UndergradSkiller: Skill Set Map for Undergraduates and Their Educators

LEARNING AND SELF-MANAGEMENT: Learning and Study Skills

How We Learn

Research on learning reveals that certain approaches, such as spaced practice, active recall, and reframing failure, are consistently more effective than passive rereading or cramming. These talks introduce key ideas about how learning works.

Useful Resources on How We Learn:

Oakley, B. (2014). Learning how to learn [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96fE1E-rf8

Annotation: TEDx talk in which Barbara Oakley describes her personal journey from struggling with mathematics to becoming an engineering professor, and explains techniques for effective learning, including the use of focused and diffuse modes of thinking.

Kaufman, J. (2013). The first 20 hours: How to learn anything [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

Annotation: TEDx talk presenting a framework for rapid skill acquisition, arguing that the initial barrier to learning a new skill can be overcome with approximately 20 hours of deliberate practice.

Rober, M. (2018). The Super Mario effect: Tricking your brain into learning more [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vJRopau0g0

Annotation: TEDx talk exploring how reframing failure as part of a learning process, rather than as a penalty, increases persistence and engagement, using examples from a coding puzzle experiment and other domains.

Peer Review: None

Table of contents:

4.1. Finding Help and Support
4.1.1. Seeking Support
4.1.2. Communicating with Professors

4.2. Learning and Study Skills

4.2.1. How We Learn

4.2.2. Metacognition
4.2.3. Study Strategies
4.2.4. Studying in STEM
4.2.5. Note-Taking and Lectures
4.2.6. Exam Preparation

4.3. Time Management and Focus
4.3.1. Time Management Strategies
4.3.2. The Pomodoro Technique
4.3.3. Understanding Procrastination
4.3.4. Staying Motivated
4.3.5. Digital Focus Tools

4.4. Reflective Practice
4.4.1. Growth Mindset
4.4.2. Reflective Practice Tools

4.5. Wellbeing
4.5.1. Mental Health
4.5.2. Personal Wellbeing
4.5.3. Digital Wellbeing
4.5.4. Stress Management
4.5.5. Budgeting
4.5.6. Finding Friends

4.6. Adapting Your Study Approach
4.6.1. Neurodiversity and University
4.6.2. Studying with ADHD
4.6.3. Studying with Dyslexia and Assistive Tools

4.7. Skills and Career Planning
4.7.1. Identifying Your Skills
4.7.2. Setting Goals
4.7.3. Career Planning
4.7.4. Postgraduate Study
4.7.5. Internships and E-Learning

 

Author: Leeanne Irwin

Peer Reviewer(s): None