After going thru this it made me double down on SRS Recall with Anki and it has helped me a lot. For things that you can get solid repetition thru daily life, work, etc it isn't necessary, but if it's not something that you'll encounter often enough now using SRS will speed up the initial learning stages.

Like mentioned above though don't get caught up in optimization. Just make your cards and review them.

I can't really recommend this course. I think most people interested in the subject at all are able to find SRS and memory palace.

The specialty of that generation of MOOC teachers was similar to Ted talk hosts. Very inspiring and distracting from any actual learning on the idea that taking their course first is somehow optimizing instead of corrupting. Serious material is harder to study after getting dopamine hits for going through this entertainment.

Great course. I also highly recommend the book Ultralearning [1], which has a stronger focus on quickly mastering applied skills.

[1]: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/ultralearning/

Thanks for sharing, I haven't heard of that book. On his website he has this 30 minute talk[0] summarizing the "Ultralearning" concept.

Does the book offer significantly more detail or insight such that it's worth the purchase, even after watching his talk?

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2JGiJNUsD4

I have read this and I don't have it handy around with me as a reference book (this type of book should become a reference book). I think this was not as good as I was hoping for. Ok to go through once but wasn't something I would re-read or say I found anything new/worthy. Sorry about that.

Just remember not to get too caught up optimizing learning at the expense of learning things to do the things you actually want to do.

It's not like that.

You just remember one rule, and try and incorporate to your life.

After somewhat long period of passive trial-and-error, you either integrate it or toss it.

After six months of this, you come back to it and maybe pick up one more.

That's the right way to do this. Not memorizing the rules here and trying to add it all to your life. That will lead to disaster.

Three concrete things I picked up from this course and integrated into my life:

- Exercise is really good for my brain. I exercise regularly now. Looking good in a proper shirt doesn't require you to exercise much. But I do it regularly for the brain.

- Recall over revision. When studying something for the second time, I try to recall rather than read the stuff again. I see exercise and quizzes in whole new light now.

- Background processing. Spend time doing something else, and a solution to a problem you weren’t actively thinking about magically appears.

The same goes for other techniques amd such. I only remember one of Feynman's five(?) learning techniques and practice it consciously and actively. The one that tells you to teach others.

I don't remember finishing this Coursera course, but it made my life better.

>Offered by "Deep Teaching Solutions"

Ugh. No thanks. Anything with "Deep" unnecessarily in the name is an instant no-no for me these days.

are you sure? they're using the "latest insights from neuroscience"

Seems like the wrong end to look for good tools. Usually the latest insights are the least tested, and most likely to later fail to replicate or otherwise be proven incomplete.

Not that old insights don't sometimes turn out to be wrong, but more eyes have almost certainly scrutinized them.

She is also a prolific author and has written multiple books on the subject: https://barbaraoakley.com/books/

Is this any worth in taking?

I took this course a while back.

It's not really groundbreaking or anything but I think it's useful.

Wouldn't put it on a MUST TAKE IT course list but it was worth it's time :)

What is your must take list if I may ask

Will teach you the scientific background behind your current learning strategies so you can explain them better to yourself and your friends? - Yes

Will it give you better strategies to learn? - Maybe.

Will it make you reflect on your learning style? - Yes. Maybe this will help you learn better, which is obviously an insane return on investment over your lifetime.

Depends. There's absolutely fundamental knowledge in here that will help you learn and retain better. But a lot of it is out there already.

I'd say it's a must have because it's easy and helpful. It's organized so that it's easy to take. I guess that shouldn't be surprising.