you would only use it for difficult textbooks. You know this this method the SQ3R method, because with easy text, the other system that we mentioned before the P2R are is probably easier to use with smaller, less information dense text.

And you you wanna formulate a broad question. Because typically these textbooks have a lot of information just in the headed section. You know, just in that sentence, you can generate a lot of open ended questions like; What is; Why is; How does this work? etcetera and then highlight the answer to your question.

So instead of just reading as you’re going through, make sure you’re highlighting the answer. So when you find the answer to your question highlighted and then recite the headings as clues and, the highlighted answer. And now this may be able to be used with some mnemonic techniques that we talked about last week. To help you try and remember the journey through the textbook. And then at the end of the chapter, you need to go back and review all of the questions for all of the headed sections. So this is the repetition piece. So you you’ve done each, say you’ve got 10 headed sections, you’ve done all 10 of them. You have 10 questions, and at the end of the chapter, you go back and you review all of them.

The final system I want to talk to you about is called S-RUN-R. The S-RUN-R system was developed by a lady Nancy Bailey on this combines review steps to better help you with your comprehension on because you’re focusing on one section at the time. This is also a useful technique for difficult or advanced textbooks which are, information dense.

The five steps here are S, survey and then you have R, read U, underline, N, note taking and then review.

Survey again is you simply serving the entire chapter. You read the title introduction headings, subheadings, summary, etcetera. And this is very similar to the previous two, try and build up a background and interest. So this isn’t going to take you long. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to do, and it has taken you longer than five minutes. Then you’re probably you’re probably reading too much or stopping too long to look out illustrations or tables or whatever.

So after you’ve done that, instead of formulating a question before each section, you write the heading of the section that, the section heading, on a piece of notepaper and then just copying out the heading makes you pay attention to it and focus your reading. And then you read the section as if you would, you know, reading any other text material and then critically thinking about the material as you’re reading it.

Now, after you finish each paragraph, think about the important bit of the paragraph and underline or highlight only the important bit. So if the important bit is just a single word, just highlight that one. Or if it’s one sentence, highlight that. If you’re highlighting the whole paragraph, chances are you’re over highlighting. For now. Just just think about the information you think you may need to recall and highlight the particularly important information. Now, as soon as you’ve completed all the highlighting for the entire section, so you’ve highlighted paragraph by paragraph and you you’ve completed that section. Then you need to open your notebook and start taking some notes.

So you take notes on the key information, which you should have already highlighted and briefly summarized this information in your own words. And then you skip to the next line on write the notes of meaningful phrases as you do it.

So you have in your notebook, you would basically have the heading title that you’ve written down. You have a brief summary of the section in your own words and then underneath, slightly indented, you put in the highlighted information, the important relevant bits. But you don’t copy what you highlighted. You’re paraphrasing what you’ve highlighted in your own words because, paraphrasing and making it your own will help your comprehension.

Then the final bit is review. So once you’ve completed the entire chapter, you’ve highlighted everything and you’ve done your note taking then you try and recite the key information that you wrote down under the heading. Try and do the end of chapter questions. If there are any. Try and predict the questions that you may get or create self-tests for yourself in order to practice. So this is the review information, and you can do this at the end of each chapter, or you could do it slightly later, but you should try and do it as soon as you can.

Now, the advantage of using this particular system is that it highlights all the important information in every section in every paragraph, and it increases repetition as well, because you get more repetition of the important points because you’re not just highlighting it. You’re actually having to rewrite it and paraphrase it into your notes, and so it will increase your comprehension and hopefully your memory. And then it prepares the text for review later, so if you need a go back and review it, the relevant important information is already highlighted. It matches information in your notes, and you’ll be able to review it quite quickly.

In summary, textbooks are generally different from any sort of normal book that you may be reading. They’re generally written at a higher reading level, they are longer and they’re more information dense. So they don’t just seem harder. They actually are harder. You need to try and keep on top of this on.

Understand what you’re reading and use a reading strategy while you read to try and retain the information. Try and learn to be a critical reader so that you think about evaluate information as you’re reading. Now, using these three systems P2R, the SQ3R or the S-RUN-R will help you increase your comprehension as you as you go through it. The whole point of these is to try and get you actively involved in your reading. So you may find that you only need to use a really simple system like P2R when you’re reading textbooks to get yourself engaged. Or you may need to use one of the more complex systems in order to get a good comprehension or to chunk up the material into a smaller piece that you’re you can work your way through. Or you may decide to just adapt these systems to make it sort of roll your own where you mix and match the best bits.

So you might decide that you like the note taking idea. But you want to use the P2R more simple system. So you may combine P2R our with with note-taking.

That, in summary, is the three main methods. There are many, many other methods, and you could go out and find as many as you like. But I recommend you try one of these three, or try all three, and see how you get on with your information.

Now, obviously, this is for reading textbooks, and it doesn’t really help you, necessarily, if you’re watching videos or you’re, listening to audio. Or you may be doing sort of massive online classes where you’re actually in a lecture and you need to do lecture notes and things like that. So we’ll cover that sort of information later. And what we’re gonna call that is taking lecture notes. So although it may not be, actual lecture notes, in other words, you’re not in a formal lecture. You’re not sat in the classroom. But you might be watching, for example, a YouTube video on how to construct an eight bit assembly language computer with a bread board and you’re gonna decide you’re going to take notes because he’s effectively giving you a lecture. The person with the video.

Whatever the subject is you’re studying. If you’re doing lecture type material like YouTube videos or some of these paid for systems or Khan academy or whatever, you want to take notes to retain that information on, and I know that you could just go back and watch the whole video. But if you just walk to the 30 minute video and there’s only four important points. Do you want to go back and review 30 minutes? When actually, there’s only the relevant bit is two minutes long.

So I want to talk about lecture notes. But one of the things that we also need to review, which goes along and sort of dovetails with this particular podcast is highlighting and marking up textbooks and organizing text information.

Okay, that’s it. So that’s the three methods that I think you should try. The P2R, the SQ3R or the S-RUN-R systems. So next week, we’re going to talk about marking up your textbook on using a highlighter and organizing textual information. So these three podcast dovetail together. It is all about reading, reviewing and studying text books.

I’m hoping that next week I’ll be able to get marking, highlighting and organizing text information all into the same podcast. But if not, and it runs long, then we may or I’m a split it up.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please, please, please tell other people. I mean if if everybody who listen told two people and they listened I might get up to I don’t know, six listeners. But seriously, if you can spread the word, it really helps me out a lot, and it gives me the incentive to carry on. Okay, Well, that’s the end of the podcast. Thank you very much for listening. I hope you enjoyed the information. And I hope you find it useful. And I’ll see you again next week.

Thank you for listening to the auto didactic podcast with your host Rick Dearman, if you enjoyed this podcast, please consider giving a donation by a Paypal. Thank you very much, and see you again next time.

View Details

Hello everyone and welcome back. This is episode six, season one of the Autodidactic Podcast. Today I will to cover the topic of memorisation. Last week I said I would be covering study methods and mnemonics but I’m going to focus only on mnemonics this week since it is quite a big topic. I would also like to say thank you to a listener, Janice who requested I do a show dedicated to mnemonics and memorisation.

Many years ago I read a study which suggested engineers who graduated with a bachelors degree in engineering would have all of there memory outdated in 10 years. All of the knowledge they gain in their university time would have been superseded within 10 years, with new information and new techniques and new materials. Information is growing at such a huge rate in modern times that if you’re not studying every day then you’re not just standing still, you’re actually going backwards.

