Education portal

The Case for Online Learning

2011-10-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Pew Research recently conducted a survey in spring 2011. The survey consisted of a telephone survey using a nationally representative sample of adults ages 18 and older; and an online survey done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education polling presidents of two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and universities. The findings make a strong case for colleges and universities to embrace the online learning environment.

Among those who have graduated in the past decade, the figure rises to 46%. Adults who have taken a course online have a somewhat more positive view of the value of this learning format: 39% say a course taken online provides the same educational value as one taken in person, a view shared by only 27% of those who have not taken an online course.

Traditional universities consider new approaches

With the continuing problems of rising costs and unsatisfactory graduation rates, innovative web-based approaches to higher education are being piloted around the state of Texas winning over students and even faculty and administrators.

Kristin Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the University of Texas at Arlington expressed her enthusiasm for online learning:

“Online and blended learning is something that we have done very well. It’s particularly been successful in the nursing, education and health professional fields, where professionals pursuing advanced degrees creates a market demand.”

She noted that it’s not just tech-savvy students who are interested in online learning.

“We have many students who, because of course scheduling, might take most of their classes in a face-to-face environment, but they might take an art history class or a government class or a criminal justice course online,”

Ross Strader, the associate director of the Open Learning Initiative, has conducted research of online learning vs. traditional learning using a statistics textbook. Strader’s research has shown that students who do the course entirely online can achieve the same results as those who take a similar course in a traditional manner. However, those who combine his materials with classroom instruction — what’s known as “blended learning” — have higher rates of success.

Public perception of online learning

Surprisingly, the public appears to have a more skeptical view of online learning than the college presidents; although some surveyed had never taken an online course, those who had still believed that online learning was inferior to in-class instruction.

Here is a summary of key findings from the Pew Research Study:

The Value of Online Learning. Only 29% of the public says online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom. Half (51%) of the college presidents surveyed say online courses provide the same value.
The Prevalence of Online Courses. More than three-quarters of college presidents (77%) report that their institutions now offer online courses. These courses are more prevalent in some sectors of higher education than in others. While 89% of four-year public colleges and universities offer online classes, just 60% of four-year private schools offer them.
Online Students. Roughly one-in-four college graduates (23%) report that they have taken a class online. However, the share doubles to 46% among those who have graduated in the past ten years. Among all adults who have taken a class online, 39% say the format’s educational value is equal to that of a course taken in a classroom.
The Future of Online Learning. College presidents predict substantial growth in online learning: 15% say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online, and 50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.
Digital Textbooks. Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.

It’s clear that colleges and universities see the value in online learning. It appears that over the next decade they need to educate the public regarding its value as they incorporate more online learning with traditional learning. Blended learning using classroom instruction and online resources is clearly a valuable educational tool that colleges and universities can use to cut costs and attract more students.

Article by Suzzane Shaffer.

Revision and Exam Tips

2011-10-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Everyone feels nervous about taking exams. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your revision time and keep those nerves under control.

It’s important to remember that an examination is a test of learning, not memory. Examiners want to see evidence that you have drawn on your knowledge to develop a reasoned argument, rather than replicate course notes and textbook facts. Revision should be a process of consolidating understanding rather than cramming as much information as possible before the morning of the exam.

Contents

1. Study skills – how and where to study

2. Revision plan – the secret to exam success is planning

3. Last-minute revision tips – what can you do when time is short?

4. Dealing with exam nerves – don’t let the stress get on top of you

5. Exam tips – taking the exam

6. Exam tips – after the exam

1. Study skills

Where to study
Creating good conditions to study in can help you make the most of the time you spend revising. Here are some suggestions:

§ Find a quiet place to study and make sure you are sitting comfortably

§ Make sure your desk is well lit

§ Keep background noise to a minimum

§ Avoid studying in an area where there will be distractions (like television!)

§ Have everything you need to do your revision to hand before you start

How to study
There is no ‘right way’ to revise, as long as the method you choose enables you to gain a solid grasp of key facts and consolidate your knowledge. Some students are happy to read their classroom notes from start to finish, others prefer to simplify the information as much as possible, turning everything into skeleton notes, diagrams or mnemonics. In practice, most students find that mixing techniques suits the varied nature of the subjects being revised, and provides essential variety when studying.

§ Turn your notes into revision tools;

§ write ideas and facts on to cards to use as ‘prompts’

§ create memory aids such as diagrams or mnemonics (e.g. initial letters to make a word you need to remember or SMART objectives: Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Realistic; Targets). These will help you remember key facts

§ write key facts/notes out and display these around the house where you will see them

§ record yourself reading notes to listen to

§ Study with a friend and test each other’s knowledge, but remember you are meeting to revise rather than to chat!

§ Work through past question papers – and use a watch to time them so that you can practise timing your answers.

§ Choose study and revision guides sensibly. It’s not hard to find help with revision – as well as established published revision guides, there are hundreds of websites offering help and advice. The problem is not how to find such help, but how to judge which is the best source for your needs. Save valuable time and get recommendations from your teachers

§ Remember course notes are also a valuable source of extra help

§ Keep yourself more alert by changing revision methods during a session. For instance, try switching from note taking to memorising; from reading to asking someone to test you

§ Attend any revision classes that your teachers may be running at school and get their advice on revision methods

§ Look after yourself – Sometimes revision can become a competition – who stayed up latest, who worked longest, who’s worrying the most. But the more tired you are the less efficiently you’ll work. You need to rest as well as study, eat well, drink lots of water and make sure you pace yourself. Don’t rush, and equally don’t over-revise by doing too much too soon

2. Revision plan

The top tip for successful revision is to make a plan; otherwise it is easy to waste your precious revision time. We recommend that you start your revision at least six weeks before your exams begin. It is helpful to look at your exam dates and work backwards to the first date you intend to start revising.

§ List all your exam subjects and the amount of time you think you will need for each one. It is unlikely that the amounts will be equal. Many people find it advisable to allocate more time to the subject or topics they find the most difficult

§ Draw up a revision plan for each week

§ Fill in any regular commitments you have first and the dates of your examinations

§ Use Revision Checklists or Syllabuses for each subject as a starting point. Look at what you need to know and try to identify any gaps in your knowledge. (A good way of doing this is to look at the results of past papers or tests you have worked through)

§ Divide your time for each subject into topics based on the units in the revision checklist or syllabus, and make sure you allow enough time for each one

§ Plan your time carefully, assigning more time to subjects and topics you find difficult

§ Revise often; try and do a little every day

§ Plan in time off, including time for activities which can be done out in the fresh air. Take a 5 or 10 minute break every hour and do some stretching exercises, go for a short walk or make a drink

§ You may find it helpful to change from one subject to another at ‘break’ time, for example doing one or two sessions of maths and then changing to Geography, or alternating a favourite subject with a more difficult one. It helps to build in some variety

§ Write up your plan and display it somewhere visible

§ Adjust your timetable if necessary and try to focus on your weakest topics and subjects

§ Don’t panic; think about what you can achieve, not what you can’t. Positive thinking is important!

3. Last-minute revision tips

Although time may be short, you can still make a difference to your grade. Try and prioritise; do what you can.

§ Use your revision tools (prompts, diagrams etc) to check final facts

§ Keep calm and consolidate your existing knowledge rather than trying to learn new topics

§ Don’t stay up all night revising; being overtired will not help you to do your best

4. Dealing with exam nerves

It is natural to feel nervous before an examination. The more prepared you feel, the easier it will be to conquer your fears.

§ Create a revision plan to help you feel in control of the process

§ Plan your work carefully around the topics you need to focus on. Being aware of gaps in your knowledge can create nerves, but having a plan of how you will fill these will make you feel better.

§ Find out what is involved in the exam:

§ where and when it will take place

§ how much time is allowed

§ how many questions you need to answer

§ Think positive

§ Keep the exam in context – even if you do badly, there will be other options open to you

§ Allow yourself some fun-time each day to relax

§ Eat sensibly – your brain cells need energy to function well. Make sure you drink plenty of water to avoid becoming dehydrated. Dehydration makes you tired and reduces concentration

5. Exam tips – sitting the exam

Be prepared; find out what is involved in each of the examinations that you are going to sit. Organise yourself the night before and get plenty of sleep.

§ Check you have the correct equipment with you before you leave the house (pens pencils, ruler, scientific calculator, etc)

§ Do take a watch or clock so that you can time your answers

§ Leave for the exam in plenty of time

§ Look through the paper first and mark difficult questions/initial thoughts

§ Select the questions that will best enable you to demonstrate your knowledge to the examiner

§ Look at the marks available and read the questions carefully, following instructions given in the paper (e.g. to show all workings, word limits etc)

§ Use the information provided on the paper (the answer’s often nearly all there)

§ Pace yourself and allow enough time to answer all the required questions

§ Write as neatly as possible to help the examiner to mark your work. Marking untidy writing is difficult

§ For longer answers, take a few minutes before you begin to produce a structured plan of what you are going to include in each section

§ Allow yourself ten minutes at the end to read through your answers and correct any mistakes

§ Cross out anything you do not want the examiner to read (e.g. an earlier answer to a question)

6. Exam tips – after the exam

It is easy to fall in to the trap of wondering how well you performed and to discuss this with your fellow students. Your time would be better spent looking ahead to your next examination.

