Education
Study Skills
Preview
- Taking Notes
- Reading Assignments
- Memory
- Planning and Organization
- Focus & Concentration
- Procrastination
- Studying for Exams
- Test Anxiety
- Paper & Essays
- Exercise
Education Technology
Artificial Intelligence
Entrepreneurship
Business
Computer Science
Game
What is a Game?
A game is a construct that organizes play through a series of rules, for the purpose of achieving a set of goals, overcoming an obstacle, and/or attaining an objective
Dictionary definition
Chris Crawford - Play Things
Any kind interactive entertainment is a Play Thing
Without a Goal
With a Goal
Challenge
No other active agent
Puzzle
Second Party Involved
Conflict
Competitions
Games
Dont Interact or Interfere with Each Other
Players Interact Continuously
Can be a computer or AI
Goals & Rules
Voluntary Participation Or it is "Work"
Gamification
Reward students with badges when they pass tests or complete homework assignments
Complete with friends for highest points
Games can reduce stress and increase productivity
Ancient Games
Dice is the base as it represent randomness
Pillars of Ancient Games
Fun
Mysticism
Skill
Chance
Education Games
Common Characteristic of all Games: They require Learning
Rules of the game
Understand rules deeply to from better winning strategies
Attempt to balance entertainment and fun with learning
Designed to teach a skill
How to ?
Help outside the games where the skill is actually used
Chess
Improves qualities of the mind: foresight, circumspection and caution
Art of war
Improves academic achievement like math, spatial analysis and non-verbal reasoning
Oregon trail
Teaches rigors of pioneer lifestyle in travel
Limited resourses
Optimization
Short and Long Term Consequences
Budgeting
Action gamers were at their tasks
Test the lesson they learnt in a risk free environment
No worry about failing
Game Design
Heart of a Game
It is a implementation of a story or a gameplay idea into a playable form
Includes all the art, programming and writing that goes into a game
Play testers
Basic Design Elements
Space
Components
Mechanics
Goals
Rules
Look and feel of the game
Sounds
Lighting
Color
Physical space like walls, doors, whether etc
Acts as defining feature of other Elements, Space influences which characters are chosen, what feelings are evoked, and what activities can take place
Includes everything from the characters in the game to the weapons and vehicles they use and pretty much any object in the game the player comes into contact with
What the player can do in the game
Think verbs
creating and spelling in scrabble
Core activity that players do over and over again
What players are trying to achieve to actually win the game
Game designers must think about what they want the player to achieve and map out a way for them to reach it
Examples
Work cooperatively to discover cures in a pandemic or simply survive hordes of zombies
Rules help players understand how to play the game, but they also help create the play experience of the game
Game's contraints
What they can and cant do
Game designers should understand gamers wants and needs
Game designer Marc Leblanc (Games Wants and Needs)
Challenge
Narrative
Fantasy
Discovery
Gerald Cameron
created engaging dice games
Four principles
Downtime is the enemy
Waiting too long on a turn can cause players to lose interest
Its should be exciting and active
15 seconds if longer (45 seconds) designers have to justify with the fun of the respective turn
No more than one turn
Not fun and messes the probabilities
Give chance to react to the dice
Other to react and make it more engaging
Low rolls should not suck, high rolls should not rule
No zero-sum game, should be a game of probabilities
Ananda Gupta (Twilight Struggle - Board Game)
Two or three players is the sweet spot
Decreases downtime
Playtime
Should last around 2 hours
Short- players not satisfied and long games can lead to burnout
" Feel like something meaningful, feel like the game had a beginning and had a middle and had an end, and that you were engaged"
Keep them challenged
Mix of luck and strategy
Strategy - Skills
Luck - Randomness to keep them coming back
"Balance"
Players must feel as though each have a change to win. That means creating game play that doesn't favor any rule at the start of the play.
Video game rules
Meaningful Play
Two types of meaningful play
Descriptive Type
A player takes an action and the game responds
Evaluative Type
Player is encourages to take wider view of actions questioning why they are doing specific actions and what this means to the game in its entirety
Balance
Every Advantage has a Disadvantage
Rock paper scissors
Design the middle to be engaging and then design the entry level
How to learn?
