Making it Stick!

 

Reading Make it Stick as an academic text was a total breath of fresh air. This is the very first time I have read an assigned book cover to cover. What I appreciated most was the unconventional approach to presenting the research and the fact that real stories were shared to illuminate what the evidence showed. 

Several chapters stood out for me: Learning Is Misunderstood, Mix Up Your Practice, Avoid Illusions of Knowing and Get Beyond Learning Styles.  What is interesting as I reflect on this is that it all seems like common sense and I have practiced some of this in my life but not during my academic journey. 

I think as adults it can be hard to let go of old habits and be open to learning new ones. Chapter 6: Get Beyond Learning Styles really resonated with me because I'm guilty of saying things like, "I'm a visual learner" or "I need time to reread and then process before I come up with any questions". This chapter challenges us to step out of that comfort zone and consider that our learning style preference might not impact our learning experience any better than a different approach. 

As someone who mostly leans into generative learning, I'm definitely going to keep this book close by for reference and will keep my mind open to different and new ways to learn.

Trial and Error

I'm completely new to blogging and have to say that I'm enjoying it. Blogging as a part of my academic/learning experience has given me an opportunity to reflect on topics and relate them to my life experiences. It's interesting to read the perspective of my peers and how they interpret questions and the learning material. The connection between blogging and learning has also helped me work on my analytical thinking skills.

One thing that I really enjoy about blogging is that it feels inclusive. I don't feel pressured to use language that not everyone would understand even though it's part of my academic experience. I can relate the topics and blog posts to my everyday life and just make it plain.

I have always been of the mindset that when things are challenging and require my effort, the reward and impact are greater (not to the mention my increased appreciation in the outcome). I've always pushed myself to improve in all aspects of my life but now I'm also embracing a "let go, and let learn" attitude. I'm trying new things, giving myself grace, and don't care if I'm the oldest one in the room and know the least. 

A recent example of good ole trial and error aka generative learning that I experienced was trying to use Adobe Captivate for the first time to create an e-learning project. I got the 30-day free trial and just went for it. I had never even heard of it before the day I attempted to use it. It took me about 5 hours to create a few slides that would probably take an experienced person about 15 minutes but I had fun trying to figure it all out. In retrospective, a lot of my creative projects are accomplished via generative learning. I think I take that approach with creative projects because there isn't necessarily a right or wrong way to do it. It's interpretative and often just personal preferences that end up being key drivers to the result.

And now as I wrap this up I'm thinking, "Did I even recall during that 5 hours that that was generative learning?" I sure didn't!! But, writing this post and reflecting on it triggered that recall. Woot woot!! 

Practice Makes Better

What I appreciate about the book Make It Stick and my current professor is the emphasis on retrieval practice and the importance of developing the habit as part of my learning journey. Throughout the semester I have noticed that doing periodic retrieval practice quizzes has helped me retain the information. Between reading the book and watching videos each week, there is no way I would remember anything without revisiting the material and concepts. 

In retrospect, it's kind of funny because I practice this in real life as it relates to my career, to parenting, and to my experience as a dancer, but never really in my academic journey. I guess it goes back to those learned habits over the years and being conditioned to approach school a certain way. I'm glad to be learning new habits this semester that will have a positive impact on my learning.

Interleaving just makes a ton of sense to me. Mix it up! Mix it up! Mix it up! It keeps things fresh in my mind and makes learning more fun and engaging. As an adult college student, I have many other things on my mind that can easily distract me from school if I don't find it interesting and enjoyable, so mixing things up is not only good for connecting the dots but honestly, it also keeps me from getting bored. 

Practice makes better and I'm glad to now have these practices in my learning toolkit. 

No More All-Nighters in this House!

Remember pulling those all-nighters trying to study for an exam? Thinking that reading the same text over and over would somehow help to actually learn something? I know I do! Totally guilty! In retrospect, I think I always knew that that approach didn't really work for me but I was conditioned to study that way and figured I could at least pass the exam. The sad part is, if you asked me what I learned and retained from several courses I have taken throughout my learning journey, I wouldn't be able to tell you. 

As I've grown as a person and a life-long learner, I've incorporated a variety of approaches to studying and retaining new information. It is so nice to see that instructors are also embracing new ways of teaching so that students can really learn versus simply memorizing reading and lecture material in hopes of getting a good grade on an assignment or exam.

Lectures, reading, re-reading, highlighting, and note-taking has always been foundational in our educational system in the United States. As learners, we have misconceptions about how we learn versus how we THINK we learn. As noted by Dr. Robert Bjork, that can cause illusions of comprehension and poor judgment of what we have learned. Therefore, using testing and retrieval practices can give a learner a better idea of what they have learned and what they haven't better than restudying. Makes sense to me! When I don't have access to the text and notes in front of me, that's the reality check. So glad that I have unlearned that bad habit and even more glad that my children are having a different experience. No more all-nighters in this house!

 

 Introduction

My name is Bianca Coleman. I’m a San Francisco native and still live in the Bay Area with my family.

 

I completed my undergrad in Business Administration with focuses in Finance and Corporate Management at California State University, East Bay. I worked in corporate finance in the biotech/pharma industry for 22 years but have recently switched careers. I’m now working for a very small tech startup as a Culture Innovation and Strategy Manager where I partner with organizations to address systemic issues in their workplace culture.

In my current role, I’m hoping to start implementing some on-demand solutions for our customers as we scale, especially since I’m on a team of two. Currently, we support our customers in a way that won’t be sustainable as we (and they) grow. I’m excited to hopefully implement some of my learnings in the near future.

 

Most importantly, I am a mother to 3 humans (ages 24, 16, and 7), and 2 rescue pit bulls. My children keep me very busy so self-care is sometimes minimal but when I can get it in, I enjoy taking dance classes (used to teach as well), yoga, meditation, reading suspense novels, and relaxing in my backyard. My plate is full for now but I hope to start teaching dance again one day because that feeds my soul.