Learning Made Easier

Many of us don’t realize a lot of our failures and mistakes can be anticipated and planned for, and made less bad as a result. Join Dinur and Adam as we talk about how to use the concept of talking with Future You to failure plan your projects, papers, and other tasks! 

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Novice online instructors make a lot of mistakes when they first start out, but with COVID-19 forcing most of us online this coming term, there’s no way to avoid it: your classes will probably be online. Join Dinur and Adam as we talk about ways to minimize and avoid these kinds of mistakes, so your first online courses will reach your students without confusing them!

Many students – and many teachers! –  feel like they never have enough time to get things done. Part of the problem is we don’t have practice taking time with what we need to do, but part of it is also that we may give ourselves too much time to get something done. This can stress us out just as much! Join Adam and Dinur as we go over some ways to get more productive by limiting the time you spend on a task.

During COVID, we’re all mostly moving online, and modules are crucial for online courses. They give students a road map that tells them what to do, when to do it, and what to expect next. Join Dinur and Adam as we talk about how to go modular!

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Too many of us think motivation comes first, and then action happens. It’s actually the reverse. The results of taking action motivate us to do more of that action. Join Adam and Dinur as we talk about some ways to create motivation through action in your life!

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Since COVID-19 closed our campuses down, the idea that every student has a computer, a word processing program, stable internet, and the textbook no longer stands up to reality. Join Adam and Dinur as we discuss the issues of inequity revealed by COVID-19.

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Today, Dinur and Adam discuss an article on KQED.org that describes the QFT, or Question Formulation Technique – a method to help students ask better questions. Join us as we talk about the details of this method!

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Mental health is an issue even when we don’t have an international pandemic going on. But obviously, the problems we already have get worse, and new ones show up, when we add in COVID-19 to the various pressures of daily life. One of the big problems with the public-health responses to the virus has been that many of them encourage behaviors which lead to worsened mental health, like isolation and job loss, as well as reactions that are themselves mental health disorders, like depression and anxiety. Join Dinur and Adam as we talk about some ways to identify mental-health problems and how to handle them during this pandemic.

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https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html

https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/NAMI-HelpLine/COVID-19-Information-and-Resources/COVID-19-Resource-and-Information-Guide

https://mhanational.org/covid19

https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/mental-health-covid-19/art-20482731

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-covid-19-is-doing-to-our-mental-health

Too many students think that worrying, stressing out, or doing busywork is the same thing as working effectively. But the professor has no way of assessing your worry, stress, or anxiety. The only way a professor can see how effort you put into an assignment is by looking at what you turned in. Join Adam and Dinur as we talk about what “working effectively” looks like.

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Many institutions, faculty, and students want the fall to be as close to normal as possible. Join Adam and Dinur as we discuss what that means, if it’s possible, and how to adjust our priorities in the face of COVID-19.

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