So why have I put mnemonic tricks ahead of real study methods? Firstly these aren’t tricks, they are methods known to work and proven to work over hundreds of years, and in some cases even centuries. Now rote memorisation gets a bad rap nowadays, but it can come in very handy. For example, you can remember formulas off the top of your head. If you’re learning a foreign language can help you with memorisation of various items like vocabulary retention. If you were learning some mechanical process which required you to remember the sizes of all of the adapter assemblies and they were various sizes from 13 mm to 110mm you could use these techniques to do that.

Lets get into it. Today we’ll discuss Mnemonics techniques. Mnemonics is a word derived from the old Greek Goddess of memory. The systems we’ll talk about today aren’t new. For example, the System of Loci dates back to 500 BC. Mnemonics refer to a technique to improve memory and they can be either visual or verbal. They normally add something to the information to be memorised in order to make it more memorable, so many scientists researching memory call them elaborations.

The first of the three basic mnemonics we’ll talk about it rhyming. You’ll probably know this one from the rhyme beginning “Thirty days has September…” and if you’re like me, “Thirty days has September, and the rest I don’t remember.”

This is an example of using a verbal technique to elaborate the memory. But remembering months and the number of days can be done with a visual technique also. If you hold your hands out in front of you and make a fist, the knuckle of the little finger is January, the valley between that and the next knuckle is February and so on. So all the “knuckle months” have 31 days and the rest are short months.

Today I’m going to cover number of mnemonic systems, both visual and verbal. The first two were really easy and straightforward, and the remainder require some actual upfront learning, and can take some preparation before you can actually begin to use.

The first two that we can discuss are easy and anyone can use them. They require no previous knowledge or ability or system.

The first one is simply creating a word from the initial characters of the thing that you want to remember. This is called an acronym. You may or may not know that laser stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. You can use the word homes to describe the great lakes in the United States. Homes will give you a memory prompt for the names; Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eire and Superior. There is also Roy G Biv. Which is a prompt for colours of the rainbow.

You can use this type of mnemonic really easily. You just have to take the information and organise it in a way that can come up with a word. When doing this if you come across two issues. The first issue is if it needs to be learned in order then you cannot necessarily use this type of mnemonic, because unless it accidentally becomes a word you can’t rearrange the letters.

But if you can rearrange the information and you can rearrange it into a word that the second problem that you may have with this method is that there isn’t sufficient amount of words that are long enough to encode all the information.

So if you encounter these problems you’re better off using a sentence rather than a word. These types of prompts are called Acrostics. Here you make a sentence using the first letter of the words you wish to recall.

Sentence systems like the one to remember the planets of the solar system where you put each letter rather than representing a ladder, you have a word that represents the initial information.

For example: My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us New Potatoes.

Of course now that scientists have demoted Pluto from being a planet, you’ll need a new sentence to memorise the planets in order from the sun.

Both Acronyms and Acrostic sentences are a great way to remember information, but if you want to remember things like PI to 50 decimal places, or countries and capitals, or simply a lot of related or ordered information then some of the next few techniques are more useful. But some require some up front work.

The first system we’ll discuss if a simple one and easy to use. It is called the Link or Chain system. Here you simply link concepts or things together two at a time. For example if you needed to remember 5 things such as; Doctor, Car, Candle, Rose, Ball then you would chain them together by first imagining a Car riding on a doctors back. Images which are unusual or out of the orginary are more easily remembered. The you imagine the car covered in hundreds of burning candles moving slowly forward as not to blow them out. Movement in visual images are also helpful. Then you imaging a rose bush growing out of a candle, or perhaps a candle holder with a burning rose instead of a candle. Then you link rose and ball by perhaps a rose bush playing soccer, or two people playing catch with a rose instead of a ball.

An improvement on this technique is called the Story. Here instead of linking the items to each other, you tell a story which includes the items. For example, The doctor was jumping up and down screaming because he lost the keys to his car, so he made a key from wax using a candle and managed to drive to the rose garden where he began to operate on a giant plastic ball.

These two systems are easy to use and very useful, however, people often struggle to remember more than 20 items using these methods. This is normally because of the limitation of remembering each item based on its association with the previous item.

Another system which doesn’t have this limitation and which I mentioned earlier is from 500 BC can is called the Loci system. Loci is the plural of locus and means places or locations. This system requires some pre-learning before you can use it. It is a two step process and the first step is to memorise a set of locations in order. Normally you would use something familiar to yourself such as your house. The second step is to mentally place the thing you want to remember in a place as you move through your loci.

So to create your loci or memory palace as they are sometimes called start with somewhere familiar. Lets use your home as the example. First imagine yourself approaching the house and the first loci may be your front door. Inside you walk in and see the hallway. The next room might be your kitchen, then a bedroom. You just need to imagine a journey through your house, room to room and always go the same way.

Now just take a mental walk through your house putting things in different rooms. When you want to remember them, you simply walk through the house again and remember the things you put there. You might thing you don’t have enough rooms to remember what you need, but loci doesn’t have to be just the room. It could be the living room, the sofa, the chair, the lamp, the bookshelf in the corner. Which turns the living room from one loci into 5, and if you include floor, ceiling and 4 walls then you’ve got a dozen loci in a single room of your house.

In addition you can have as many of these loci journeys or memory palaces as you’d like. The loci system allows you to remember things in order, starting with the first locus and carrying on through your journey.

Another way to explain the loci system is to put a story in a locus using the story or link methods. This will increase the amount of information density you can store in a single place.

One of the disadvantages of the Loci system is it is difficult to jump to a certain section of the list which you’ve memorised. If you want to jump to the thing in place eleven you’ll probably end up starting in the first locus and counting until you get to 11.

The next method we’ll discuss works around that limitation. It is called the Peg system. The peg system can be traced back to Henry Herdson who developed it back in the 1600’s. The peg system uses objects to represent numbers and then hangs information on to these pegs.

The system uses rhyming to remember encode the numbers to the objects.

1-bun

2-shoe

3-tree

4-door

5-hive

6-sticks

7-heaven

8-gate

9-wine

10-hen

So if we link our previous examples: Doctor eating a giant bun, A car with shoes instead of wheels, a tree made from a candle, a rose growing out of a door, and little small soccer balls flying into a bee hive.

This allows us to jump straight to the number 4 door which has a rose growing out of it.

One of the drawbacks to the peg method is finding rhyming words for numbers above 10.

A method for learning numbers above 10 is the major system. The major system associated consonants with the numbers 0-9 and then you can build up words based on these building blocks.

0 is represented by S, Z or soft C

1 is t,d

2 is n

3 m

4 r

5 L

6 sh, ch, j, g, zh

7 k, hard c, hard g, hard ch, q, qu

8 fv

9 pb

after you have memorised this list you can then use it to build words for numbers. For example the number 123 might be represented by the word DeNiM (denim) because it contains D, N, M in the word and you know D=1 N=2 and M=3

Many people recommend generating fixed images / words to represent the numbers 0-100 so that you can use them quickly.

Another method is called the Dominic method and is similar to the Major system. This was invented by 8 times memory champion Dominic O’Brien. It is a PA (or person-action) system where you memorise the numbers 0-100 where each number is represented by a person and each person has an action. In the Dominic method the numbers 0-9 are represented by O,A,B,C,D,E,S,G,H,N. So the number 15 would be AE and this might Albert Einstein and he is writing E=MC2 on a blackboard.

I have used this system & a memory palace to memorise PI to about 50 decimal points. So the first few are:

3.14157265

For me this is 3 Pies at the front door (3. ), then Arthur Dent writing on a blackboard (1415), in the next room Napoleon Bonaparte is playing with a train-set (7265), and I could go on.

