Here’s a simple, powerful, acting-on-the-obvious learning tip: ask the people you respect and who have accomplished the types of things you want to accomplish which two or three books have helped them the most. I’ve done this repeatedly over the years, and have never failed to gain a great deal of valuable new knowledge as a result. Most recently, a colleague recommended 10-Minute Toughness by Jason Selk to me. While focused primarily on sports, it’s a tremendous resource if you are trying to improve your "mental game" in pretty much any walk of life. I highly recommend it, and I might never have found it if I had not actively asked this colleague which two or three books had most impacted him. Asking people you respect and want to emulate what they recommend you read. It’s simple. It’s powerful. Whoever "they" are for you, ask them today. Jeff P.S. - You can consider this one of the practices that enhances 10 Ways to Be a Better Learning: No. 2 - Cultivate Your Network. Related posts:How Do You Read A Book? 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 1 - Growth Mindset

A while back I wrote about how useful I was finding the iPad for lifelong learning. It occurred to me more recently that I should start featuring "apps" that readers might find useful. So, consider this the official launch of a new Learning Apps tag here on Mission to Learn. The first post is from Peter Song, who wants readers to know about SpeedUpTV. I’ve had a look, and I think it could definitely be a great addition to your lifelong learning tool kit. Like most apps, it doesn’t cost much ($2.99), but if you want a free download for your iPad or iPhone, be one of the first four people to comment on this post. - Jeff Here’s what Peter has to say: Studying on mobile devices can be a pain, especially when it involves switching between digital notes, videos, lecture recordings and image graphs. Thankfully for iOS users, a new app promises to simplify the task of studying on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as well as offer a wide range of new features that aid in the overall studying process and also improve your foreign language listening comprehension as well. Despite the name, SpeedUpTV is not a glorified video viewer. SpeedUpTV not only allows you to view video files, but many image, audio and document files are supported as well. With its video viewer, a list of features has been added including the ability to increase and decrease the playback speed of video files. The range for this playback rate is between 0.5X and 2.0X. Best of all, slowing or speeding up video playback does not distort the audio which should come in handy for those trying to learn a foreign language from a set of video tutorials. Other video playback features include pinch-to-zoom which allows skipping between scenes as well as scrubbing for more precise time control. There is also support for SMI subtitles and A-B repeat. Other than video playback, users are able to view document files such as PDF, doc, xls and ppt. Users can also listen to audio files and view jpeg and png image files. Thanks to this wide range of file extension support, students can carry out practically all of their studying straight from the app, no more switching between picture viewers, document viewers and iTunes on an iOS device to study; everything is in one centralized location. For iPhone and iPad users, this app will help them in many different ways, and it is a must for students trying to learn foreign new languages. It’s moderately priced, making it a great choice for students (and everyone else), and it’s a fantastic way to make learning fun and efficient. P.S. - If you have an app you would like to see featured on Mission to Learn, drop me a line. - Jeff Related posts:10 Excellent iPad Apps for the Lifelong Learner 15 Language Learning Tools for Lifelong Learners

No rocket science here, folks. No snake oil. Just good ol’ common sense that, unfortunately, often fails the rigors of execution. So it goes with goals. As I have suggested before, if you really want to learn something, you need to set clear goals. More often than not, we have only a vague notion in our minds of what we want to learn. And even if we seem to state it clearly - e.g. "I want to learn Spanish," or "I want to understand classical music" - we don’t tend to break our larger learning desires down into manageable chunks. Time passes - years, too often - and somehow we have not achieved what we had hoped we might. In my experience, there are three key reasons why we fail to achieve learning goals: 1. A lack of rigor in setting goals This takes four major forms: We set too many goals. I recently highlighted a video from FranklinCovey that stresses the importance of having no more than three "wildly important" goals at any one time. Beyond that number, the chances of achieving goals starts to decline rapidly. We don’t state clear objectives to support our goals. Objectives are the smaller, concrete achievements that lead to realizing our goals over time. If you want to learn Spanish, for example, you will most likely need to set clear objectives around mastering verb forms, memorizing vocabulary, and engaging in conversational practice. We don’t set - or track - clear metrics. Objectives are so important because they tend to be much more clearly measurable than goals. But we often don’t set measurements for ourselves or test ourselves on them if we do.  Can you pronounce and define that list of vocabulary? Did you spend 30 minutes in conversational practice this week? We don’t set clear deadlines. Some goals can be wrapped up neatly - and for these we should clearly state "when." Others  - as noted below - may never be fully achieved, but it should always be possible to put a timeline on the objectives that support a goal. 2. A lack of conscious commitment to goals Stating a goal is one thing; truly committing to it can be quite another. Being rigorous and clear with your goals can help with establishing a true sense of commitment because it gives you a more realistic perspective on what achievement of a goal will actually require. As Jeremy Dean suggests over on PsyBlog, we’ve been conditioned by a great deal of self-help literature to believe that positive visualization or fantasizing about success is one key to making achievement of our goals a reality. Research suggests, however, that we more authentically commit to a goal if we can clearly see the contrast between a positive future and our current reality and then consciously embrace the work that it will take to move from the present to the future. 3. A tendency to treat a goal as a fixed outcome rather than a process By their nature, goals tend to take time, and many goals defy completion in any definite sense. If your goal, for example, is to be a great leader, when are you done? Even with more concrete goals, however, we tend to forget that the goal is as much about the journey as the destination. This is yet another reason why objectives and measures are so important. It’s all too easy to lose motivation if the top of the mountain is nowhere in site, but by plotting out reachable points along our path we maintain a sense of progress. This is also an aspect of goals in which reflection is important. The process of reflection makes it clear how much we learn along the way, even if achievement of the overall goal is far in the distance. In my experience, if you address these three areas, you can’t help but become a more effective learner. What’s you experience? Please comment and share. Also, I encourage you to check out the other posts in this series: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 1 - Growth Mindset 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 2 - Cultivate Your Network 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 3 - Ask Questions 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 4 - Be an Active Note Taker Jeff P.S. - If you haven’t already, I’d be grateful if you would subscribe to Mission to Learn by RSS or e-mail. Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 7 - Be Accountable 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 6 - Practice, Deliberately 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 10 - Embrace Responsibility