§ Don’t panic – you won’t be the only student who is anxious about their answers

§ Don’t compare your answers with those of other students – this can create negative feelings

§ Have some fresh air and food and take time to relax before you start revising

§ Don’t rush to your textbooks to check your answers – there is no point at this stage

§ Focus on the next exam and how you might improve your exam technique

§ Have a quick look at your revision plan. Do you need to adjust it?

§ Think positive!

Exam Techniques, Tips and Tricks

2011-10-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

Part A) Preparing for an Exam

1) Revise actively.

Just reading through your notes is the worst possible way to revise. Well, OK, perhaps not the worst possible, but it’s really not very good. The more of your brain you can engage in the revision, the more you will remember. Memory is not a box in one part of your brain that things are either in or out. Memory is spread out everywhere: there’s verbal memory, visual memory, audio memory, muscle memory, all sorts. The more your brain does with the information, the more you will remember.

So don’t just read. Make up poems and mnemonics. Summarise the notes. Set them to music. Extract key points and write them down yourself somewhere – even if you’re just copying them out, this is better than just reading, since more of your brain is involved. Make up quizzes and do them. Write limericks. Above all – do problems. Make up your own if you run out. Get active!

2) Plan revision.

Write a good revision plan, and stick to it. Don’t do just one subject a day, you’ll get tired of it; then again swopping too often means you don’t get the chance to get deep into anything. I used to do mornings on one subject, afternoons on another and evenings on a third.

3) Do past papers – as many as you can lay your hands on.

The internal web has (at least) the last three year's papers on it. Papers from previous years are stored in the library (at least that used to be true - it's worth checking if they still have them). Work through them. If you can't do a question, check that it is still in the syllabus (the modules change every year, and it's always worth checking what is new). With a good revision plan you should be doing nothing in the last week before the exams except working through exam papers and examples sheets making sure you can do them.

I can’t emphasize the importance of this enough. Anyone who doesn’t work through past papers has very little chance of doing well in an exam.

Oh - and do the past papers, and the examples sheets, against the clock. Time is short in an exam, you need to get used to thinking, and writing quickly. Get your hand trained up so it can write fast (but legibly, please).

4) Question-spotting.

This can be risky, but if you're playing the percentages it's worth a try. Look for any topic that was in the exam two and three years ago, but not last year. If you can get hold of papers from further back, try and spot patterns: does any topic come up every other year, for example?

Another good tip is to make a very careful note if the lecturer says at any point "this is new in the course this year". If he does, there's an above average chance that this will be in the exam - it gets harder every year to come up with new questions about the same old subjects, and putting a new topic in the course is an easy "new question" for the examiner.

5) If you can’t do the past papers – ask someone for help.

Study groups work well, provided you don’t think this will mean other people are doing your studying for you. They can’t – that doesn’t work. You have to go and study a subject, or attempt an exam paper by yourselves first, then meet together to discuss your answers. Don’t work through the past papers in the group – the temptation to let other people do the work is too strong. You need to learn to do it yourself. Always remember, exams are not a team exercise.

Failing that, make an appointment to come and ask the lecturer. Lecturers are usually perfectly happy to answer questions of the form “this is how far I’ve got, but I can’t see how to do the next bit – is this right?” However, anyone turning up and asking for the worked solutions to an exam question having made no apparent effort to try themselves first is likely to be told to go away and do some more work. This is for your benefit – if we just tell you how to do a problem, you won’t remember it very well. If you really struggle to get through it yourself, and then with some help finally succeed, you may remember it for the rest of your life. The more effort you put into it, the better it will stick in your memory.

6) If you just can’t understand something, learn it parrot-fashion.

This really is a last-ditch solution. But it gives you at least something to do with the questions on subjects you really don’t understand. Even questions on these subjects usually start off by giving you a few marks for “describing XXX”. Even if you don’t understand it, you can get a few marks by writing down the description straight from the notes.

Part B) Last 24 Hours

7) Don’t be tired.

If you have to stay up all night to do last minute revision, you’ve already failed. It doesn’t work – you end up so tired in the exam you can’t work anything out. It might work for the first one or two exams in a year, but you won’t be able to keep it up throughout a whole series of exams.

8) Eat protein before long exams – not carbohydrates.

An exam is just as much a physical exercise as a race. Well, OK, perhaps not quite as much, but you can’t ignore your body if you want your brain to work at its best. Stuffing it full of sugar, or some Red-Bull type drink just before will work fine for the first hour or so, but by the end of a three-hour exam you’ll have completely run out of energy. You need some food that will slowly release energy. Try pasta, fish or eggs.

9) Get the important facts into short-term memory.

In the last 24 hours it's too late to try and understand anything new. What you can do is cram some facts into short-term memory. This is the time to go through the notes looking at those "key points" sections. If you haven't already done it as part of your revision (and you should have done it), write out a sheet with just the key facts. See how many you can remember. Then write out another sheet with just the ones you forgot. See how many you remember now. Continue until you've either remembered it all, or run out of time.

Also, read through your worked solutions for the last three year's papers. Then, get a good night's sleep, or go for a walk and get some fresh air into your lungs.

10) Exercise - get the blood pumping round.

In the last couple of hours, go for a run, or work out in the gym. Seriously. Studies have shown that the most creative periods come after a period of exercise, and that the benefits of taking exercise can last for up to two hours. Exams aren't just about memory, you'll need your brain to be in top working condition.

Part C) The Exam Itself

11) Planning your campaign

The first thing to do is read over, carefully, the entire exam paper. Spend a good ten minutes reading before you write anything. In this time, work out which questions you are going to answer, which order you are going to answer them in, and plan your time in the exam: how much time you are going to spend answering each question. Take careful note of the marking scheme (see later) when making this plan. Write down the plan on the back sheet of your answer book - you can always score it out later. It helps you feel in control, and that helps keep you calm.

Don't be tempted to do a question on subject X just because it's the subject you know the most about. It might be a real stinker of a question. Are you sure you can do it? Which parts can you do? How many marks do you think you could get on the parts of the question you can do? You might find there is another, much easier question on subject Y, which you might not have chosen because you found subject Y is harder, or because one part of the question looks really difficult. Work it out for each part of each question: which question is likely to get you the most marks? Do that one.

Reading the whole question is also important because many questions lead you through a problem - the answer to part a) is used in part b), etc. There might be clues in later parts of the question about what the examiner is expecting. Make sure you spot them.

As an examiner I am constantly amazed by students who set out to do questions that they've clearly got not the first clue how to do. Surely there would be another question on the paper that they could have got a few marks on at least?

When working out timescales, try and balance the time spend on a part of the question against the marks you will achieve. If it's a 90 minute exam, and it's marked out of 60, then on average you've got 1.5 minutes to get each mark. Plan time accordingly. Remember: exam questions are not about writing down everything you know about a topic - if you do this you'll almost certainly run out of time. You're trying to get the best mark you can on the whole paper, not just on the question you happen to be doing at the time.

Obviously, the plan (with timescales) is not a rigid one, and going a few minutes over on one question is OK – but try and catch it up if this happens.

12) Do the easiest questions first

There is absolutely no reason to do the questions in the order they are printed in the exam. I would recommend doing the easiest one(s) first.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, getting one question safely under your belt at the start of an exam is a wonderful boost to confidence, and can help reduce any feelings of panic that might arise when looking at the harder questions.

The second reason is that the easiest question is likely to take less time than the average. That means you’ll be ahead of schedule from the start – another good confidence boost. It also means that when you get round to the most difficult question, you are free to spend all the time you have left on it, without having to drop it half-way through and come back to it later, if time permits – not a good idea if it can be avoided.

13) Look at the marking schemes – there’s lots of useful material there.

We have strict marking schemes these days – it’s part of the drive to be seen to be fair. So, if there are four marks available for the description of XXX, then the marking scheme will probably have four key points. Mention them all, and you get the marks. Often, for a question like this, I will have a list of five or six points, and give one mark for each of them, up to a maximum of four. One thing you can be (reasonably) certain of: if you haven’t made four key points, you’ve missed something.

Don’t spend half-an-hour writing a long essay for two marks. People still do this. It’s a waste of time – better spent on other parts of the question.

14) One thing to try if you can’t quite get a derivation to work out (not entirely serious :-)

What you could consider doing in questions of the form “derive the result shown below” where you’re not sure of all the steps: start at the top of the page, state the assumptions clearly, and write down the equations where you’re going to start. About a page and a half later, write the result, and start working backwards from there. Where the two halves meet, write “Clearly,”

This gives the examiner a problem. Provided you’ve got the steps right, and the two halves almost meet up, it’s hard for him to know whether the missing step is clear to you or not. It might be. You could get the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, there is some risk here, if you have made a mistake, and your “clearly” connects two lines that can not possible agree. While the strict marking schemes we use these days make it hard to penalise students directly for this sort of thing, it will tend to put the examiner in a poor frame of mind, and he might start being less generous in marking other sections of the paper where he has some discretion.

15) Don’t get stuck. Move on.

Avoid writer's block, you haven't got time for it. If you get stuck on a question, move on. Start doing another one. Staring at a question you don’t know how to answer is a waste of time, and you’d be amazed how often, when coming back to a question after half-an-hour, it suddenly becomes clear.