I have have recently been using this system and memory palaces to memorise a French dictionary. I’ve managed to memorise 7 pages with about 50 words per page so far. Which is about 350 words, with IPA pronunciation, spelling and translations.

For a lot of people these sorts of things are tricks, and you can’t use them to learn. But people have been using these tricks to remember everything from names of the great lakes to speeches for many hundreds of years. So they do work, but like anything you have to put some work into them.

If you’re interested in finding out more about these techniques and many others go to The Art of Memory forum. I’ll put a link in the show notes. You can download their free book and look at the various discussions they have about the pros and cons of each technique.

Well that is it for me this week, and next week we will cover study methods which aren’t using mnemonics but are still systems which you can learn and use methodically and intentionally to study your chosen topics.

Thanks for listening and as always if you have any feedback I would love to hear from you. You can email me at: rick@autodidactic.info.

View Details

Welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast with your host Rick Dearman.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the show. Today we’re going to discuss flashcard learning.

If you’re new to the show would like to welcome you and if you are returning, I’d like to welcome you back. As always, I really, really enjoy getting feedback for this show. So if you’re interested in giving me some feedback, you can email me at rick@autodidactic.info. You can make comments on the website as well where I will be uploading the show notes for this show as well as others.

Flash card learning is something that I do every single day, mostly with regards to language learning. But I also use it for other things as well, and today I’m gonna go through how to use flash cards and how to create flashcards so that they’re more memorable and useful to you. I recommend that if you have a smart phone or computer or something available that you try and get a hold of a program called Anki (ANKI), which is an electronic flash card system, and it’s free for most devices. I think Apple phones you have to pay for, but everything else is free. But there are other electronic flash card programs available.

But what we’re going to discuss today can be used either with the electronic versions or with the paper version flashcards like you may have used in school long ago. So let’s get it started. If you’ve got Anki or an app that you’re going to use, you generally need to set up an account, and you’re going to need some way of importing this into the system.

Now Anki uses a CSV file, which you can generate with Excel or LibreOffice, or you can open the program and input them manually. Now, in addition to just text electronic flashcards generally support sound as well as images. So rather than just write some text, you can have images and audio.

There is a program which I have done a video tutorial on YouTube about how to create what’s called subs2SRS, which is subtitles to spaced repetition. But that’s if you’re learning a language. You’ll be able to use the subtitles of the film to help you learn, and I’ll put links in the show notes to that.

But this is one of the reasons that I would recommend that you use an electronic flash card system as opposed to a paper one. Since it’s much easier to get audio and video into flashcards nowadays. One of the other reasons for an electronic version is fonts and colouring. The reason for this is generally you can use different fonts for different subjects to help you; give you some context when you’re memorizing things, but you don’t need an electronic version for this.

So if you, for example, were learning nouns in French, which have a gender either masculine or feminine, you might want to put yellow cards as masculine and blue cards as feminine, for example, or whatever you want. But that is one way of using context to give you some indication of the flashcards type.

Now there are two basic concepts behind flashcards, and that is active recall testing and spaced repetition. Now, active recall is something we talked about in previous episodes, where you basically test yourself on the subject that you’re learning and that testing the active recall forces you to recall what you’ve learned.

Spaced repetition is a learning technique which uses increasing intervals of time between the reviews of previously learned material in order to exploit a phenomenon where humans more easily remember or learn things when they’re studied a few times over the space of a long time.

So with any learning method, there are very good and very bad practices for anything. What I’m gonna explain here is the best practices for you to follow when creating flashcards and studying them.

And one of the very first things that I recommend is that you make your own flashcards. If you use an electronic flash card system like Anki, you can download pre-made decks for just about everything from languages to biology, chemistry, mathematics, you name it. There will be a pre-made deck for it. But part of the learning process, I believe, is actually creation of your own flashcards, using your own context and your own methods and I think this is gonna help you more than just downloading a pre-made deck.

Now, having said that, there are some quite good pre-made decks for things like mathematics, which you probably don’t want to expend the time to do yourself when the actual learning is straightforward. So, for example, multiplication tables or square roots, etcetera. They’re pretty simple; Question on the front, Answer on the back type cards. You can also get pre-made paper cards, certainly for vocabulary and things from places like Amazon. But again, I recommend that you just make your own cards.

Now the second thing about flashcards is you should never try and memorize what you don’t understand. So if you’re making a flash card, you need to understand the the topic in which you’re making the card about. You know, a parrot can just repeat sentences, but it doesn’t understand what it’s saying. So when you’re making the flashcards, it’s going to ingrain this information into your head in a spaced repetition system. So if you just made a card that said !22W2! and you looked at it repeatedly, you would actually learn that. But it doesn’t actually mean anything and is of no use. So make sure that you understand what you are putting onto your flash card.

The next thing is to relate the information on the card to some other context, so related information is much easier to memorize. If you have multiple associations in your mind, you will remember it. So every piece of our information in our memory is connected to other pieces in another way. For example, if you’re given the word pear, you may think of something green and round and sweet and pear shaped, and it’s from a tree, and it’s a fruit on. It’s made into cider, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, so there’s lots of associations with the word pear. So try and make a many associations as you can with the card, and you might want to make multiple cards relating to each other so that the information reinforces itself.

The next thing is to start with the basics. So if you’re a beginner, you need to start with the basics of the information. And you might want to keep separate decks of basic information versus more advanced information, which builds on your basic deck. And just try and keep it as basic and simple as possible. And once you have completed the basic cards, move on to the more advanced.

The next thing is the KIS Principal. K.I.S (keep it simple). Don’t try and put every piece of information you have about a concept on one single card. Complex cards are difficult to memorize, and you need to chunk up this information. It’s a smaller bits and pieces, so you try and break up the information on to multiple cards while keeping the information per card as simple as possible.

So, for example, on language card, you may have six congregations of verb in the present tense. Well, rather than put all six congregations on one card, it would be better to create a card for the first person card for second person, etcetera, etcetera. Whatever the subject you’re studying, you need to simplify the information as much as you can.

Now. The next thing and this sort of only applies to electronic versions of cards is to use close deletion cards where possible. A closed deletion card is a, for example, a sentence, which has the information in there, but one of the words is blanked out. One of the critical words is blanked out, and you have to type it in. Now this type of card forces you to actively recall. You can’t just press the next button and be given the answer. You have to type it in so these types of cards are very, very useful in forcing you to actively recall what the word is, which completes the sentence. And it may not be a word, it maybe, if you’re doing mathematics, it might be one variable of the formula, for example. So these types of cards are very useful and I highly recommend them.

Wherever possible, try and use images because, as they say, a picture is worth 1000 words and as human beings we’re of quite visual creatures on its very easy to link pictures and images in your mind to various bits of information. This can be done on paper flashcards as well. You can print out images and use them in your flashcards, etcetera. It’s very easy on electronic version.

When you create cards trying, use as many senses as possible. Now, obviously, even on electronic one you’re not going to get the sense of smell. But you can put the word on a flash card. You can put the picture of the thing on the flash card. You can put a linked to a sound of what’s being said on it or some other form of sound, so sight and sound can be done, and it’s very easy to manage that.

Try and avoid sets of information. This goes back to the KIS principle of keeping it simple. It’s almost impossible to memorize a set without forgetting some numbers and typically, things in the middle of the set are almost invariably forgotten, because we tend to remember things at the beginning of a list or at the end of the list, and not so much the stuff in the middle.

Don’t set up your cards with a set of information. Break that set up into smaller cards or close deletion cards. Try to not just learn in one direction or the other. So what I mean by that is an example. If you’re learning vocabulary is that you might have always put the French word on the front of the card and the English on the back. Well, actually, you need two cards. You need one where English is on the front and another where French is on the front, for example. And you do this the same on, other study cards. You need to have a reversible card that presents the same information and the same question in the other direction.

