With the New Year upon us, many people are taking stock of their accomplishments from the previous year and setting goals for 2018. If you have decided that one of your goals for this year is to learn something new, I would encourage you to sign up for the free, four-week online course “Learning How to Learn” from Coursera.
The class is designed to help individuals gain a new understanding of how learning happens, diminish frustration when learning, and help people learn new subjects more deeply — all practical objectives if you’re trying to learn or attempting something new.
I’ve begun the course and some of the information presented by instructors Terry Sejnowski and Barbara Oakley is immediately applicable to the work I do for Communiqué PR, as well as for the novel I am writing in my spare time. For instance, I was not familiar with the difference between focused and diffuse modes of thinking and when one might want to apply them.
Focused mode is the state your brain is in when you’re concentrating deeply on something that you’re trying to learn or understand. Diffuse mode is the state your brain is in when you are more relaxed and in a neural resting state. For instance, your brain is most likely in a diffuse or relaxed state when you’re are a passenger in a car, about to fall asleep or out for a jog. Interestingly, when you’re trying to learn something new, you can harness both the focused and diffuse mode to achieve success.
Now that I’m familiar with how my brain works in focused thinking versus diffuse thinking, I have a deeper awareness about which mode I am in and whether it might make sense to try to switch to the other mode. In the course opening, Oakley explains that you are either in one mode or another – but not both at the same time. She uses the analogy of a coin to emphasize this point. When you look at a quarter, you can see one side or the other, but not both at the same time.
I’ve only completed the first week of the course, so I’m still gaining insight how to switch between focused versus diffuse modes to ramp up my learning. However, one exercise that I might try is focusing hard for 30 minutes while writing, for example, a new scene for my novel. I’ll set a timer and after 30 minutes, I’ll take a break and go for a walk. This will allow my mind to relax, and for my subconscious to continue to work on how to make the scene as compelling and interesting as possible. It is very clear from the course material and the work of neuroscientists that in order to learn more deeply, it is important to be able to go from one state to another – focused to diffuse, and back again.
Another key aspect Oakley explains is the power of metaphors and analogies in learning. As communicators, we often use these elements to help people understand what we are trying to say, but they’re also very powerful if you want to understand something more deeply, or if you want to grasp more abstract concepts. Metaphors and analogies are helpful because they enable you to take an unfamiliar concept and relate it to something familiar.
Finally, if you’re in a management or leadership role and helping others in your organization to learn, this course could be helpful for you. Helping another person gain and master new skills is often part of a manager’s or leader’s role. Maybe you want to help a co-worker improve his or her writing, presentation or negotiation skills, and to become better in these areas they are likely going to need to grasp new concepts. It’s your job is to help them accomplish this. If you understand how people learn, you’re likely to be a better teacher and manager.
My goal in 2018 – and one of the main reasons I’m taking this class – is to continue to help others learn and grow. Hopefully my own insights from this class will help me as I strive to be the best leader I can be.
Happy New Year! If you have a goal or learning objective for 2018 and want to share it, I’d love to hear from you.