Learning How to Learn

By: Tesia Marshik, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Tesia Marshik

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

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

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

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

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

WOW. FANTASTIC!!

I was listening and jumped up to take notes.Very motivating. Great set of tips.

Should be required reading for students!

This was a quick explanation of best learning practices. It was mostly ideas I already knew, but have never followed (to my own detriment)! Maybe if I had this back in college I would have been more motivated to actually do it right! It also had some eye-opening moments where something really clicked about my own mindset and why sometimes studying seemed so ineffective. It was pretty brief, but even so tended to be a bit repetitive and could have been trimmed down even more. It is mostly targeted for college students but I wish there was a simplified version for middle school and highschool kids. I think starting these practices early would be hugely beneficial.

A must listen for all life long learners!

The clear approachable style of this lecture series drew me in, episode after episode. The science-based practical approach with easy-to-understand tips on not only getting the most out of your learning experience but changing the way you think about learning made this a very easy listen. I'm on my second time through and have found myself stopping to take notes and make action items for myself in my own learning. I encouraged my son who is a college sophomore to listen to this lecture series before starting classes again in the fall. I can't recommend this series highly enough. If you only have time to listen to two lectures listen to the first and the last. It will help you reframe your thinking on what it means to be a learner and to take the "director's chair" of your own life. Many of the lessons are broadly applicable not only to "classroom" learning but to learning how to take charge of your own learning journey, and finding ways to develop mastery in the many and varied life disciplines modern professionals have to be competent in handling. Really give it a listen!

Good summary of common sense tips

Nothing ground-breaking here, but I’m sure it will be useful for those who feel a bit lost.

Repetitive

Some of her strategies and defined key terms get brought up over and over again, which wouldn’t be an issue if she didn’t need to re explain the term or strategy in basically the same words. The only change I would ask for is either skipping the repeat definition or describing it in new ways to better drive the point. Other than that it was very well read, easy to listen to, and a great learning experience.