Okay, When you’re creating your decks, try and keep a theme for each deck. So this is similar to the rule about related information. So, for example, if you have a deck about the circulatory system, only have things in there about the circulatory system and have a completely separate set of cards for the respiratory system. If you were studying biology.

For languages, it’s the same thing. You have a theme for animals, and then you have another one for kitchen utensils, but you try and keep them separate.

Now the other thing is to try and make sure that you only have one point per flashcard again. This is stressing the not having sets of information and not trying to put all the information on one card. But you need to have one fully comprehensive point on the card. Now, if that means that this card is particularly large or long, that’s fine. But it needs to only consist of that single point of information. So you’re dedicating one concept to each card, and hopefully one question with one answer.

Wherever possible, you should try and use sentences for your question and sentences for your answer, rather than just image cards, but enhance that question with images and sounds. Try and commit to completing your allotted amount of flashcards every day.

Now, how do you a lot yourself Flashcards? Well, if you’re using electronic program, it will allocate that for you based on whatever for algorithm it uses. If you’re using a paper flashcard system, then typically what you would do is you would have it in a file card system and you have today’s cards. And if this is your first day, then you say you start with 10 cards and you do them until you’ve learned them all, and you put them in tomorrow’s card. On tomorrow you take 10 new cards and you go through those and then you go through the 10 from yesterday and see if you forgotten any. If you have forgotten them, you move them forward into tomorrow’s set. You basically carry on doing a review each time.

Now, wherever possible, try and say the answer out loud when you’re doing the flash card. This is because it helps you to retain the information because you hear yourself saying it.

Never do opposites cards. An opposite card is, for example, what is the opposite of hot in French. This only leads to confusion, and you start to mix up the concepts of hot and cold, and things don’t don’t do opposite. Ask what is cold in French. Don’t use what is the opposite of hot. So whenever you’re doing any study cards that you’re creating, try and remember not to do opposite cards and dependent on what you’re studying, you know that can become a problem, especially for vocabulary for language.

Vary your question format. In other words, don’t make all your cards the same. Some cards, maybe question cards, try and come up with other types of cards that aren’t just questions that they are asking you to do an explanation. One of the methods I use to create a different type of card when studying a language, for example, would be to create a card that says; practice grammar point A practice grammar point B and then you go away and study for 10 minutes on that particular point of grammar. So this isn’t giving you a easy question answer thing. It is directing you to study this particular topic for five minutes. That type of card is also useful because it’s prompts you at different times to do different things.

Okay, so memorizing using flash cards is a great way to help you progress in your study. Just memorization isn’t going to help you necessarily, you know, fulfil all of your requirements. You’re going to need to do other things in order to become an auto didactic learner, you’re gonna have to study other ways. But flashcards are an amazing, excellent way to take those little stolen moments of time when you’re standing in a queue or you’re waiting for something and use those to progress your study and also the creation of cards itself, works as a study.

So in order to generate the cards, you are having to ask yourself questions. You have to find the information you have to find the answers. You have to find related information. You have to simplify the information so that it fits one concept per card, etcetera, etcetera. So flashcards aren’t just a way of studying in the stolen moments they actually help you study full on while creating the cards. And this is one of the reasons I tell you not to download pre-made decks because the actual creation of the card itself will help you just as much as memorizing the card.

Okay. Thanks for listening today. And I’m glad you joined me. Next week, we’re going to talk about memory, and memorization and study skills. Thank you very much.

View Details

Hello everyone and welcome. If you’re new to the podcast, I want to welcome you to the show and thank you for coming along. If you want to listen to previous episodes of the show you can find the shows and the show notes on the autodidactics.info the website.

The autodidact podcast is a podcast to help self learners try and become more efficient and more effective in the way that they learn and how they proceed. You don’t have to listen to all the podcasts but I would recommend that if you hear something you don’t understand that is a reference to a previous show you should probably go back and listen.

On today’s show we’ll discuss gathering resources for your self-study sessions. The resources we’re gonna talk about today run the gamut from physical to electronic, from free to paid, and everything in between. We’ll start the show with paid resources and work our way through to the places where you can get free resources at the end of the show. As always I like to solicit feedback and suggestions for my show from listeners so if you would like to give some feedback on the show you can feel free to email me at rick@autodidactic.info where I’m happy to take suggestions.

It’s been a busy week for me this week as I’m recording the show I’ve managed to overwhelm myself with resources and I’m struggling to make my way through all of them. I got a large number of SRS cards or spaced repetition cards to get through and it’s becoming a bit of a torture to get through all 400 or 500 cards per day.

However, hopefully at the end of the show you will have gained some insight into where to get yourself some resources for your study times and you might have the dubious pleasure of having too many resources as well.

I’ve got a large number of dead tree formatted books to read and a lot of electronic books as well. I’m also attempting to improve my memory and recall using some of the memory methods in use today such as a memory Palace, or the Dominic method, et cetera. Just for fun I had a go at memorising Pi to 25 decimal points and honestly it was very easy but unless you continue to hone and test yourself I think you can rapidly forget some of the things which you use these systems to memorise. In a later show I’ll discuss some of the methods for memorization.

Right, let’s get into today’s show. Today were gonna talk about where to get resources for your study. I will put links to any place I mention on the Internet in the show notes.

Let’s begin with paid resources.

As the name would suggest these are resources for which you have to pay money. These include things like purchasing books off of Amazon, paying for a tutor, paying for a class, or paying for a subscription to an online training course. Now depending on what your topic is you may have a wide variety of paid resources which you can use. Generally these type of resources are going to be very high quality, simply because people have an expectation of quality when they’re paying.

Let’s look at some of the resources available to you today.

– Amazon

– Abe books

– World of books.com

– Cheapesttextbooks.com

– Ebay

These are just a sample of places on the Internet where you can purchase textbooks. Abe books sells mostly used books but with delivery all around the world.

With Amazon on you have access to not only textbooks but workbooks, sample tests and many other items of study. So purchasing resources is pretty straightforward and shouldn’t really be difficult for anyone to do.

Additional resources might include online tutoring, for example if you’re learning a language you can go to iTalki.com and schedule lessons with teachers or tutors in the language in which you want to learn.

A number of websites have sprung up in recent years on the Internet where you can get video instruction. Probably the largest one of these is Udemy.com but there are many others including Pluralsite if you are interested in programming languages.

In addition to paid sites let’s move on to sites which are technically free, but have some payment requirements. These type of sites are exchange sites which are technically free but you pay for some postage.

In the UK I use a website called readitswapit.co.uk where you put up a list of books that you no longer want and you can swap these books for books other people no longer want. On the website you agree to do an exchange and then you both post each other the books that you’ve selected. Here the service itself is free however you pay for the postage of sending your books to the other person.

Now in addition to the paid and semi free resources there are a number of resources which are absolutely free. I suspect most of my listeners are going to be interested in this category of resources. If you’re anything like me you struggle to find the money for everything you need and want to do. This means we need to be very frugal in our approach to becoming autodidactic.

One of the very first free resources I would like to discuss is available to just about everybody in a first world country as well as available to a number of other countries. This is your local library.

If you have the ability to go to a local library you should take every opportunity to join support and use your local library. If there is a library system in your country this is going to be one of the best free resources you will ever find for self-education. For example, the reason that I am currently having an overabundance of resources to use is because I overbooked checkouts from my local library. I am very privileged in that my local library allows me to browse their collection online reserve the book online and have it delivered to my local library from other branch libraries in the same system.