Research
Professors, authors, sleep doctors and neurologists
Thomas Frank - Founder of CollegeInfoGeek.com
Store and retain for later
Right Tools
Paper
Computer
typing gives speed advantages, more words
Less words, but retained better
Retained less, but the info was processed less in the brain
Writing is better than typing (working memory)
Note taking apps: Evernote, Onenote, Dropbox paper
Maps are useful only when it summarizes and simplifies, similarly notes are a reviewing tool only when there is a high signal to noise ratio - packed with necessary information
What to record?
Note taking guidelines
Gauge early on in the classes
first impression lasts
Syllabus
Study guides or review materials
Mental notes
When professor says it is important - note that
Big Ideas - Summaries, Overviews, or Conclusions
Bullets lists
Terms and Definitions
Examples ✅
How to take Notes?
Outline Method
Cornell Method
Mind Maps
1) Main Idea a) Subtopic a.1) Details a.2) Example
Can become rigid and looks same like other notes
Divide your notes into three distinct sections
Cues
Notes
Summary
Record the actual class notes here
Main Ideas, Questions that connect points, Diagrams, Prompts to help you study
Helps frame most important info
write 1-2 sentences for the big ideas
Like this mind map
How to make the most of the time spend on reading
Do I actually need to do all of the reading
NO
Time is not Limitless
Framework
Assigned Readings (into 2 groups)
Class favored source (Main textbook)
Supplemental reading
Hierarchy for prioritizing them
- Arguments
- Description of events or people
- Context
Like press clippings or speeches
Read, skim or skip
Reading Fast
1-2 words at a time is only possible
Saccade (back and forth), Fixation (pause) and Regression (go back and re-read)
Working memory
Skip glue words like "the"
200- 400 words per minute is the range
Read more, deep and difficult content
Timed reading goals
Practice
But reread important concepts
Read first and last sentence of the paragraph
Or other formatting like bold, italics are tables
Highlight only ultra important
Instead use dots and dashes
Active Reading System: SQ3R
Survey
Question
Read
Recite
Review
Pre reading - Skimming the material
Before starting the reading frame questions that come to mind
Helps focus on most important bits
Take notes of important points
Brain changes info into memory in different stages
- Sensory Memory
Process everything
But most info are lost immediately
Whatever stays sticks in short term memory
for 15-30 seconds only
4-7 bits at a time
Somewhat increase it by splitting into chunks (limited)
Memory formation is physically changing the brain but forming new connections
It takes time
Cramming doesn't work
Space your learning out in time (repeat it after certain intervals) ✅
How you space learning is also important (Long term Memory)⭐
Brains remembers tangible, visual and uncommon than it does with abstract or the mundane ❤
Mnemonics: System to remember info
Like after school to college
Forgetting Curve
Evolved into forget to learn theory
Storage strength
Retrieval strength
Books are kept
But the librarian in unorganised
Spaced Repetition
Increase time to revise with every session on an information
Leitner System
Box 2
Box 3
Box 1
Everyday
Every three days
Every week
Box 4
Every 2 weeks
Box 5
Every Month
Flashcard
If got right move to the next box otherwise move to Box 1 again(even from any box)
Apps like Anki, Quizlet etc
Recognition (by seeing able to remember) Vs Recall (without seeing able to remember 💥)
Active recall by quizzing urself
Two Modes
Planning Mode
Robot Mode
Do the Work mode
Program it and give good enviroment
Organizational System
Contains two elements
Idea
Tasks
Events
Ideas
Store
Notes
Handouts
Any other output
intangible info to save and access later
Framework
1) Task Manager ✅
2) Calendar ⭐
3) Note-Taking System 🖊
4) Physical Storage for Paper Documents 😃
Place to record what needs to be done
System
Task's Details
Due date
Also brings up what is due immediately
Any project management software
Trello
Remember upcoming events
Might be same as the Task Manager
Might keep it different from task manager
Google calendar
Evernote
Apple's Notes
Sticky notes
Hands carry notebook
Long term Notes
Passwords and other important info
Scheme for Keeping it Organised
Set of rules to help you keep your system organised
Arrange Folders in Form of Branches
Folders inside Folders
Color code your tasks and calendar events
Use the system correctly and at all times 💥
Remove friction for the process
Commit to entering things in correct place the moment they come up ✅
Planning
Contexts
Weekly
Daily
Sunday
Few minutes each day at the night, plan next day
One day per week to do review session of your tools
Reflect on the last week
