psych-facts:

1. Study in different places.

Studies show that studying in different places helps us remember better because our brain becomes more active in trying to make connections. In one classic study, participants were asked to study a list of 40 vocabularies in two different rooms - one windowless and cluttered, the other modern with a courtyard. The participants who studied in the courtyard did far better.

2. Alternate between different types of homework/assignment questions.

Studies suggest that switching between types of questions can enhance test scores. The studies had children in either two conditions: 1) children who would repeat doing the same set of questions before moving on to the next set. For example, first do additions. When done, then move to multiplications. 2) children in this condition would alternate between multiplications and additions. The children who had studied mixed set did two times better on a actual test.

3. Space Out Your Studies

Studies found that spacing out our study periods significantly improves memory. For example,  studying 1 hour each night as opposed to a full-cramping session produces better results on tests.

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justbeingseriouslysocial:

infoneer-pulse:

Online learning is no longer foreign to traditional universities, where courses formerly held in large lecture halls are migrating to the Web. But at residential liberal arts colleges, whose appeal often lies in the promise of small classes and regular face time with professors, online education has had a harder time gaining a foothold.

That could soon change. Several top-rated liberal arts colleges have begun experimenting with online course modules. Professors at those colleges hope the technology, which tutors students in certain concepts via artificially intelligent tutoring software in lieu of static textbooks or human lecturers, will help level the playing field for academically underprepared students while giving instructors more flexibility in planning their syllabuses.

» via Inside Higher Ed

Uses of ‘blended’ online learning programmes are increasingly being preferred, as there is flexibility in timings and people from diverse backgrounds can join.

infoneer-pulse:

In 1990, only 49 percent of high school graduates had taken chemistry and only 21 percent had taken physics. But, by 2009, the number of high school graduates with a chemistry class on their transcript had jumped to 70 percent, and 36 had taken physics. Most encouraging of all, in 2009, 30 percent of high school graduates had taken biology, chemistry, and physics in high school, up from only 19 percent taking all three in 1990.

There was also a slight increase when it came to advanced math classes. In 1990, only 7 percent of grads had taken a calculus class, and a mere 1 percent had taken statistics. By 2009, 16 percent of seniors had taken calculus and 11 percent had taken statistics. The rigorous coursework is helping to ensure that today’s students are prepared to go to college immediately after graduation. In 1979, only 49 percent of students headed to either a two-year or four-year college right after high school, but that jumped to a high of 70 percent in 2009.

» via GOOD

justbeingseriouslysocial:

They’re neither dumb to use today’s technologies or social networking sites nor they believe that “Mark Zuckerberg will create an application in the future that helps them get their study on while Facebook stalking.” In spite of the distracting nature of technologies, they don’t think of deactivating their Facebook account. Sometimes they even found themselves mindlessly minimizing Microsoft Word to log into Facebook.

A small minority of today’s university students don’t use email and others are confused by the array of technologies available at universities. Yet many students couldn’t bear to be without their mobile phones and find themselves distracted by social networking sites during study. […] The distracting nature of technologies was commonly cited in the interviews but also happily accepted. Most students had developed ways to cope with the distractions while studying. These ranged from switching off the sources of distraction to taking breaks for social networking.