So although my local library branch is very small, smaller than most peoples living rooms, I have access to dozens of other larger libraries.

In addition to books, videos, and audio materials, my local library also gives me access to Internet databases, language courses, and other online subscriptions that I can use for free via my library card. It is well worth a visit to your local library to find out what is available to you.

The next free resource like to discuss is the Internet. And while I realise that were all paying for access to the Internet most of the resources that I’m going to discuss are available for download for free. So ignoring the cost of the actual Internet connection let’s talk about these resources.

There are a number of organisations and people who release textbooks under a creative Commons or public domain licence. You can download a number of these directly from the sites. An Internet search will provide you with a number of other sites but I will give these three honourable mention.

– people.math.gatech.edu

– openculture.com/free_textbooks

– open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/

This last website has a large number of textbooks available for humanities, business, computer science, law, mathematics, social sciences, and education. Because these textbooks are published under a share alike licence then you will be able to get this information for free. These are actually high-quality textbooks written and used by universities but published on the Internet for free.

And finally the last thing I’d like to discuss is MOOCs. Which stands for massive open online courses. These courses are generally open to everyone and anyone who has access to the web and computer meets the basic requirements for enrolment there is no physical classroom and there is no limit to the size of students.

They are generally free however some providers do charge a small fee normally in exchange for a certificate of completion or other non-degree credit earned. Some do offer an academic course credit but the student normally has to be formally enrolled in the academic institution which gives the class.

Given that the classes online and anyone can sign up the coursework is generally self-paced so you can dive in at your own pace and at your own time. Unless the class is a scheduled event then you have to sign up to get some sort of grading or credit then there will typically be some sort of examination or a rough schedule for completion.

So one of the major providers is Coursera. But a great place to find a comprehensive listing is mooc.org which has a searchable database. Open Culture website also maintains a long list.

Although there is no requirement for you to take prerequisite course for any of these courses you might want to review pre-requisites before you jump in. This is because you may need some basic level of knowledge that you may or may not have.

If you’re interested in one of these courses things to do are:

Figure out your reason for taking it, e.g. do you need a certificate or not.
Determine if there is a pre-requisite required.
Confirm any technical requirements. Normally technical requirements is simply access to a web browser however some courses you may need special software in order to access or view the materials such as a PDF reader and while most computers or have the ability and the necessary software some computers with older operating systems may not be able to manage.
You will need to register with the course provider, typically this is just a name and email address but it may ask you for your academic history or relevant work experience.
You have to pay a fee if it’s applicable, and applied to the relevant academic institution if this course is for a credit.

When you sign up you definitely need to check out the course overview the platform and the course requirements before course actually starts if you don’t you may end up falling behind. Many of these courses also have forum discussions and you may find it useful to participate in discussions in order to get the most out of the materials.

Okay everyone, that is it for today. I hope that you found this information useful and that you’ll be able to find all the resources you need in order to self-study. Once again if you have any comments or feedback or questions please feel free to email me at: rick@autodidactic.info. You can also leave comments on the website about resources I didn’t mention.

Thank you once again for listening and I hope that you will join me next time. In the next podcast I will be discussing flashcard creation, and using the stolen moments of time in your day in order to help you progress. I will make some recommendations about space repetition software but will mainly focus on how to create useful flashcards whether they be on paper or electronic.

View Details

Welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast with your host Rick Dearman.

Hello and welcome to the Autodidactic Podcast, Episode Three – Season One. If you’re a new listener, I’d like to welcome you and encourage you to give feedback on this show by emailing me at rick@auodidactic.info, and you can visit our website where you’ll find the show notes and transcriptions of this podcast.

On today’s show, we’re gonna be talking about what to do with the study time that you have and how to create a study plan. I’ll give you some suggestions for how you can take the topics we discussed today and generate a study plan template that you can use as an autodidactic or polymath.

But don’t get too obsessed with the creation of the perfect study plan. As General George Patton said; a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

Today we’re gonna talk about three things. Study frequency. Inter-leaving and testing. These three things together will probably do more for your study and retention than just about anything else you can do. The problem with these, of course, is that they’re difficult

But if you’re aware of them and you can work them into your study time, it will help you improve significantly. After we cover these topics and discuss them in greater detail, I’ll move on and briefly discuss something called a reverse revision timetable, and finally, we’ll talk about a study plan.

In the last podcast, I left you with something to think about. So let’s return to the question I asked, which was; Is it better to study four subjects for 15 minutes a day or each subject for one hour over the course of four days? Well, the answer is that there is no correct answer, but research indicates that spacing is more beneficial for long term learning. So by dividing up the four subjects into 15 minute intervals and studying each of them every day, the primary benefit is that you’re forgetting curve is less.

Longer periods of time between study sessions mean that you’re more likely to forget more about the previous session. But because you’re studying a subject every day, albeit for a limited amount of time, you’re not forgetting as much and the following day you’re reinforcing your memory.

In addition, other studies have shown that students who cram for an hour for an examination or quiz will generally score the same as students who studied for shorter periods over the previous week. However, on subsequent examinations of the same material, the students who studied small amounts of material more frequently over time, rather than cramming, remembered almost 50% more than the students who took the second examination. [should have been: However, on subsequent examinations of the same material, the students who studied small amounts of material more frequently over time, rather than cramming, remembered almost 50% more than the cramming students in a second examination.]

So what does this tell us? Well, by breaking up the material into smaller pieces and reviewing it more frequently, students had a higher retention rate than students who simply crammed for the examination the next day. So if you only want to learn enough to pass a test, cramming will work fine. But if you’re attempting to learn a lifelong skill or create a knowledge base then breaking it up, and reviewing it more frequently is a much, much better way to go.

In fact, in another research study, they broke three sets of students up and ask them to learn 50 Spanish words in eight sessions. The sessions for each group were broken up into the next day, the next week or the next month. For example, the first group had one session every day for eight days. The next group had one session every week for eight weeks, etcetera.

So then these three groups of people were tested eight years later. And the people who learned the words in eight sessions over eight months still remembered 50% of the vocabulary, whereas the other students were significantly lower in their percentages of recall.

Another advantage of short but focus study sessions is that you’re more focused and therefore more likely to retain the information. In a long study session your mind will have a tendency to wander, and you’ll not be is focused on the task as you would be if you knew that it was just a simple, short but intense session of study.

So research has shown that spacing out your learning has a benefit on retention. In addition, inter-leaving of information or methods can increase retention. Inter-leaving is simply using multiple sources for your study or multiple methods for your study.

So in one research study students were asked to look at paintings which were grouped by artists, and another set of students were asked to look at the exact same paintings but were in a random order. The students had to critique the paintings and understand the differences between them all. So students who looked at paintings in a random order were better able to remember the critique of the paintings.

You can use interweaving in your own studies by mixing resources So for example, if you are attempting to remember a specific grammatical usage of a word in a foreign language, you might want to read the grammar book description and then looked through another fiction book for an example of that grammatical usage. Or listen to a native speaker who is using that grammatical method in in a sentence. You might mix up Resource is by studying two different books at the same time. Inter-leaving or mixing up as much as possible is a very useful strategy.

The third topic is testing, and as a self learner, you’re probably not going to have a test administered to you by a third party. But research has shown that a large part of the retention of information is being tested on the information.

For example, the more times you have to remember a phone number in order to dial it, the easier it becomes to remember the phone number. And although most people would today society keep their numbers on smartphones, the principal stays the same. Use it or lose it.

