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!