16) Take a bottle of water in with you. Sip it slowly throughout.

It’s a good way of remaining calm. Also, you can get through a lot of nervous sweat during a hard exam. Your body will work better if you replace it.

17) Use common sense.

If the answer to “how high is the radio tower” is 217 miles, or to “what is the free electron density in the semiconductor” is 0.003 electrons per cubic metre, then you’re probably wrong. Even if you don’t have time to go back and find the mistake, at least write something to indicate that you know it’s wrong. You might get some credit for that.

18) Always explain what you are doing.

Too many times I find an exam script where the student has written an equation with variables in it, and not told me what the variables represent. If the answer is right, then I can usually figure out what the variables must be, and the student gets the marks. But if the answer is wrong, then sometimes it's impossible to work out what they were supposed to be. In this case the students gets zero for an incomprehensible answer.

Don't just write long lines of mathematics. Explain what you're trying to do with the derivation before you set off, and add comments as you go. It's easy, and can gain a lot of marks for method, even when the answer is wrong.

19) If you're running out of time.

Suppose you've got time left to do one question, but two questions left to do. Which one do you choose? The way to maximise your marks is to do the first half of both of them. You gain marks faster at the start of a question than at the end.

If you don't have time to write sentences, but you do know what to do, then just write bullet points. If you don't have time to do the calculations, write and explain what calculations you would do. You can get marks for method.

20) Never leave an exam early.

The only possible excuse for this is when you are absolutely sure that you have got 100%, and that should never happen. There is always something you can do to improve your paper. Check, and check again. When you’ve finished, start back at the beginning, and try to do the questions in different ways, and check they agree. Add more explanations.

If you've got time left at the end, try remembering the mnemonic: ACUTE.

Assumptions (have you explained them all, even when not explicity asked.)
Calculations (have you checked them all - doing things different ways if possible and time permits. Did you press those calculator buttons right? Do the answers to different parts of the question agree? Check, and check again.)
Units (have you written the units you're using? Do the units for all formulas make sense and agree - this is a very powerful technique for checking that your derivations are right and you're using the right formula.)
Truth (have you done all the parts of all the sections in the questions? If asked to make a list and explain why, don't just make a list. This is probably the biggest cause of unnecessary lost marks - read the question and answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question. Just like the truth in a court of law.)
Explanations (have I explained what I'm doing at all stages - good explanations will get marks for method even if the answer is wrong; miss out the explanation and you're throwing away easy method marks.)

Compare and Contrast Essay Writing Tips

2011-09-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Compare and Contrast Essay Writing. The Outline

Definition:

In custom comparison essays, you take two or more things and discuss how they are the same and how they are different.

General guidelines:

choose the most interesting topic from the list of comparison / contrast essay topics;
chose two or more items, that need to be compared / contrasted in essay;
look for common ground, on which you will be doing your evaluation (it’s hopeless to compare William Shakespeare and dumpsters);
if you want to be even more specific, compare/contrast only one side of selected subjects;

Our tips on essay writing:

When you write a custom compare and contrast essay, you can end up evaluating good and bad sides. There’s nothing wrong with it, but make sure that you know what you mean by “good” and “bad”.
Don’t turn your custom contrast essay paper into a mechanical action in which you firstly state similarities, and secondly provide a list of differences.

2. Compare and Contrast Essay Writing. The Introduction

Definition:

Predictably, the thesis of such a paper is usually an assertion that A and B are very similar yet not so similar after all.

General guidelines:

To write a good essay paper, you must take your raw data—the similarities and differences you’ve observed—and make them cohere into a meaningful argument. A good Introduction writing requires:
a frame of reference, or the context within which you place the two things you plan to compare and contrast in your essay.
grounds for custom essay comparison;
the thesis statement, which depends on how the two things you’ve chosen to compare actually relate to one another; it means that the statement should arise from grounds for comparison;

Our tips on essay writing:

Try a quotation, or an anecdote for the supportive sentence.
Give your reader an opportunity to make a quick peep into your essay paper by mentioning the subtopics in the final sentence.

3. Compare and Contrast Essay Writing. The Main Body

Definition:

The Main Body is a set of paragraphs that unfold and support your thesis.

General guidelines:

There are several ways to organize your body paragraphs. Here they are:
first compare, then contrast;
first do one idea, then do the other;
write only about the comparable and contrastable elements of each idea;
only compare or only contrast;

Our tips for essay writing:

No matter what you prefer, make sure to give equal amount of attention to both comparison and contrast in your custom essay.
Don’t forget to link your investigations to thesis. A reader has to have a clear picture of your compare and contrast essays paper.

4. Compare and Contrast Essay Writing. The Conclusion

Definition:

Just like the introduction, the conclusion should be a generalization of the thesis.

General guidelines:

a conclusion should be a strong paragraph;
restate your thesis in new words and show how you’ve proven it in the preceding paragraphs;
wrap the essay up with a final sentence or two.

Our tips for essays writing:

Sometimes you feel so exhausted by the end of the comparison essay paper that you don’t want to work hard on writing a conclusion. If you do feel so, put comparison / contrast essay writing aside, take some rest, then go over it and finish with a strong finale. Conclusion writing is important. Don’t let yourself fail just because at one moment you felt tired.

10 Tips for Effective Listening Skills

2011-09-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Listening makes our loved ones feel worthy, appreciated, interesting, and respected. Ordinary conversations emerge on a deeper level, as do our relationships. When we listen, we foster the skill in others by acting as a model for positive and effective communication.
In our love relationships, greater communication brings greater intimacy. Parents listening to their kids helps build their self-esteem. In the business world, listening saves time and money by preventing misunderstandings. And we always learn more when we listen than when we talk.
Listening skills fuel our social, emotional and professional success, and studies prove that listening is a skill we can learn.
The Technique. Active listening is really an extension of the Golden Rule. To know how to listen to someone else, think about how you would want to be listened to.

While the ideas are largely intuitive, it might take some practice to develop (or re-develop) the skills. Here’s what good listeners know — and you should, too:

1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show your attentiveness through body language.
2. Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all remain comfortable.
3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the TV. Put down your book or magazine, and ask the speaker and other listeners to do the same.
4. Respond appropriately to show that you understand. Murmur (“uh-huh” and “um-hmm”) and nod. Raise your eyebrows. Say words such as “Really,” “Interesting,” as well as more direct prompts: “What did you do then?” and “What did she say?”
5. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about what you are going to say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point.
6. Minimize internal distractions. If your own thoughts keep horning in, simply let them go and continuously re-focus your attention on the speaker, much as you would during meditation.
7. Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree. Try not to make assumptions about what the speaker is thinking.
8. Avoid letting the speaker know how you handled a similar situation. Unless they specifically ask for advice, assume they just need to talk it out.
9. Even if the speaker is launching a complaint against you, wait until they finish to defend yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had been made. They won’t feel the need to repeat it, and you’ll know the whole argument before you respond. Research shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than we can talk, so we have the ability to sort ideas as they come in…and be ready for more.
10. Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but, once again, wait until the speaker has finished. That way, you won’t interrupt their train of thought. After you ask questions, paraphrase their point to make sure you didn’t misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re saying…”
As you work on developing your listening skills, you may feel a bit panicky when there is a natural pause in the conversation. What should you say next? Learn to settle into the silence and use it to better understand all points of view.
Ironically, as your listening skills improve, so will your aptitude for conversation. A friend of my partner once complimented me on my conversational skills. I hadn’t said more than four words, but I had listened to him for 25 minutes.

Top Ten Ways to Listen to Boring Lectures

2011-09-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ralph Nichols says at the end of a 10-minute lecture most college freshmen will have retained only half of it. Then, 48 hours later they will have forgotten half of what they did remember.

Want to do better than that? Then, use effective listening techniques. Here are the "Top ten ways to listen to a lecture."

Choose to find the subject useful.

Poor listeners dismiss most lectures as dull and irrelevant. They turn off quickly.
Effective listeners separate the wheat from the chaff. They choose to listen to discover new knowledge.

Concentrate on the words and message, not on the professor's looks, clothes or delivery.

Poor listeners notice faults in a lecturer's appearance or delivery.
Effective listeners strive to pick every professor's brain for self-gain.

When you hear something you're not sure you agree with, react slowly and thoughtfully.

Poor listeners stop listening to the speaker and start listening to themselves. They either passively reject what is being said or they launch into impassioned rebuttals (to themselves).
Effective listeners don't jump to conclusions and then disengage. They keep conclusions tentative while getting more information.

Identify the "big ideas," those fundamental concepts to which everything else in the lecture is related.

Poor listeners say, "I listen only for facts." They may retain a few of those facts, but the information is usually garbled.
Effective listeners look for foundational concepts. They grab key ideas and use them as anchor points for the entire lecture.

Adjust your note taking system to the lecturer's pattern.

Some poor listeners attempt to outline everything, believing an outline and notes are the same thing. They get frustrated when they cannot see "points A, B and C."
Effective listeners adjust their note-taking to the organizational pattern used by the lecturer.

Stay attentive.

Poor listeners let their minds to wander.
Effective listeners remain focused and actively try to absorb material.

Aggressively tackle difficult material.