At the University of Louisville, psychologist Keith Lyle PhD used a captive audience of his students, his undergraduate class, to prove a point in one 75 person class. At the end of each class session, he asked students to complete a 4 to 6 question short quiz about the material that had been presented during that lecture. Cumulatively, the quizzes counted for just 8% of the final grade.

He also taught a second class using the same syllabus, but didn’t give daily quizzes, and at the end of the semester, he found that students in the quiz class significantly outscored students in the non quiz class in all four midterm examinations.

So although most professors won’t use daily quizzes in their courses, students can and should test themselves by asking questions after each study session. Now, as a self learner, the results of Professor Lyle’s daily quizzes shouldn’t go unnoticed. This is something you can do for yourself easily and practically for the last few minutes of your study period or while you are studying, simply write out a small quiz of what you have studied. It’s relatively easy to generate a question from a paragraph that you just read, and you can use this quiz not on yourself that day, but on your future self tomorrow. So in effect each day you create tomorrow’s daily quiz for yourself. So at the start of your study session, you answer your queries from yesterday and that the end of your session you generate a quiz for tomorrow.

Okay, so let’s bring all of this research together, and how do we apply it? Well, the first thing to do is identify key facts and areas of study. Think about the key sets of facts and areas that you’re going to want to remember 20 years from now or next year or next week. At the end of each study session generated quiz for yourself. Break all of the big ideas into smaller pieces that can easily be quized and try and study from more than one resource at a time.

Try to compare and contrast the information in the various resource is that you’re using, so that covers the three topics of spacing, inter-leaving and testing. Now let’s move on to something I like to call reverse revision timetable.

Of course, I’m not the first person to have used or promoted the reverse revision timetable, but I would like to discuss it, since many people will not have used reverse revision timetable and have only be aware of a revision timetable, which was typically used in school or when studying.

A revision timetable is simply scheduling the time you will use to revise when you have learned a class or a textbook. So, for example, the typical revision timetable will say; On the second of August, I will study the circulatory system; On the third of August, I will study the respiratory system and it goes on like this.

However, one of the problems with this revision timetable is that it doesn’t actually allow you to focus in on the things that you’re having problems with because you are simply doing it in the order in which it was scheduled, and it is bound only to a time-frame.

A reverse revision timetable is different because it focuses on the subject, and the time frame is secondary. To create a reverse revision timetable, you would first list the subjects you’re going to study and not worry about the times that you’re going to study them.

So if we were to use a spreadsheet, you would open it up and in column A you might write a list of 10 subjects that you plan to study or revise. Then what you do is in column B beside the subject that you have studied that day, you write in the date that you studied and you give it a colour coding known as a rag status.

A rag status is a project management term, which stands for Red, Amber, Green. Red means there is a problem, and something needs to be done about this immediately. Amber is a warning colour, saying that there’s a potential problem that needs to be dealt with. And green means everything’s good

Now, on the first pass of a reverse revision timetable, you work down through your list of 10 topics, for example, studying the circulatory system and then the respiratory system, etcetera, etcetera, and after you’ve completed all 10 subjects, you go back and review the rag status of each of those topics. And the next thing you study is one of the red subjects.

So, for example, if you had colour coded, the respiratory system has Red but the circulatory system was green. You would do the respiratory system before the circulatory system. So you study all of the red subjects until you’ve done them all one more time and you colour code those and then you do all of the amber. And on the third pass, you look for more red or amber subjects.

You’ll notice that we ignore Green in this example, because if it was green, it means you already know it. And you simply continue to do this each time, working on the Red and Amber’s to try and make them all Green.

The benefit of this method is that you’re focusing your attention specifically on the items which you are struggling with. In the normal revision timetable, you study the subject again on the next date it’s due. Whether you know it or not, so this is sub optimal. If you want to ensure that you understand the various topics that you’re studying, you should always be studying the thing that you don’t understand or the thing that you understand the least.

Now, Finally, I’d like to outline my suggested study plan template. Here I’m going to assume that you are learning more than one subject at a time, and I’m gonna make this simple and say that you’re only studying two topics.

In this example we’re going to say that you’re studying one foreign language, French, and you’re studying mathematics. You have one hour of dedicated study time every day, which means you’re going to break up these two topics and give them one half hour each. The very first thing you would need to do is to create a study plan.

Now, this is slightly different from your revision timetable because you haven’t actually studied anything yet. The study plan is what your future intention is to study. To create a study plan you look at the resource is that you have available for each topic one at a time.

So let’s start with French. You have one audio resource, two textbooks on a fiction book. So you decide you’re going to use the audio resource during your stolen minutes, and if you don’t know what I mean by stolen minutes, have a listen to the previous podcast. So you won’t be using your audio during this study period, so you’re going to use the two textbooks and the fiction books.

You’re going to start with the smaller textbook, and after completing each section, you will try and find the same information in the larger textbook to compare and contrast the information that they’re giving. The fiction book you will read every other study period, underlining unknown vocabulary and putting them into flash cards, and you will use the flash cards in those stolen minutes. And that will be your study plan for the next month.

For your study of mathematics, it’s very similar. You have four mathematics books, basic math, algebra, trigonometry and geometry. You decide that you will do them in the order of basic math, geometry and trigonometry. But you will use the algebra book every other day while making your way through the other three books over time. In hopes that this inter leaving of algebra with the other maths books will help for the retention of all, or at least give you some ability to see, compare and contrast the subjects.

Finally, you open up your spreadsheet and you list your topics. You break the topics down into sub-categories as much as possible and as appropriate. You decide that each month you will collect up all of the daily quizzes that you generate, and you will take them all as one big test each month.

So in addition to daily quizzes, your daily quiz becomes a large test at the end of each month. And the results of these monthly examinations will be used as indicators for your reverse time table revision.

So let’s say, for example, you had divided your French into two sub-categories vocabulary and grammar, and in your monthly exam, you see that you should be studying grammar more frequently. This allows you to modify the next month study session and focus on grammar. So the results of your testing and you’re quizzing and your revision allows you to look forward to the next month and create a new plan.

Now you don’t have to use this study template because you’re studying something might be radically different from what I study. However, I think the principle of using daily tests monthly exam and a reverse revision timetable will help you to maintain a steady schedule and record your progress as a self learner.

That’s it for today, and I’d like to thank you for listening to today’s podcast in the next podcast, I’m going to cover Gathering Resource is in order to study as a self learner. There are a large number of free and legal resource is available to you as a self learner on the Internet today. You can get textbooks written by colleges and universities, as well as professors who are releasing textbooks under Creative Commons licences that allow you to print them or use them, as you see fit. There are apps to help with spaced repetition or memorization, their language learning apps, their courses that have been released into the public domain. So in addition to all this free and legal resource on the Internet, there’s also paid subscriptions, other websites where you can get additional resource is and will cover all of that, as well as libraries, used book-stores, charity shops and other places to gather materials in the next podcast.

View Details

Episode Two, Season One

Welcome to the autodidactic podcast with your host Rick Dearman.

Hi, and welcome to the autodidactic podcast. This is Episode Two, Season One and I’m your host, Rick Dearman.

If you’re a first time listener, I want to welcome you to the show, and I’m glad that you’re visiting. If you haven’t already, please visit the website autodidactic.info where you’ll find links to all the show and to the show notes, which contain any links to anything I talk about on the show.

Today, I want to discuss time management. Why? Because when you’re going to study, when are you going to find time to study if you can’t manage your time effectively? So I’m going to cover most of the basic things about time management and some important ways to steal time. Later in the show. I’ll tell you what I found to be the most effective way of keeping on top of studying by the use of what I like to call dead time.