Avoid getting into entropy - chaos
Doing one task for a long time
Attention - focus your cognitive resources on one particular stimuli or source of information while ignoring all others in the universe
Two forms of attention
Top Down or Voluntary Attention
Read a page or solve a math problem
Bottom up or Stimulus Driven
From the environment
As time goes by you get tired and get distracted
Strength of your inhibitory mechanism depends on
Your Environment
Your tendency to seek novelty when bored
Interest in the task
Brain's current state
rest, exercise, food and anxiety
How ling you have been focusing already
Improve cognitive strength
1) Stop multitasking
2) Tailor your environment for better focus
Energy waste in refocusing and switching
Alleast spend 20-30 minutes before switching
Space only for doing work
One context - Powerful
Location, people, environment point to a single activity you will be more likely to do it
Fewer things competing for your attention, better
3) Put away non-essentials
4) Break down tasks to smaller chunks
Helps in deciding and avoiding unnecessary things at each chunk
Anticipate potential future distraction and put away (like your phone)
Tell others not to bother at that time
6) Improve your ability to focus (like working out)
avoid novelty (new unimportant excitement ) - like checking social media
Every time you crave in for a distraction you are disturbing the habit
Control the craving and get back you improve the tolerance of focus
7) Take breaks - brain works in the cycle of rest and work
Every 30 minutes
Few minutes break - stand up, stretch, walk around a bit and maybe get some water
During breaks don't switch to another task and get involved in something distracting, as it creates attention residue 🚩
Then take a longer break and that time you can relax and do something but plan it before when the breaks end
Brain needs physical and biological needs as well
Sleep, nutrients and exercise to work at peak efficiency
High quality work = time spent * intensity of focus
Why?
Temporal Motivation Theory
Motivation = (Expectancy x Value) / (Impulsiveness x Delay)
Expectancy - Your sense of competence and ability ⭐
Value - Reward you will get; How pleasant the experience of doing it 🏁 😃
Impulsiveness - how susceptible you are to distractions 🏴
Delay - Amount of time from now to getting the reward ⏲
Longer the delay more the procrastination
So brains focus on short term
To raise expectancy
Break down into smaller tasks ✅
Ask for help 👥
Order them as steps
Teacher
Friend
To raise Value
Improve actual Reward
Experience of Doing the work itself ♻
Add additional rewards for sub tasks
Choose work that is most fulfilling to you
Actually has less control
Choose your favorite spot
Study music playlist
Work with a friend
Quick walk before the work to increase energy levels
Gamification
App like Habiltica
Productivity into role playing
Leveling up, experience points and gear and applies them to real life
Low Density Fun Vs High Density Fun
Low Density : Social Media 🚩
Focus on High Density Fun ✅
Distraction
Meeting Friends, Watching Movie
Creates anticipation
Impulsiveness
Environment really matters 🔥
Refer focus and concentration concepts
Apps like Coldturkey that blocks sites
Not Covered in the Equation
Willpower
Body and Brain functions in the cycle of Rest and Work
Do the most difficult and challenging thing at first on your to-do list
Do it first thing in the morning
Pomodoro (Tomato) Technique
Needs
Timer
Piece of Paper
Set timer to finish a task and if a distraction comes up write it down on the paper and get back to work
Works because timer helps you reframe your task as input based rather than output based
25 minutes
After timer goes off take a 5 minute break and get back
Just for 25 mins feels like a small work
Timer acts like a coach
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail
Learning takes time, but brain is built for focusing on short term
Therefore you will need to control external factors
Study schedule
Build it directly into your calendar
Enter exact dates and times of your exams
Colour code
Break Down Tasks and Put them before the Due Date
Study time replicate the test conditions (Environment)
as it is context based
What type of questions?
What materials are allowed
Previous year question papers
Student organization
Koofers.com
Now docsity
Study Time
Established Study Space
Try to study in your classroom where exam happens or try to replicate the room
Timer and quiz yourself without the materials
Focus on recall
If teacher did not give quizzes create yourselves
Flash cards
Facts and vocabulary are good with this
Problems spend time actually working on them
When you are stuck
2) Ask for help?
1) Ask urself exactly what you did not understand?
