Weekly Teaching and Learning Email - Coursera - Thanks to Richard Mankiewicz

Coursera (Credit: Richard Mankiewicz)

28th November 2014

Dear Colleagues,

Please find below the teaching and learning email from this week which provides some excellent information about some of the courses available on Coursera.

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

https://www.coursera.org/course/learning

Next course starts 2^nd January 2015, ends 2^nd February.

The course is free. You only need to pay ($49) if you wish to get an official certificate as proof that you’ve paid for the certificate!

I took this course last month and found it very useful. The videos are short and to the point, the quizzes are carefully crafted and the assignments meaningful. The course is aimed at the individual learner but the techniques can easily be adapted for use in teaching a class of students. The techniques are based around the most recent neuroscience data so there should be something new for most teachers.

I copied this from the course homepage:

By the end of the course, we expect you to be able to do the following:
• Explain the difference between focused and diffuse modes of thinking. 
• Explain what a chunk is, and how and why you can and should enhance your chunking skills. 
• Explain how working memory and long term memory differ from one another. 
• Describe key techniques to help students learn most efficiently such as: the Pomodoro, metaphor, story, visualization, deliberate practice, and interleaving. 
• Describe actions that hinder students from learning most effectively such as procrastination, over-learning, Einstellung, choking, multi-tasking, illusions of learning, and lack of sleep. 
• Describe the most important aspects of proper test preparation. 
• Explain the importance of “mindset” in learning.

Also coming up on Coursera are:

Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms. Starts 11 Dec 2014. https://www.coursera.org/course/teachingcharacter

Emerging Trends & Technologies in the Virtual K-12 Classroom. Starts 23 Feb 2015. https://www.coursera.org/course/k12virtualtrends

And more: https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&categories=education,teacherpd

Have fun!

Richard Mankiewicz