If you’re interested in giving me feedback about the show or suggestions, please email me at rick@ autodidactic.info. I’ve had some feedback already from beta listeners and I’m shaping the episodes for the rest of the season accordingly. I’ve been struggling to get everything related to the podcast done while still continuing my own study regime. So, I know your pain if you’re struggling to implement some of the stuff we’re going to talk about today.

I quoted to one of my friends recently; If you love life than value time, because that is what life is made of and remember: you don’t have to be perfect just better than you were yesterday.

Okay, so let’s talk about prioritization using four quadrants. Imagine you’re drawing a square on a piece of paper and then split the square in the middle from top to bottom with another line and then split it again from left to right.

Let’s discover prioritization using this square and it’s four quadrants. Imagine that you put a label on the bottom line called urgency on a label on the left-most line as importance. So the point at the bottom of our square zero and the level of urgency grows as you move to the right and the importance see grows as you move up.

Now imagine you’re writing a letter in each quadrant. In the bottom left quadrant of the square, we’re going to put the letter A.

A represents things which are not important and are not urgent. As we move along the right, to the right quadrant, on the bottom will mark this one is B. Because B is urgent, but it’s not important.

Now if we go to the top left quadrant we’ll mark, this one as C. That is because it’s important but not urgent.

And finally, we’ll put the letter D into the top right quadrant because this is both urgent and important.

Now. If you were to take your to do list and categorize every action that you have to do as A, B, C or D, then you’ll be able to see the priorities of your to do list. So my suggestion is that you would immediately strike out anything that you marked as A. Why? Well, because they’re not important and they’re not urgent, and they will just suck up your time and not let you get on to other things.

Once upon a time, there was a professor who showed his class a glass tube, which he then filled with well rocks, and he asked the class if it was full when he had got to the top and they all said yes. And then the professor reached under his desk and pulled out a bag of sand, which he then poured into the glass container. Then he told them that it was full.

But had he done it the other way around and filled it with sand first, he would have never got the rocks in. Now the point here is to not fill your day with small, unimportant tasks. You need to do the big stuff first, which means you need to schedule time for it.

Now if we go back to your to do list and we looked at the items that were marked as category B, these are urgent, but not important. And here you need to use some discretion, but you should probably just ignore all of these or as many of them you can as well, because they’re not important.

So finally we’re left with C and D. Well, you’re gonna need to work on things marked D, because not only are they important they’re also urgent. But D is a funny category because if you looked at the things that are in D you can probably see that at some point in the past, the things that we’re now categorized as D, urgent and important, probably sat for awhile in category C because it was important and it’s always been important, but until recently, it hasn’t become urgent, and you weren’t working on it.

One of the things that generally tends to sit in category C for most people is self education, career enhancement, that sort of thing. And these things don’t get moved into quadrant D, typically until it’s too late. So, for example, you may have had a goal of learning a second language and that sits in category C. But you can’t wait until two weeks before you arrive in country to start, because you’re never going to get it done. You should have been working on it when it was in Category C, long before it ever got into Category D. And many things in self education, self improvement or career enhancement tend to fall into category C.

Now, time management really isn’t about managing time because, quite honestly, you can’t manage time. It isn’t like managing money. You can’t borrow it. You can’t sell it. You can’t buy it. You can’t loan it out and you don’t get any interest on it.

The universe is very equal and fair. All humans, insects, birds, mammals, absolutely everything, and everyone, gets exactly 86,400 seconds each day. No more, no less. How you use those seconds are up to you.

So if you’re listening to this podcast and chances are you’re aware that time is ticking and that you need to be working on your category C stuff. Removing all of the category A and B things should help you buy some time. But one of the best things I found for studying is to put it in your calendar and schedule time to do it.

A lot of people tell you to get up an hour early to study, which should be a quick and simple solution. However, someone told me this once, and I decided that that advice is just a little bit too flippant because, you see, at the time I was getting up at five am to commute to a job. So getting up an hour earlier at 4 a.m. it wasn’t gonna happen.

But scheduling time into your day might work. So, for example, your hour at lunchtime. Getting up an hour earlier might be a solution for you, but for me, it wasn’t a solution. Now, one solution I did find is what I call studying during dead time.

What is dead time? Well, dead time is a time where I’m forced to do something, but it isn’t really productive. And a very good example of this was commuting into work on a train. I used to commute for about an hour and a half back and forth to work each day.

Which meant three hours of dead time every day, 15 hours of dead time per week. Now I could have done what most people do on the train and just read a newspaper or listen to music, or even watched the film. But I decided I was gonna put that time to work. So I studied. I studied French and Italian or I read books which I needed for career developed and that three hours a day or 15 hours a week was some of the most productive time I actually had.

But there’s other examples of dead time. For example, for a different job, I had to drive to work. Now, here too, I had a lot of dead time. It was not productive, and there wasn’t really anything I could do. What I decided to do during this time was listened to audiobooks. Or speak into a voice recorder and used the transcripts software to turn it into text. Two of the draft of some fiction books, which I have published, were written while in that car, driving back and forth to that job.

So dead time can be your friend. You just can’t waste it, and you need to find ways to use this dead time. If you’ve got an hour or two of unproductive time each day, then you need to see how you can use that time to accomplish your category C goals.

Now, another thing that a lot of people do, and some advice that is given out, is to stop watching television, since it doesn’t really help your education. And I do agree with this or as Groucho Marx once said: I find television very educational because every time someone turns on the set, I go into another room and read a book.

Everybody’s got dead time or unproductive time that you could use instead for education. But if you can’t find any of this dead time, then you’re gonna need to steal time. Now, how do you steal time?

Well, I was able to get three hours of dead time on my train journey, as I told you earlier, but I also stole time in order to study languages. If you remember the story about the professor and the sand, we view the rocks as the dead time that you were getting back these large hours here and there. Then we can look at the sand as the few minutes where we normally spend waiting for something. You’re waiting for a tea kettle to boil or for the barista to hand you your coffee. You’re waiting in a line at the bank. You’re waiting in a line for the train. You’re waiting to get a ticket.

Human beings will spend approximately six months of their life in a line waiting for something, which is about three days a year queuing up. 72 hours of time, which you can steal back every year and you can steal back this time by being prepared and using things like flash cards. So if you’ve got a flash cards already made, you can pull them out of your pocket while you’re waiting for your tea kettle to boil and you can study it.

But nowadays, with the advent of technology, you can use an app like Anki (https://ankiweb.net) which allows you to memorize just about anything. Anki is a spaced repetition software, which is available on most devices and computers. And it will allow you to memorize parts of the bodies, capitals of countries, Russian vocabulary, the periodic table, square roots, you name it. It’ll help you memorize it through space repetition. And you just need to be ready to use these moments and to steal them when they become available.

Outside of stealing time and finding dead time. As I said before, one of the best techniques I found was to schedule your study time. If you’re going to schedule it, it might be your lunch hour. It might be one hour after your children go to bed, but during that hour, or you’re dead time or the stolen seconds, you’ll be progressing in your category C tasks of the coming autodidactic.

So in closing, I hope that what I’ve shared with you today is giving you some incentive to try and manage yourself and your time a bit better. Hopefully, it’s given you the incentive to study time management in more detail. You really can’t go wrong in your quest to be an autodidactic by starting with the study of time management techniques.

In the next episode, I want to dive into the actual study time itself and look at how we divvy up this study. Now, this is especially important if you want to be a polymath on a polymath as a person who is well schooled in multiple subjects.

Now, with that in mind, I’d like you to leave you with a little question to think about until the next podcast.

Is it better to study four subjects an hour day, rotating the subjects each day? Or is it better to study each subject for only 15 minutes of your hour?

