Learning Nerd’s Diary #62

Welcome back Learning Nerds!

Learning has a complicated relationship with time. In this week’s diary we’ll explore different aspects of that relationship - from the roles it can play to procrastination and everything in between!

👀 Sneak peak

Here is what I have in store for you this week -

💭 Learning About Learning: The Power of Time in Learning

🥜 Learning Nugget: Time & Money

💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt This Week:

Prioritisation & Learning
Procrastination & Learning
ID Jokes

🔦 Spotlight: Learning Museums with Offbeat

Let's jump right in!

💭 Learning About Learning

Conventionally, assessments are based on a fixed time - “In 2 hours, how much can you score?”. But time is fluid and just because I can’t recall something in those 2 hours, doesn’t mean I have not learn it!

Time can be an interesting parameter to play with while learning. Let’s take the example of CrossFit…

I’ve been a CrossFit athlete for the past 4 years now. One of the many things i find interesting about CrossFit is how they use time in their workouts. How much you can lift is not the only thing that matters - what matters is also how you use your time. Here are 3 ways in which it features in CrossFit WODs:

For time: For a given set of exercises, how fast can you go?
AMRAP (As many rounds/reps as possible): How many reps or rounds can you do in a given time frame?
EMOM (Every minute on the minute): Pushing yourself to finish a certain number of reps in a minute, and continuing every minute.

The best part about the above is that each of them not just help you assess where you are but also diagnose where you need to work on more! It could be your stamina or your strength or a specific skill.

Just like fitness there are multiple parameters to test for in learning:

Stamina: How much you can endure over a period of time?
Strength: How hard you can go?

It’s important to identify what you’re really testing for.

Here are some ideas on how we can use time differently while learning something:

1/ Fastest Fingers
A different take on the quiz - how fast can you attempt something. This focuses on your stamina and a little bit on your strength. By looking at where you spent more time than others - you can identify areas of improvement.

Example: You have to solve 30 questions as fast as you can

2/ As Many Questions as Possible
Just like a game, imagine for a given time you need to finish as many questions as you can. The questions can be in increasing order of difficulty. By looking at where you got stuck or took more time - you can identify what parts you need to practice more.

Example: In 10 minutes you have to solve as many questions as you can

2/ Start - Pause - Stop
You have small sprints of time for you to finish a task. The faster you finish, the longer break you get. The tasks can be designed to test a variety of things. By looking at what you couldn’t finish or where you got most tired - you know where to work on!

Example: You have 3 sprints of 5 mins each. In each 5 minute sprint you need to finish 10 easy questions, 5 medium questions, and 1 hard question

No one of the above is the silver bullet! You can’t rely on only one of the above while designing learning experiences. Like all things - a good balance helps in holistically learning and assessing something!

What are other ideas that you have for using time in learning? Tell me - I’d love to hear from you!

Read the full article →

🥜 Learning Nuggets

Why is adult learning so expensive?

Structured learning experiences allow you to learn with focus and speed. You’re not paying for the time you’re spending learning, but the time you save trying to figure out what & how to learn.

Snack on other Learning Nuggets →

💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt this Week

Prioritisation & Learning

As adults, our biggest struggle with learning is that of time. We fail to understand that our time & attention are finite resources! As Hannah says in this Tweet