Write down the solution
Rubber duck the problem
Make a index card
Forces you to put down the most important
Spend time to relax
Cycle of work and rest
Performance Anxiety
But understand this
"Fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates the battle must be fought everyday"
Anxiety is an indicator that what you are doing is important ✅
Too much is not good
Learn how to mange it
Techniques to manage anxiety
Causes of Anxiety
A fear of repeating past failures
Fear of unknown
Fear of stakes
Write down exactly what make you anxious
Can reduce test anxiety
Take out and store it somewhere
Negativity Bias - tendency to give more emotional weight to negative events
1) Realize you are not defined by your past successes and failures
At anytime you can do things differently than you did in the past
Analyze your past failures and improve on them ✅
understand and figure out why?
Try to gain as much experience as you can about the exam
Replicate the test conditions
So that it feels it is not the first time
Think of it as a learning opportunity rather than a judgement
Active recall strengthens your mastery
If persistent ask for professional help
Pre writing phase
Start the paper with a pre writing phase
Pre writing helps you identify the things which you already understand
More focused research
Jump in and make a mess first
Brain dump - timer of 25 minutes
Write down important points
Also external resources that you might want to look at during the research process
Then go to research
Research Process
Research Recursion Syndrome
Get stuck in a loop of constantly looking for yet another resource
Solution Framework
Find your resources
Books or Internet
Start is Wikipedia
Citation section of Wikipedia (Good sources)
Bibliography of science books
Write the notes
So that you dont have to go back and review again
Skim and highlight relevant arguments you want to make and add to notes
Ask yourselves if you are done? 😮
Atleast two sources for each main point in your thesis
Atleast one for any tangential or non-crucial points
If No
repeat the process
If Yes
Write the final draft
Final Draft
Make an imperfect draft
Let the initial act of creation be free of scrutiny and restraint
Perfectionism kills
Write the first draft in a different App than the Final Draft
Edit the Draft
Two stages
1) Content edit (Effective communication)
Looking the paper as a whole and asking
- Does each argument support the thesis
- Narrative Flow
- Is each argument properly fleshed out and backed up with research and external sources
- What can be removed and what can be rewritten in a simple way
2) Technical edit
1) Spelling and Grammar mistakes
2) Poorly structed sentences
3) Formatting errors
4) Sentences that just don't sound right
Print it and go over in hand
Read it out loud
Let other people review it
Fresh draft few people
Second draft other people
Because nobody can read it fresh in their second time
Print again the final draft and repeat
Keeps body and brain healthy
Brain benefits of exercise
Brain develops due to movement
Lift your heart rate up and improve brain functions
Thinking is the evolutionary internalization of movement
Brains are creatures that move
Lose bone density
Heartrate increases and improves brain function
3 levels
Optimizes the levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine
All crucial for learning
Serotonin
Norepinephrine
Amplifies attention and motivation
Dopamine
Learning, movement and brain's reward center
Regulates your mood and keeps you happy
Simulates neurogenesis
birth of new neurons
Improves the ability of neurons to bind to one another
Use it or lose the new neurons
Therefore learn new things
New pathways are formed
memories take hold
This enables long term learning
Improves the ability to focus and block distractions and reduce stress
How to exercise to improve brain function
going for a run before study is good
Elevated heart rate with complex and skill based movements
Sports
Intense yoga
Focus on building the habit
At CrashCourse.com believe these are powerful ways to learn
Fans of interactive in-class learning
Directed conversations
hands-on experience
EdTech provide additive power both inside and outside the classroom
Distributing educational materials in formats like video has become more popular
how to improve learning & retention while watching videos
1) speed control
understand the video and reflect on the content
2) pause at difficult parts
to understand what you have learnt
to quiz yourself what will come next & answer
3) try examples or exercises presented in the videos
Active learning techniques can increase the learning by 10x
MOOCs - video formats 2012 fame
most hype is dissipated
Challenges in MOOCs
EdTechs trying to sole them
1) Effective learning involves getting timely and relevant feedback
But how to give feedback when there are millions of learners with few teachers ⭐
2) How does a teacher grade a million assignments?