If you’re interested in giving me feedback about the show or suggestions, please email me at rick@autodidactic.info, and I’d like to thank you too, for taking the time to listen to this podcast. And I hope you feel that this was time well spent.

View Details

Episode One – Season One

Welcome to the autodidactic podcast with your host, Rick Dearman.

Hello and Welcome to Episode one.

The first question you’re probably asking yourself is; What is an auto didactic? Well, it’s pretty simple an auto didactic is a self taught person, so a self learner, somebody who’s taught themselves the subject in great detail, but did it without necessarily classroom or a teacher.

Generally, autodidactics are individuals who choose the subject they want to study. They’ve chosen their studying material. They study rhythm, and the time is of their choosing, and the depth to which they study and gain knowledge is also completely up to them now.

In addition, many people who are autodidactic are also polymaths. A polymath is a person who’s knowledge spans a significant number of subjects. So this is somebody who’s learned not just maths, but violin or some scientific endeavour or language. Now many people have been polymaths or autodidactic. This list includes John Steinback, Mark Twain, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln and Frank Lloyd Wright and many, many, many others.

According to a recent poll of software developers, it seems that about 69.1% of all software developers are also self taught.

Now, the role of self directed learning continues to be investigated in many learning approaches, and it’s constantly evolving. Thanks to the Internet, we have colleges and universities offering more distance learning degree programs and technology providing numerous resource is to enable people to have a self directed learning experience.

So on this show, we want to discuss ways means, methods, resources and things that will help you become autodidactic. Also, hopefully, to build a community who can share resources and also talk to each other and give tips and advice about becoming a self learner, a self directed learner.

Now how do you go about becoming an auto didactic? Well, the very first step is determine what it is you want to study and commit to active learning. Now active learning occurs when a person takes control of your learning experience. Since understanding the information that you’re given as a key aspect of learning, it’s important for self directed learners to recognize what they understand, what they do not understand and how to take corrective action.

Basically, this is a form of learner autonomy, which was a phrase coined by Henry Olek in 1981. And it’s practice quite frequently in language learning, but it’s useful far, far beyond just learning a language.

This autonomy means moving the focus from the teacher to the learner and from the teaching to the learning process. The autonomy affords maximum possible influence for the learner. So it’s the learner who’s directing what needs to come next, autonomy that encourages and yet needs peer support and cooperation. You need others to talk to, others to bounce ideas off, and to learn from. And this autonomy makes use of your own self or peer assessment.

Because you’re not gonna be given a test at the end of the semester, you’re going to have to determine how much you know and how much you’ve learned by yourself. Which means you really need to be very self aware when you’re learning and to have the ability to look at what you’re doing and understand that you don’t understand this portion. You need greater clarification or some way to work on that, and that’s just part of learning how to learn OK, but a lot of the characteristics which are generally associated with autonomous learning or autodidactic or polymaths are basic resourcefulness, initiative and persistence.

Now, the most important point here is persistence. And, like our tagline says; You don’t have to be perfect just better than yesterday. But this is because we all want to be better, and we need to strive forward and be better. But we, as human beings, have a tendency to judge ourselves a bit too harshly, right? And so 90% of being auto didactic is just showing up and doing the work. Now, over the course of the next few episodes over this season, we’re gonna talk about the various things you need in order to become autodidact.

So we’re gonna have episodes on how to gather. Resource is for various types of learning, you know? How do you get textbooks? Where do you sign up for classes? How do you get books? How do you meet peers? How do you find a tutor? Et cetera?

A lot of these resource is will be free, but a lot of them you would have to pay for. So this isn’t an exercise in teaching you how to learn for free. But it is an exercise in discovering resources for learning. We’re gonna touch on how to learn languages. I do another podcast where I talk about language learning with a fellow language learner called the Lollygagging podcast.

I run a forum for language learners, which is called forum.language-learners.org where there are almost 12,000 people who are learning various languages all around the world. And there’s loads of resource is tips, tricks and things you can do to learn languages. And we’ll cover most of the important points in those episodes, and they’re probably going to be more than one episode simply because there’s so much to cover when talking about learning languages.

In another episode, I want to talk about technology skills and how to learn them. Now, for example, I’ve learned a number of programming languages at least a dozen C, C++, PERL, Python, TCL/TK You know, just loads of various programming languages, and I’ve taught myself, all of them and you know, it doesn’t surprise me that 69.1% of all software developers. Or the majority of software developers, in any case are self taught because learning a new programming language is literally just learning the syntax of the language. Once you know how to program in either object orientated programming or linear programming, learning another language isn’t that difficult as far as programming goes.

I want to cover on episode where we talk about my time management techniques. So you know, when am I going to get time to learn all this stuff? How am I gonna chop up my time if I want to learn more than one subject? How do I cover different aspects of learning in the time I’ve got allotted? How do I steal the minutes from my day to add to my knowledge and capabilities?

And then I want to cover things like, how do I find tests to see how much I’ve learned? How do I get an evaluation? How can I do a self evaluation to discover? Well am I any good at this or not?

So those are just a few of the many topics that we’re going to cover in this season. Certainly, and I would really appreciate it if you could spend a bit of time and send me your feedback topics you would like to cover areas that you would like to explore, and I’ll try and help you as best I can to understand what it is you need to do to help progress yourself learning.

And I want to become your peer so that we share ideas with each other and with the audience as a whole. So to do that, you can feel free to email me, and then we will go on this journey forward together, getting more more information and getting better at what it is we do.

Now you’re probably asking yourself. Okay, well, what is it you’re learning at the moment? You’re that you’re the podcast host. What is it you’re learning? Well, I’ve actually got a shelf of over 17 books on mathematics ranging from fundamental mathematics to differential calculus. And I’m slowly making my way through all of those books a little bit at a time.

I’ve taught myself French and Italian, and I’m continuing to do more vocabulary work and more work with those languages, and I’m teaching myself Mandarin at the moment as well. I’m pursuing to programming languages one Rust, which is a new language and the other called Flutter, which is language used for developing applications on smartphones, tablets and televisions.

So that’s basically what I’m doing at the moment. And I’d like to review what I’m doing with you. Discuss things that I found that are working and things that I found that don’t work. Quite frequently it’s the things that don’t work that teach you how you as a person as an individual learn rather than some instruction. So as a person you need to be constantly evaluating what it is you’re doing and how you’re doing it, how you’re planning your study time, what you’re doing with that study time. What’s giving you benefit and what isn’t.

Some of the things that will look at is methods for tracking what you’re learning. So find a spreadsheet and track the number of hours that you spend on learning or track the number of modules that you’ve completed in a book. Various things that basically keep you on track and keep you on schedule, because without a plan, you’re not really going to get anywhere, and it’s okay to say; Oh, I’m going to study Mandarin for half an hour every day, but what exactly is it that you’re going to study? What materials are you going to use? And how will you know when you’re completed with that material, what the next material is going to be.

Or are you going to mix materials together? Are you going to be using a textbook, some native audio and some other form of study? So these are the sorts of things that we want to explore some of the things that we’re going to need to look into and actually get going.

So in this podcast, I really want to be as helpful and as interactive as we possibly can be. So please feel free to email me put comments on the website, and any suggestion is more than welcome.

So to sum up this obviously quite short introduction, I just like to say that I hope you join me for the entire first season. And I hope we cover the things that you want to learn that will help you become a self directed learner an autodidactic. So thank you very much for listening, and I’ll see you at the next episode.

Thank you for listening to the auto didactic podcast with your host Rick Dearman, if you enjoy this podcast, please consider giving a donation by PayPal. Thank you very much.

The Autodidactic Podcast: Recent Episodes

Rick Dearman