When poor listeners encounter a tough topic, they stop absorbing and let things start bouncing off them.
Effective listeners condition themselves to be interested in challenging matters. They find a challenge in grasping the meaning of what is being said -- no matter how difficult the subject.

Don't get derailed by emotionally charged "buzz" words that trigger negative responses.

Poor listeners tune people out on the basis of a few words.
Effective listeners don't let the emotional baggage of a word hinder them from getting at the substance of a lecture.

Get to know the professor personally.

Poor listeners see professors as talking heads.
Effective listeners like to pick up interesting facts about professors (personal history, family life, hobbies, etc.).

Understand and use the differential between the speed of speaking and the speed of thinking. We think at about 400 words per minute. That's four times faster than most speakers can talk.

Poor listeners drift back and forth between a lecture and thoughts about other things.
Effective listeners use the thinking/speaking differential in three ways:

Riding the crest of the wave by trying to anticipate the next point of the lecture.
Evaluating what the lecturer is using for supporting evidence.
Periodically summarizing the lecture to themselves.

Sparked by material in the December 15, 1999 issue of "The Professor in the Classroom," © by Leadership Lane

How to Be an Effective Listener

2011-09-24T02:18:00.000-07:00

The first four chapters discussed the need for effective listening, fallacies about listening, the process of listening, and the types of listening. They provided the background you need to improve your listening skills. This chapter is a prescriptive one. It offers practical suggestions on how to be a better listener.
While there are many ways to construct a list of suggestions, we will consider them in terms of what works best in three major categories:
1. What you think about listening.
2. What you feel about listening.
3. What you do about listening.
You can learn to listen effectively; look now at the components of that learning: thinking, feeling, doing.

What You Think about Listening

Although thinking, feeling, and doing go hand in hand, the thinking (or cognitive) domain of learning is perhaps the best place to begin. After all, effective listening takes effort—it requires maximum thinking power. Here are six suggestions.
1. Understand the complexities of listening. Most of us take good listening for granted. Therefore, we don’t work very hard at improving. But listening is a complex activity, and its complexity explains the emphasis given in previous chapters to understanding the fallacies, processes, and types of listening.
Knowing the fallacies about listening can keep you from being trapped by them. Knowing that the process involves more than just receiving messages will help you focus on not just receiving, but the other components as well. Recognizing the five major types of listening will help you to consciously direct your energies toward the type of listening required for the circumstance of the moment.
Listening requires an active response, not a passive one. Effective listening doesn’t just happen; it takes thought—and thinking can be hard work. But there is no other way to become an effective listener. Think about the complexities of listening, and work to understand them.
2. Prepare to Listen. Preparation consists of three phases—long-term, mid-term, and short-term. We said earlier that becoming an effective listener is a lifetime endeavor; in other words, expanding your listening ability will be an ongoing task. But there are two things you can do to improve your listening skills for the long term: (a) practice listening to difficult material and (b) build your vocabulary.
Too many people simply do not challenge their listening ability. Since most of today’s radio and television programs do not require concentrated or careful listening, your listening skills do not improve through continued exposure to them. And you have to stretch if you want to grow. Force yourself to listen carefully to congressional debates, lectures, sermons, or other material that requires concentration.
Building your vocabulary will improve your conversational skills and your reading skills as well as your listening skills. And the more words you learn, the better listener you will become.
Mid-term preparation for listening requires that you do the necessary background study before the listening begins. Background papers, prebriefs, and an advance look at a hard copy (or an electronic display) of briefing slides or charts will assist you in being ready to listen.
Short-term preparation may be defined as an immediate readiness to listen. When the speaker’s mouth opens, you should open your ears. That is not the time to be hunting for a pen, reading a letter from home, or thinking about some unrelated subject. Good listeners—really good listeners—are in the “spring-loaded position to listen.” It is important to prepare to listen.

3. Adjust to the situation. No listening situation is exactly the same as another. The time, the speaker, the message—all change. But many other variables also affect listening, though less obviously so: physiological variables such as rest, hunger, comfort, endurance; psychological variables such as emotional stability, rapport with the speaker, knowledge of the subject; and physical factors such as size and color of the room. Obviously, some of these things will have a positive effect on your listening while others will have a negative effect.
A thick foreign accent, poor grammar, a room with poor acoustics, and the subject of the previous speaker—all may present special barriers to effective listening. However, being aware of the barriers and thinking about how to overcome them can help you improve the situation.
Good listeners are never trapped into thinking that any communication transaction or listening situation is exactly like any other. The Grecian philosopher Heraclitus said it well: “You can’t step into the same stream twice.” Things change. By thinking about the unique factors of the situation, you can do your most effective job as a listener. Adjust to the situation!
4. Focus on ideas or key points. At times, you may understand the process, you may have prepared well, and you may be able to adjust to the situation—yet you fail as a listener. This failure results because you didn’t listen to the right things. For example, you may remember a funny story the speaker told to make a point; but you missed the point.
Others boast, “I listen only for the facts.” By concentrating exclusively on individual supporting facts, they may actually miss the main ideas. Facts A, B, and C may be interesting in their own right, but the speaker’s reason for offering them is usually to develop a generalization from them. Generalizations, not facts, are usually most important.
In studies conducted some years ago at the University of New Mexico, I discovered that students who did best on all but rote memory examinations were those who listened for key points and ideas. Interestingly, those who attempted to memorize minute details did only slightly better on low-level rote memory exams than the individuals who focused on ideas—and they did much worse when long-term retention was the criterion. While there are some exceptions, as when listening for directions to someone’s house or memorizing a mathematical formula, it is usually best to focus on ideas or key points.
5. Capitalize on the speed differential. Thought can operate much faster than speech. An average person may speak two or three words a second—120 to 180 words a minute. In bursts of enthusiasm, we may even speak a little faster. Most public speakers speak somewhat slower, especially to large audiences. Yet most listeners can process up to 500 words per minute, depending on the nature and difficulty of the material.
I have a machine that compresses speech on tape, but without the distortions normally associated with fast forwarding a tape or simply playing a tape or record at a faster speed. Compression is accomplished through systematic removal of small segments—so small that distortion is not noticed by listeners. Experiments in which listening time is cut in half—an hour lecture is listened to in half the time—reveal little, if any, significant loss in listening and learning. Admittedly, listeners are ready for a break because there is no time for their minds to wander. Effective listening requires hard thinking, especially if the material is challenging.
The results of these experiments point to the possibility of capitalizing on the speed differential. Unfortunately, the differential between speed of thought and speed of speech promotes daydreaming or concentrating on something other than what is being said. This is not the case with good listeners, however; they use the time differential to good advantage. They summarize, anticipate, and formulate questions based on the speaker’s message. This type of time usage may explain why top listeners at the Air War College recently reported that they learned more from lectures than from any other method of instruction. They have learned to capitalize on the speed differential.
6. Organize material for learning. Obviously, speakers can enhance listening through careful organization and presentation of ideas. And if questions are appropriate, you can seek clarification of any points you fail to understand. Often, however, questioning is not permitted or, perhaps due to time constraints or the size of the audience, is inappropriate. What can you do?
Remembering that the speed differential exists, you can arrange the material in your mind or in your notes as it’s being presented. This will help you understand and remember it later. You can prepare yourself to retain the information to be presented by asking these questions: What point is the speaker trying to make? What main ideas should I remember? How does this information relate to what I already know?
Reorganizing the material you need to learn, and seeking relationships between the new material and what you already know, requires concentrated thinking. It is easier to simply “tune out.” There was a time in my early college years when I could not, “for the life of me,” see the relevance of some required classes to my course of study. A professor for whom I had great respect explained it to me this way: “John, someday you will come to understand that all information is part of a large mosaic or universe of knowledge. When that happens, you will value all learning. Always look for how the information relates to what you already know and what you need to know, and you will always find something.” You know what? He was right!