Solving these problems involves hybrid, human-technology systems
Useful but controversial
1) Students could give each other feedback
But are often pretty bad at doing so
Why? ⚠
Because students are expert in subject matters but not teachers
But can be solved using technology 🎉
By using algorithms, we can match learning partners together, out of potentially millions of groupings
2) Grading can be done with automated systems while humans do the rest
Even writing portions can be graded
3) Algorithms are being developed that provide personalized learning experiences,
Netflix's personalized recommendations
To achieve this software needs to know what the learners know and what they dont know
With the understanding the software can present the right material at the right time
to give each learner practice on the things that are hardest for them, rather than what they are good at already
Called "Intelligent Tutoring Systems" (ITS) - AI
Breaking down an hypothetical tutoring system
1) Imagine a student is solving algebra and has to solve the equation "3x + 7 = 4"
the correct next step to solve it is by subtracting "7" from both the sides
the knowledge required to this step is called a "production rule"
These describe procedures as "IF - THEN" statements
Example correct rule:
"IF there is a constant on the same side as the variable THEN subtract the constant from both sides"
Cool about this: can be used to represent common mistakes a student can make
They are also called as "buggy rules"
Instead of subtracting the constant "7", a student subtracts the coefficient "3" ❌
Its possible that multiple competing production rules are triggered after a student completes a step
It may not be entirely clear what misconception has led a student's answer
Therefore production rules are combined with an algorithm to select the most likely one ✅
Student can be given an helpful feedback
Domain Model
Combination of production rules and selection algorithms
formal representation of the knowledge, procedures and skills of particular discipline (like algebra)
May assist learners on any individual problem, but are insufficient for helping students cove a whole curriculum
Because they dont track progress over time
So the ITS should also maintain a "Student Model" (SM) ❤
Tracks what production rules a student has mastered
And where they still need practice
This is exactly what we need to personalize the tutor
A big challenge to figure out what a student knows and doesn't know based only on their answer to problems ⚠
Solution - "Bayesian Knowledge Tracing"
(BKT) "Bayesian Knowledge Tracing" ℹ
The algorithm treats student knowledge a set of "latent variables", which are variables whose true value is hidden from an outside observer, like our software
Also true in physical world, where teacher would not know for certain a student knows something completely
instead they might probe that knowledge using a test to see if the student gets the right answer
Traces updates and estimates the student's knowledge by observing the correctness of each interaction using that skill
To do this the software maintains four probabilities
1) Probability the student has learned how to do a particular skill
2) Probability the guess
Got right answer by guess
3) Probability of not knowing the answer during the start but worked through the problem and got the answer
3) Probability of slip
Knows the answer, but made a mistake
4) Probability of transit
(ITS Often uses) Student Model + Bayesian Knowledge 💥
Keeps a running assessment of each skill the student is supposed to know
Equations
1) What is the probability that a student has learned a particular skill? - P (Learned_Now)
P (Learned_Now) = P(Learned_Previous) + P(Transit) x (1 - P(Learned_Previous)
P(Learned_Previous) depends on whether we observe a student getting a question correct or incorrect
2 equations to pick from
Answer was correct:
P(Learned_Previous) = [P(Learned_Previous) x (1 - P(Slip))] / [P(Learned_Previous) x (1 - P(Slip)) + (1-P(Learned_Previous) x P(Guess)]
Answer was incorrect
P(Learned_Previous) = [P(Learned_Previous) x P(Slip)] / [P(Learned_Previous) x P(Slip) + (1-P(Learned_Previous) x (1 - P(Guess))]
ITS + SM + BKT = Mastery Learning ⭐
where students practice skills until they are deeply understood
Adaptive sequencing
Software selects the best problems to students to achieve mastery
One form of Personalization
From the data of millions of students and data
We can discover common pitfalls and where students gets frustrated
Also look at how long they pause before entering an answer, whether they speed up a video and how they interact with other students on discussion forums
"Educational Data Mining"
ability to use all those facepalms and "aha moments" to help improve personalized learning in the future
Future
educational tech fiction book
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
A young girl who learns from a book that has set of virtual agents who interact with her in natural language acting as coaches, teachers, and mentors who grow and change with her as she grows up
Non science-fiction researchers
Justine Cassell
Crafting pedagogical virtual agents that can exhibit verbal and bodily behaviors found in conversation among humans and is doing so, blind trust, rapport and even friendship with their human students
They can detect what she knows and how's she feeling, and give just the right feedback and support her to help her learn
Edtech moving from laptops to huge tabletop surfaces (collaborate) and mobiles (one the go)
AI Assistant, VR and AR are exicitng