What You Feel about Listening

We began by discussing what you think about listening because effective listening requires rigorous cognitive processing, or thought. But possession of the sharpest mind will not make you a good listener if your feelings are wrong. In other words, what you feel about listening is important. Here are six suggestions for improving your “feel” for listening.
1. Want to listen. This suggestion is basic to all others, for it simply says that you must have an intent to listen. We can all recall having been forced to listen to a speech or a briefing that we didn’t really want to listen to. And listening under duress seldom results in understanding or enjoyment, although there are exceptions. Perhaps you have attended a meeting or a social event out of a sense of duty, yet found it to have been profitable. The reason? Probably, since you were there, you decided to make the best of the situation; that is, you made up your mind to listen.
Sometimes you don’t want to listen. At other times, your actions may indicate that you don’t want to listen when you really do. And at still other times, you may be unaware that you don’t want to listen. All three of these situations are affective or attitudinal; that is, they involve your feelings about listening.
Individuals often stop by my office and ask if they can talk for a few minutes. Perhaps they are seeking advice, telling about a project, or seeking clarification on a directive. Whatever the case, if I am not meeting with someone else or working against a deadline, I invite them in. But I must honestly admit that my mind sometimes wanders and I find myself looking at phone messages, fiddling with a paper clip, or looking at my guest with a blank stare. The visitor usually becomes uneasy, hurries the discussion, and offers to come back another time. I protest that I am really listening, but my actions betray me. It is difficult—indeed, nearly impossible—to really listen if you don’t have a mind to. You must want to listen.
2. Delay judgment. There are times when you must be a critical or judgmental listener. You must weigh the merits of what the speaker is saying. At times, you must make crucial decisions based on what you hear. There are also times when you must judge the speaker. Job interviews, campaign promises, speech contests—all are examples of where judgment of the speaker is important. The problem is, though, that you may be judgmental when you shouldn’t be. You may judge the speaker instead of the content, or you may form judgments before the speaker has finished.
A boy who was one month shy of being 16 decided to confess to his father that he had driven the family car on the previous night. His younger sister’s promised ride to gymnastics class hadn’t arrived, and it was the night of her final rehearsal before a performance. So he made the decision to take her even though he did not yet have a driver’s license. He was also quite sure that he hadn’t been seen and would never be found out. Still, his conscience was bothering him and his family had stressed honesty and openness. He decided to tell his father.
Upon hearing that the boy had taken the car, his father became furious. He scarcely heard the reason, and he failed to consider that the boy had taken it upon himself to confess. He told the boy that the act would delay his getting a driver’s license by two months.
Then the father rethought the situation and said, “Son, I acted hastily. My emotions got the best of me. You were wrong to drive the car because you broke the law. But, frankly, I am proud of you for three reasons: you got your sister to gymnastics rehearsal, you were honest about it, and you are my son.”
Supervisors often wonder why people in their organization won’t level with them. They need only to consider the messenger in ancient Rome who paid with his life for bringing bad news. An ancient Turkish proverb says, “messenger with bad news should keep one foot in the stirrup.” Delaying judgment and judging the content rather than the speaker will lead to better listening and more honest communication.
3. Admit your biases. Let’s face it: Everyone is human! We all have likes and dislikes; some things turn us on, others turn us off. These characteristics are natural and to be expected. The problem comes when we let our biases—our likes and dislikes—get in the way of understanding the speaker’s message.
For example, suppose you have had three bad experiences with people from Chicago and you learn that the speaker you have come to hear is from Chicago. You may have a tendency to immediately distrust him, or to discredit whatever he has to say. Only by admitting your prejudice against people from Chicago will you be able to think beyond your past experience and listen effectively to what this speaker has to say.
Before you reject the above example as irrelevant, consider a time in your past when you got sick after eating a certain food. You knew the sickness was caused by a virus and not the food, but it was quite a while before that food again tasted good to you. In a similar way, bias from past experience can influence what you hear and the meaning you derive from it. If you want to be an effective listener, you must know and admit your biases.
4. Don’t tune out “dry” subjects. Whenever you are tempted to “tune out” something because you think it will be boring or useless, remember that you cannot evaluate the importance of the message until you have heard it. By then, it is probably too late to ask the speaker to repeat everything that was said; the opportunity to listen effectively will have passed. As was stated earlier, you must intend to listen.
Here are several things you can do to stay focused, even if the subject seems dry.
a. Put yourself in the speaker’s place. Try to see the speaker’s point of view, and try to understand the speaker’s attitude toward the subject.
b. Review frequently what the speaker has said. Try to summarize the message as the speaker would summarize it.
c. Constantly ask yourself positive questions about what the speaker is saying: How can I use this information? How can I share this information with others? What else could be said about this subject?
d. Ask yourself, “What does the speaker know that I don’t?”
e. Find at least one major application or conclusion from every message you hear. In other words, ask “what’s in this message for me?” Then find the answer.
f. Listen as though you are going to be required to present the same message to a different audience later.
Effective listeners have discovered the value of listening to messages they might have initially considered to be “dry.” Sometimes the messages aren’t so dry after all. And even when they are, there still may be something of value in them.
5. Accept responsibility for understanding. Don’t assume this attitude: “Here I am! Teach me—if you can.” Such listeners believe knowledge can be poured into them as water is poured into a jug. And they believe the responsibility rests with the one doing the pouring; that is, they believe it is the speaker’s fault if effective listening does not occur.
Admittedly, the basic assumption in Speaking Effectively: A Guide for Air Force Speakers is that the speaker bears a large responsibility for how well the audience listens. And the speaker’s clear organization, engaging support materials, and appropriate delivery do in fact aid listening. But good listeners are good because they accept the responsibility for listening and understanding.
6. Encourage others to talk. This point applies to those situations in which you find yourself “one-on-one,” in a small group discussion, or any other setting that requires exchanges of vocal communication. But you can’t listen if no one is talking. The first two guidelines of this section (communicating that you want to listen and being willing to delay judgment) are sources of encouragement to speakers. The discussion below covers several other things you can do.
a. Stop talking. You can’t listen if you’re talking.
b. Give positive feedback. Look and act interested. Positive head nods, alertness, and smiles—all offer encouragement to the speaker.
c. Ask questions. Questions that show interest and attention encourage both speaker and listener. Show your interest.
d. Empathize with the speaker. Put yourself in the speaker’s place; this will help you understand the message.
e. Keep confidences. If the information is sensitive, don’t share it with others.
f. Share information. We tend to tell things to those who tell us things. So if you want the speaker to share information with you, share information with the speaker.

What You Do about Listening

What we think about listening and what we feel about listening are both fundamental to skillful listening. But the skills themselves are crucial. Skills form the psychomotor—the “doing”—element of listening. Here are six crucial skills.
1. Establish eye contact with the speaker. Studies show that listening has a positive relationship with eye contact. In other words, the better eye contact you have with the speaker, the better you will listen. And while eye contact is especially important in relationship listening, it is also important for the other kinds of listening: informative, appreciative, critical, discriminative.
There are several things you can do to establish positive eye contact with the speaker:
a. In one-on-one or small group settings, sit or stand where you can look directly at the person doing the speaking.
b. In large groups, sit to the front and center of the audience. You can more easily establish eye contact with the speaker from this vantage point.
c. Don’t get so involved in taking notes that you fail to look often at the speaker. The speaker’s gestures, movements, and facial expression are often an important part of the message.
d. Resist the temptation to let something about the room, or objects within and around the room, distract you. Focus on the speaker and the message.
e. Don’t look at others who enter or leave while the speaker is speaking. This practice not only interrupts your train of thought—it adds to the distraction of the speaker.
f. Speakers sometimes exhibit a visual aid too soon, or neglect to remove it when they have finished using it. Focus on the visual aid only when it is an asset to the point being discussed.
A final point deserves discussion: Never sleep when someone is talking to you! This point may seem self-evident. But let’s face it—in the “busyness” of our lives, we tend to become passive whenever we listen. Passivity promotes reduced attention, which in turn allows drowsiness to occur. In most cases, it is better to stand up, or even to leave the room, rather than fall asleep.
2. Take notes effectively. Some people recommend that you not take notes so you can focus your attention wholly on what the speaker is saying. This practice works well for listeners who are blessed with a great memory; most of us aren’t. Taking notes will not only help you remember, it will help you organize what the speaker is saying. And it may even aid your understanding and retention—after all, effective note taking will require you to think.
There are many different ways to take notes; for example, linear outlining, mindmapping, and key word methodology. Ask different people what method they use, then find what works best for you. Whatever method you select or devise, several things are worth considering.
a. Don’t attempt to write everything down. As mentioned earlier, effective listeners focus on the key ideas or main points.
b. Write clearly enough that you can understand your writing later. If not, make certain that you allow time to decipher your notes before they grow “cold.” It’s disheartening to review your notes two weeks later only to find that they make no sense.
c. Don’t rely on listening later to a tape of the speech. Think! Will you have the time? Looking at your notes for five minutes is generally sufficient, and is much more time-efficient than listening to the entire speech again.
d. Circle or highlight the most important points.
3. Be a physically involved listener. Just what does this statement mean? As you have already seen, listening requires more than just hearing. You have also seen that making eye contact and taking notes will help to keep you from becoming passive. But there is more: Active listening takes energy and involvement.
Here are some physical behaviors that will ensure your involvement and help your listening.
a. Use good posture. Sit up straight, yet comfortably. Good posture aids breathing and alertness. It also communicates positive interest to the speaker.
b. Follow the speaker. If the speaker moves, turn your head or rotate in your chair to maintain eye contact and attention. This movement also aids in keeping you alert.
c. Don’t be a deadpan. Facial expressions, head nods, and tilts of the head show your involvement and provide positive feedback to the speaker.
d. Use your hands not only to take notes, but to show approval by applause when appropriate.
e. Participate when audience involvement is encouraged. Ask questions. Respond when a show of hands is called for. Be an active listener.
f. Smile.

4. Avoid negative mannerisms. Everyone has mannerisms. Watch anyone for a period of time and you will be convinced of this fact. If your mannerisms do not cause a negative reaction, don’t worry about them. If a mannerism is positive or encouraging and brings a positive response, make a mental note to do it more often. Unfortunately, some mannerisms are negative or distracting. These should be avoided.
Here are some examples of listener mannerisms that either hinder listening or have a negative impact—on the speaker or on other listeners. Avoid these mannerisms.
a. Fidgeting, tapping a pencil, or playing with a rubber band or some other object. The effect on you may be neutral, but such things distract other listeners and are an annoyance to the speaker.
b. Continually looking at the clock or your watch.
c. Reading a paper, balancing a checkbook, rearranging items in your wallet, or engaging in other behavior which takes focus away from the speaker.
d. Displays of arrogance, superiority, or lack of interest in the speaker and message.
In short, any mannerism or behavior that detracts from the speaker or the message should be avoided. Such things hinder the speaker, divert the attention of other listeners, and prevent you from being the best listener you can be.
5. Exercise your listening muscles. Actually, there are no muscles technically involved with listening—but this thought reminds us that listening takes practice. Just as an athlete must work out regularly and a musician must practice daily, so you must work consistently to be an effective listener.
But consistent practice in itself is not enough. The difficulty of the message is also important. Exposure to challenging material and difficult listening situations will stretch your ability and build your listening muscles. For example, suppose you knew that you would be required to carry a 50-pound weight one hundred yards in less than a minute. You wouldn’t practice by carrying a 30-pound weight. You would practice by carrying at least a 50-pound weight, and you probably would condition yourself to carry it more than 100 yards in less than a minute. With this kind of practice, you would be more than equal to the task. And so it is with listening: Practice to at least the level you will be required to perform—perhaps a bit above.
Finally, “s-t-r-e-t-c-h” your vocabulary. We’ve said this before, but nothing will pay greater listening dividends. Learn the meanings of new words and acronyms. Listen to and read material that contains challenging words. Keep a dictionary nearby. Look up new words as you read them, or jot them down as you listen so you can look up the meanings later.
6. Follow the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The central focus of all effective communication is “other directedness.” There are exceptions to most other listening rules. For example, there are times when a listener shouldn’t prepare; preparation may prevent openness to new ideas. There are times when the objective is not to focus on key points, but to listen for subordinate ideas or supporting material. There are times when we should not delay judgment—we must act! But while these and other rules have exceptions, not so for the Golden Rule. The effective listener is always other directed, focused on the other person.
Be the kind of listener you want others to be when you are talking. Ask “How would I want others to listen to me?” That’s how to be an effective listener.

Adapted from AWC Air University

Effective Study Skills

2011-09-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically

apply.”

−Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Everyone is different: for some students it is natural to be inspired to learn,

while for others it is not. Your success at the IBA is dependent on your

ability to study effectively and efficiently. The results of poor study skills

are wasted time, frustration, and low or failing grades, which in turn will

affect your life, your time, and your future. All that can be said, upon

reflection, is that time is precious and not to be wasted.

The following tips will help you to study more effectively and hopefully

with better results. Remember, though, that the results largely depend on

your motivation to study and how much you want to succeed.

Read Read actively. Read to answer questions you have asked yourself, or

questions the instructor or author has asked. Always be alert to bold or

italicized print. Also, when you read, be sure to read tables, graphs and

illustrations, as they can convey an idea more powerfully than written text.

Question yourself Ask yourself questions as you read or study. As you

answer them, you will help to make sense of the material and remember it

more easily because the process will make an impression on you. Write

your questions in the margins of textbooks, on lecture notes, or wherever it

makes sense and can be easily referred to.

Recall Try to recall main headings, important ideas of concepts presented

in bold or italicized type and what graphs charts or illustrations indicate.

Try to develop an overall concept of what you have read in your own

words and thoughts. Make an attempt to connect things you have just read

to things you already know.

Review A review is a survey of what you have covered. While reviewing,

it’s a good time to go over notes you have taken to help clarify points you

may have missed or don't understand. It is best to review once you have

finished studying something. Don’t wait till the exams to begin the review

process.

Identifying important details Extracting important details mean that you

locate in your reading the basis for main ideas. The more links you can

make between details and ideas, as well as ideas themselves, the more

powerful will be the efforts of your study.

Taking notes Note-taking is a skill which must be learned and refined.

Taking notes helps to reinforce what you have read and learned and is an

essential factor for becoming a successful student. Learn to keep notes

logically and legibly. Make it a habit of using your notebook to record all

your notes, and use dividers for the different classes you take. When taking

notes during lectures, try to paraphrase what the teacher says and then

write it down. Identify important points and highlight them. Organize your

notes for easier and faster reference when you study.

Make a schedule You must develop a study schedule if you want to be

organized and not waste valuable time, especially before the exams.

Prioritize the subjects and topics you need to cover and follow your

schedule consistently. There is no point in making a schedule if you do not

adhere to it.

Taken from IBA Student Handbook

The Critical Difference - Time Management

2011-09-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

Following is an excerpt from Dr. Richard Light's book, Making the Most of College (Harvard University Press, 2002)

"Things that worked for me in high school, I discovered, don't work for me in college. I really was unprepared for the amount of material that is presented here and the speed at which it is presented. I: was a bit of a shock. Things I picked up quickly in high school I couldn't pick up so easily any more.

Here at college I wasn't being checked every day. I did not get off to a great start because I had never really learned to study this enormous amount of material in a systematic way. I tended to do one subject for a big span of time and then neglect it for a week. Then I moved on to another subject, ad forgot about that for a week. So there was no continuity within each course. That had a lot to do with it. Finally I figured it out. This year, I'm pushing myself to spend a little bit of time every day on each subject.

Why is it that some undergraduates make the transition from high school to college smoothly, while others have much more trouble? Do certain behavior patterns tend to differentiate students who quickly, making superb academic and personal adjustments to college, from seemingly similar student who do not adjust as well?

To pursue this idea, Constance Buchanan and a group of colleagues from four universities devise detailed protocol to interview two groups of sophomores in depth. (The quotation that opens this section is from one of their interviews.) One group had had an outstanding first year in all ways, both academic and social, while the other group struggled. The interviewers' goal was to explore how each of students, as a newly arrived freshman, had thought about making the transition from high school to college. They hoped to find, a few important differences between the two groups of sophomores. They quickly discovered that one difference, indeed a single word, was a key factor. Sophomores who I made the most successful transitions repeatedly brought up this word on their own. Sophomores who had experienced difficulty hardly ever mentioned the word, even when prompted.

The critical word is time. Sophomores who had a great first year typically talked about realizing, When they got to college, that they had to think about how to spend their time. They mentioned time management, and time allocation, and time as a scarce resource. In contrast, sophomores who struggle during their first year rarely referred to time in any way.

Several advisors have told me that some first-year students find it a real challenge to allocate their time so they are both happy personally and effective in their academic work. Students who learn to manage, their time well are often those who work hard on this topic when they first arrive. It isn't easy for every student. It requires systematic effort. But the heavy demands of most college course, compared wit what students faced in high school, reinforce the value of making such an effort. It certainly beats the alternative of feeling overwhelmed when suddenly facing the amount of reading assigned in college courses. When seniors are asked what advice they would offer new arrivals, this idea of learning to manage time is a common response. I think it is a wise one. The distinction in attitudes towards managing time translates into distinction between new students who prosper and those who struggle.

Time Management Tips

2011-09-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

All college students suffer distractions, whether from extra curricular activities, surfing the Internet, meeting new people or a job. Schools are aware of these factors that can interfere with students' lives and often provide resource that help students to fight time wasting.

Many schools' time management techniques have similar goals. They include the elimination of cramming for tests, reduction of anxiety pertaining to schoolwork and other responsibilities, the gaining of time for other activities and motivation.

When developing time management techniques in college, it's important that students understand their goals as they pertain to time and have the ability to develop and follow a schedule. Without these factors, it's hard for students to understand the motivation behind their time management.

Often, on time management sites provided by schools, students may download a scheduler, a weekly, monthly and yearly planner and worksheets pertaining to the distribution of one's tasks.

The University of Dartmouth (www.dartmouth.edu) includes a downloadable tip sheet which include time management skills. Some pertain to the following:
- Find ways to build on your success
- Keep long term goals in mind
- Plan each day
- Notice when you're being unproductive
- Break old and negative habits
- Concentrate effort on tasks that provide long term benefit
- Ask for advice

Penn State University offers a time management page that helps students better understand their time management goals. Tips according to Penn State University include the following:
- Be specific when setting goals
- Review lecture notes everyday
- Schedule fixed blocks of time first
- Make use of time before and after class
- Schedule breaks
- Set clear start and stop times

Other time management tips include the following:
- Learn material the first time around
- Have confidence
- Learn what works for you
- Study difficult subjects first
- Work with classmates

Quotes on Character Education

2011-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett, America's most successful investor, on the primacy of character in choosing a business partner: ''I think you'll probably start looking for the person that you can always depend on; the person whose ego does not get in his way; the person who's perfectly willing to let someone else take the credit for an idea as long as it worked; the person who essentially won't let you down, who thought straight as opposed to brilliantly.'' (Quoted by Andrew Kilpatrick in ''Of Permanent Value'')

"Try not to be a person of success, but rather a person of virtue." — Albert Einstein

On the football program at the University of Georgia, which has a full-time assistant coach for character and leadership. ''In 10 years from now, if all these men are better men because they went to Georgia, I'm more interested in that than national championships and public opinion. If a guy comes back and says he is a better man or better husband or father, or better person because of going through our program, that would be more gratifying to me.'' University of Georgia coach Mark Richt: ''Bulldog Course Teaches Team Class,'' by Michelle Hiskey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 5, 2002, pp. A1 & A20)

''After over thirty years on Wall Street, I have seen many firms who thirty or even twenty years ago occupied the front rank, recede into positions of comparative unimportance, and I have seen other firms, who two or three decades ago were quite unimportant, come to the front and become leaders in domestic and international finance. The reason is they had been more honest than those who were the leaders at one time.'' (Jacob Schiff, who led the investment firm Kuhn, Loeb & Company to an industry leader.)

''Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.'' (Warren Buffett, who became the 2nd wealthiest man in the USA by understanding and in investing in great companies. From Omaha World Herald, February 1, 1994)

"The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back." — Abigail Van Buren

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." — Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he would never be found out.'' — Lord Macaulay

''When men speak evil of you, live so nobody will believe them.'' — Plato

''To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.'' — Former President Theodore Roosevelt

"To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right. — Confucius

''Universities are turning out highly skilled barbarians because we don't provide a framework of values to young people who more and more are searching for it.'' — Steven Mueller, president of Johns Hopkins University

'My whole philosophy is that we build men. Incidentally, we move freight.'' — Arthur Imperatore, president of A-P-A Transport, a company that rose to the top of its industry

To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." — Theodore Roosevelt

"I believe that the highest priority for business today is an ethical, responsible workforce." — Jack Smith, Chairman, General Motors Corporation

"The good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience." — Jim Collins, Good to Great

Dealing with Emotional Distress

2011-09-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

One of the goals at the UNIVERSITY Office of Student Affairs is to promote a sense of community and belonging among students at UNIVERSITY. In building this sense of community, the most powerful message that we convey to our students is that they are not alone in times of distress. Emotional distress is often triggered and intensified by a feeling of isolation. When students feel that their emotional well being is of no concern to their peers or their faculty, distress can turn into desperation, leading the student to act in ways that cause harm to their own selves or those around them.

Students at college everywhere are faced with many challenges that university life throws at them. In addition to surviving academically and preparing for further graduate study or professional careers, students are also involved in a process of becoming unique and independent adults, deciding on career alternatives, creating personal value systems and developing significant relationships. Most of these challenges are essential for students 9 develop and grow. It provides students with the opportunity to develop character, perseverance the ability to handle stress and pressure and to manage time. However, students handle the challenges with varying degrees of success. The problems they face at UNIVERSITY may overwhelm them emotionally, causing a decline in mood, performance and quality of life.

If you are facing problems coping with UNIVERSITY life, you should confide in faculty members you respect and who you may consider a mentor.

Following are some potential reasons that lead to University students to feel emotionally distressed.

1) Expectations: Students come to UNIVERSITY carrying individual expectations from the college experience. When the reality of their experience somehow falls short of their expectations, or something is very different from what they envisioned, students can find themselves disoriented, de-motivated and confused. Some students may develop healthy coping mechanisms and adjust their expectations to fall in line with reality. Others might not be able to do so, and can develop significant emotional distress that can cause them to react in counter-productive and self-defeating ways.

2) Adjustment: Students come to UNIVERSITY from many different parts of Pakistan, and, for most of them, coming to college is a significant change. Students need time to adjust to the social, academic and residential life at UNIVERSITY. Many are in a dynamic process of discovering their environment and finding a support structure for themselves here. This process of adjusting to their new life away from home, and to the culture of a new place, can take a significant emotional toll on some students.

3) Relationships: A significant part of the college experience is the close relationship students develop here. These relationships are a source of emotional support for the students in times of distress, but they can also be the cause of emotional stress when they are strained (e.g. a student might be deeply affected by a fallout with friends, or the abrupt end of a romantic relationship).

4) Competition: Students at UNIVERSITY are not only competing with themselves, but are also under significant pressure to compete with the rest of their class. This competition is a healthy motivating factor for students most of the time. It drives them to perform better academically. However, under certain circumstances, this sense of competition can have negative consequences for a student's emotional well being. All undergraduate majors at UNIVERSITY have a cap on the maximum number of students that they can accommodate in a given year. If more students want to major in a given area than is allowed by the cap, then picking students in order of CGPA does selection to the major. Students are thus under constant pressure to maintain a certain CGPA right from the start of their undergraduate education to remain contenders for entry into a popular major. This pressure, especially when a student is facing other adjustment issues, can lead to pi- significant stress when a student performs below expectations, especially if that performance is in a core course for the major. In the situation that a student does not get a place in his/her desired major, they are at risk of feeling a sense of disconnect from their college experience, and feelings of low self-worth might set in. This is an especially sensitive juncture in a student's college career.

5) Academic Stress: UNIVERSITY is a challenging and fast-paced academic environment. Most students who join UNIVERSITY as undergraduates come from the British GCE O/A Level or 11Pakistani Intermediate examination system, where they are used to annual or bi-annual examinations. Academics and assessment at UNIVERSITY move much faster, and some students will inevitably struggle to keep pace. This can lead to a drop in academic ^ performance, and hence cause stress for the student. Some students develop a more effective coping strategy for the increased academic pressure, while others can get into negative cycle of stress causing a drop in grades, which causes further stress.

6) Other External Factors: Other external factors such as personal and family problems also cause significant emotional distress to students. These sensitive is talk about for students, so stress can build up to a point where it starts academic, social and extra-curricular life at UNIVERSITY.

Signs and Symptoms of Distress

Any of these symptoms should be seen as signs that you or someone you know may be emotionally distressed and needs professional counseling and support. A single sign in a highly pronounced state, or a cluster of signs appearing at the same time continuously for 2 weeks or more would probably indicate that you need help.

1. Performance Drop: A noticeable fall in class attendance, academic performance, or completion of assignments on time. A student who is experiencing distress might also miss class quizzes regularly.
2. Appearance: Change in appearance and indications that the student is ignoring J personal hygiene

3. Mood swings: A distressed student might exhibit mood swings, where their moods varies from day to day, or in extreme cases, is very unpredictable. Students who experiencing mood swings caused by distress will not seem emotionally stable; they can be angry and irritable more than usual.

4. Exaggerated Reactions: Highly reactive behavior to normal events (irritable, tearful, aggressive)

5. Cognitive difficulties: Student may experience difficulties making decisions problem with maintaining focus, and their thoughts may seem illogical or incoherent

6. Marked changes in sleeping and eating habits: sleeping too much or too sleeping at odd hours or eating habits (eating too much, eating too little).

7. Emotional signs: student might seem anxious, fearful, sad and depressed. You H also notice a decline in their social interaction with peers, with you, and with others.

8. Irregular participation in Extra-curricular activities: For faculty members who mentor students in their extra-curricular activities, a significant decline in the quality or regularity of participation in an activity that the student was previously involved in might indicate a general state of distress.

9. Increased dependency: A distressed student might make increased demands on your time. This is most often manifested by frequent requests for extra time on assignments and other assigned tasks.

10. Physical Health Issues: Student might complain about feeling excessively tired all the time, experiencing lower backaches or sporadic headaches. Such problems can be stress-related.

11. Personal Relationship Problems: A student might be facing problems in his personal relationships, and might express concern about the death of loved one, difficulties with family, friendships or romantic relationships. With significant relationship problems, different individuals take varied lengths of time to go through the natural grieving process. For some individuals, this grieving period might be short, but for others, it might lead to prolonged distress and hence, a crippling sense of despair.

12. Alcohol and Drug Abuse: If a student expresses concern about addiction to alcohol or other substance abuse, they might be using intoxicants to avoid confronting the distress in their lives.

13. Feelings of Hopelessness: A significantly distressed student might express a sense of hopelessness about life, and an inability to affect positive change in their life.

Useful Techniques to Handle Anxiety and Depression

2011-09-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Quieting Response

The quieting response can help you cope with anxiety. It teaches a tension-reduction skill you can use in most situations that you can find solitude, including at home and in the workplace. This kind of relaxation training, as well as other forms, can reduce insulin dependence, so if you are taking insulin, be sure to talk to your health-care practitioner about working together to lessen your insulin dosage.

Refuting Irrational Ideas

Refuting irrational ideas is another method to reduce anxiety. Most of us engage in almost continuous self-talk during our waking hours. Self-talk is the internal language we use to describe and interpret the world. When our self-talk is rational, anxiety is reduced. When its not, anxiety is increased.

At the root of irrational thought is the idea that something is being completed to you. Rational thought is dependant on a more neutral idea that events occur and also you experience them.

According to Dr. Albert Ellis, a cognitive-behavioral theorist who developed a system to attack irrational ideas or beliefs and replace them with more realistic interpretations and self-talk, a common form of irrational self-talk is making statements that "awfulize" experience by looking into making catastrophic, nightmarish interpretations of events - for example, interpreting a momentary chest pain as a heart attack, or perhaps a grumpy word from the boss as intent to fire, or silence as negative criticism.

Self Hypnosis

Self-hypnosis is really a wakeful state of deep relaxation. During hypnosis there is an alteration in the conscious degree of your thinking and remembering, and an increase in your ability to concentrate on a particular situation. Hypnosis is also a heightened state of awareness where you’re more open to suggestion.

You’ve probably experienced a hypnotic state while daydreaming, or concentrating intently on a task. All hypnosis is actually self-hypnosis because you wont accept an indicator unless your really want to.

During hypnosis you choose to suspend disbelief, just like you do when you become absorbed in watching a film or TV program. But more than that happens. When you watch a violent chase scene in a movie, your mind and body react as if you were actually participating in the scene. Your muscles tense, your heartbeat increases, your stomach knots, you are feeling excited or afraid. Even your brainwave patterns suggest that you're participating in an activity, although you’re just imagining yourself in the activity.

Effectiveness of Self Hypnosis

Self-hypnosis has been clinically effective with nervous tics, tremors, chronic muscular tension, minor anxiety, and the symptoms associated with anticipatory anxiety (rapid heartbeat; cold sweaty palms; knotted stomach).

Self Esteem Influences Your State of Mind

2011-09-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

Self-esteem is an ongoing evaluation of yourself and your abilities. Self-esteem reflects your confidence in what you say or do. Feeling sabotaged can result in anxiety. You thought you could trust a colleague, family member, or friend, however, you found out you couldn’t. It may feel like a knife in the back - or in the heart. You may panic and think you’ll never get over such treatment. Its important to realize that everyone has this experience sometimes, and that you have to start again and not hide from it.

It may be that no one is sabotaging you but you. Why would you want to sabotage yourself? Low self-esteem is one explanation. When you have low self-esteem, you probably have difficulty standing up to other people, avoid eye contact, turn red easily, and get a "shame attack."

If you have low self-esteem, it is probably because you weren’t valued by your caregivers when you were a child. They didn't esteem you in an appropriate way. In neglecting to value you, they abused you, even if they didn’t mean to. This resulted in a lack of confidence about yourself and your worth. Low self-esteem can make you feel as if you’ll do not be able to cope with your anxiety.

Since you may have been abused or neglected in your family of origin, you might abuse or neglect yourself. The important thing to elevating your esteem is the willingness to take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Self-esteem fluctuates based on your life experiences. If you have low self-esteem, take heart. You can learn to build your self-esteem, but it wont happen overnight. When you make the decision to value yourself, be more successful for you to value others. As your self-esteem rises, so will your esteem of others. This change will improve your relationships.

On the surface, it may seem you want to succeed, however when you have low self-esteem, old messages you learned in your family continue to operate. Perhaps you were told you were stupid, lazy, would never succeed, or were given some other negative message. These messages are like tapes that play in your head. They’re faulty because they have nothing to do with you and also everything to do with the one who gave you the message. The faulty messages might even seem automatic, as if they can turn on their own and play and play and there's nothing you can do about it.

There is something you can do about these messages, but first you have to identify them and realize they aren't about you. They fit in with someone else. Until you identify these messages, face them, and realize you are worthy and whole, you will continue to sabotage yourself.

Study Skills

2011-09-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

The increase in workload that marks the change from school to college can prove to be overwhelming for some students. Burying your self in books all the time is not the solution to dealing with this increased work pressure. Instead the solution lies in developing effective study skills:

Set Your Study Agenda for the Day

Refer to your weekly planner to check for imminent deadlines and upcoming quizzes. Prioritize your work and set up goals for what needs to be accomplished on a given day. It is often helpful to plan your next day the night before.

Get a feel for your reading material

The amount of reading that some courses require at university level, particularly Social Science courses, can be overwhelming for students at the start of their university career. Sifting mindlessly through pages after pages of a seemingly never-ending reading can get you nowhere. So, instead you can start off by getting a sense of what you are up for by glancing at the chapter headings and going through the short introduction at the top of each chapter. Getting a sense of the reading material at the start would save you from losing track of things half way through.

Be an Active Reader

It is essential to keep your concentration going while you are reading a text or trying to understand a concept. To become an active reader, it is important to remain focused throughout. As you progress through a text, it is helpful to put questions to yourself; to make sure that you understand all the concepts, as well as make connections with previously read material. Interacting with the text by writing questions on it always helps you to stay focused.

Take Notes and Review them

It will not be possible for you to go through the sheer quantity of material that you cover in a semester on the day before the exam. So it is important for you to take good, effective notes from the start and to review them before your exams. These Notes may also come in handy in preparation for surprise quizzes.

Study Groups

Forming study groups will, again, be a very useful strategy. Your peers may help you understand some concepts and reading material, which you may get stuck on yourself.

Look at Review Questions

One of the most useful strategies for putting your knowledge to the test is to attempt the review questions at the end of a chapter. You may seem to have understood the chapter concepts perfectly well but you can still feel clueless when you are put to test in an exam or a quiz. It is helpful to test yourself on your own, progressively after every chapter, to make sure that you can apply what you have learnt.

Organize your study material

You will waste less time retrieving materials if you organize all your handouts, notes and other materials in the course as you proceed through it. Keep a file in which you make sections for material. Organize study material by subject matter, by the order you studied it in class, or any other organization scheme that suits you.

Respect Your Own Learning Style

There can sometimes be disconnect between an instructor's teaching style and your personal learning style. When that happens, you will often not feel motivated enough to attend lecture, or engage actively in lecture. Please continue to do so. Being active in class will help you regardless: you will at least get an overview of material, know what needs to be covered, try and ask questions in class and interact with other people taking that course. Also use the course book or other sources of information (e.g. articles on the web, an alternate book) to find alternate ways of understanding material from the course. Attend TA office hours and see if their style of explaining concepts suits your learning better. At University, you need to take complete responsibility for your own learning.

Writing is like Sculpture

When you write a paper for a class, always give yourself time to edit and work through a first draft so that you turn in a refined version. A first draft will often be rough, so you need to chisel it to make it better. Writing is an iterative process, much like sculpting a fine sculpture out of rough material. It takes many layers of work, each finer than the previous one, to craft good writing.

Can Concentration Really Improve Memory?

2011-09-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Expert answers the big question, can concentration improve memory? The basic memory mechanics exposes the power of concentration to improve memory. You can combine yoga with the basic memory mechanics to concentrate and focus to enhance encoding information in the brain. We're a group of navigation engineers that take pride in navigating readers to the Correct Knowledge to obliterate harsh learning curves. We know from experience that knowledge is not power, but the correct use of knowledge is power. This article is about making the correct choices to improve memory and prevent from traveling down long lost dreary roads, stumbling into rattle snake pits and the lion's dens.

Can concentration improve memory? Yes, concentrating can increase the amount of information encoded in the brain. Concentration enhances the basic memory mechanics by creating a healthy, vibrant and energetic brain. Most of my readers want to add additional skills to enhanced brain encoding methods and functionalities of the brain.Combining basic memory mechanics and concentrating creates the perfect chemistry. You are deeply encoding information in the brain, which makes recalling important and relevant information faster.

First I highly recommend practicing the basic memory mechanics, which are enough: (1) water-10 glasses per day (2) sleep-6-8 hours per day (3) consumption of memory foods, vegetables and fruits (4) consumption of memory vitamin-supplements with memory foods, because vitamins cannot assimilate and digest alone.

Secondly practice proven methods that work for you.

Thirdly you can practice additional skills to increase encoding in the brain. Yes, concentration can improve memory when your brain is healthy and fit. You should always practice the basic memory mechanics and brain encoding methods; then add concentration skills. Believe me it requires excellent concentration and focus to practice in sequence and to create healthy learning habits.

Yoga is the "Master" of meditating, focusing and concentrating, which can: (1) increase concentration to improve memory, as well as (2) enhance encoding information in the brain. There are many types of Yoga's, which are known to connect the mind; body and soul. Maybe you are still wondering, "How can concentration improve memory?" Any healthy brain can add additional skill concentration skills that can enhance encoding information in the brain.

Most of my readers want to know, "How concentration improves memory?" I intend to answer this question with accuracy, definition and precision. Encoding information in the brain is a simple process that grows and builds from practicing a proven process that healthily position and prepares the brain to encode as well as enhance amount of information the brain encodes.

Basic Memory Mechanics

The "Basic Memory Mechanics" is simple a way of caring for the brain, which can make the brain care for you. This process of caring creates a healthy vibrant and energetic brain. Through experience, wisdom, knowledge and understanding you can rely on the basic memory mechanics to keep you on track, which is: (1) sleeping 6-8 hour per day, (2) consuming 10 glasses of water daily, (3) consuming memory foods daily, and (4) consuming memory vitamins with your memory foods. The basic memory mechanics is practiced process that creates a healthy, ready and prepared brain. The brain is boosted, energized, stimulated, and ready to practice the brain encoding methods that work for you.

Brain Encoding Methods

A healthy brain is the key to encoding information in the brain as well as enhancing amount of information encoded in the brain. You're healthy, energetic and stimulated brain can encode important and relevant information much better. Most of my readers are experts at practicing the basic memory mechanics and proven encoding methods. Beginners should practice 3 proven encoding methods per month, 3 times per week for 2 hours and for 6-12 months, which is highly recommended. I many of my readers are known to practice 5-7 encoding methods, however I realize that some have been practicing encoding methods from as early as Pre-K and Kindergarten, which mean that encoding may be deeply rooted learning habits. Therefore practicing numerous encoding methods may vary depending on the amount of encoding experience you may have.

Additional Skills

Practicing the following in sequence can benefit you immensely:

(1) Basic memory mechanics

(2) Proven encoding methods that work for you

(3) Adding additional skills to enhance brain encoding methods, which can increase amount of information brain encodes. Your brain muscle should be positioned, ready and prepared to practice additional skills to enhance encoding information in the brain.

Can concentration improve memory? You have a blue print that you can utilize to healthily add skills to enhance brain encoding through proper focus and concentration.