I’ll make this addition to the my "Better Learner" list a short one because I have already written about deliberate practice here before in "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? 8 Keys to Deliberate Practice." That has actually proven to be one of the more popular post on Mission to Learn, and has even grown in popularity over the past few months as more people become familiar with the concept of deliberate practice. (I suspect Dan Pink‘s bestseller Drive deserves at least some credit for this.) The basic idea (which comes from the work of Eric Anders) is that not all practice is equal. As a result, two people putting in the same amount of time to acquire expertise may have dramatically different results. Deliberate practice is, well, deliberate - it involves not only repetition, but also feedback, reflection, and an intense focus on continuous improvement. I cover the keys to deliberate practice in more detail in my earlier post and also link to a great article on the topic. Depending on your interest level, you may also want to go straight to the source and get Anders’ article "The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance." ($11.95) The bottom line: learning anything - whether a body of knowledge, a skill, or a new habit or behavior - takes practice. That practice needs to be deliberate if you want to achieve true mastery - or even if you just want to get farther faster. Jeff P.S. - Here are links to the other posts in this series: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 1 - Growth Mindset 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 2 - Cultivate Your Network 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 3 - Ask Questions 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 4 - Be an Active Note Taker 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 5 - Set and Manage Goals And, of course, if you haven’t already, I’d be grateful if you would subscribe to Mission to Learn by RSS or e-mail. Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 7 - Be Accountable 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 5 - Set and Manage Goals How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? 8 Keys to Deliberate Practice.

My wife forwarded me this quote from Ira Glass. It resonated with me, as I am sure it will with many readers here. I thought it also would serve as a nice complement to my previous post on deliberate practice. Click through and enjoy. Jeff Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 6 - Practice, Deliberately Happy Birthday, Bob

I’m rounding third and heading for home with the "Be a Better Learner" series. This installment aligns well with my previous posts on setting goals and deliberate practice: both of those learning habits call for accountability. Too often we set out to learn something, but don’t really hold ourselves to it. Here are three straightforward ways to make sure you hold yourself accountable for learning: 1. Declare Yourself Bring some productive social pressure to bear on your learning by telling friends, family members, or colleagues what you plan to do. Or, if you prefer, use a free service like 43 Things (though, as noted in my earlier post on setting goals, I would strongly encourage you not to pursue 43 learning goals at one time!). Even better than simply declaring, report to these people regularly on your progress. Right now, for example, a group of colleagues and I are working towards individual goals that we want to achieve by Labor Day. Each of us e-mails a brief weekly "scoreboard" to the others at the beginning of the week as a way of staying focused on our goals and moving forward on them. (For more on the "scoreboard" concept, see the video I posted in What are your wildly important learning goals?) Declaring yourself, by the way, can also be a useful technique in cultivating your learning network. 2. Test Yourself If you want to move something into long-term memory few methods are more straightforward and effective than testing yourself regularly during the process of learning. When I am trying to memorize a poem, for example, I read it through a few times and them make myself try to repeat as much of it as possible from memory. In learning theory-speak, this process is called "retrieval," and you do much the same thing when you use flash cards to test your memory of new vocabulary, or force yourself to re-state the key points from a lecture or article in your own words (a practice I also suggested in my post on note-taking). If you want to get fancy, there are any number of tools on the Web for creating flash cards or putting together quizzes and tests. If you would like a more in-depth, research-based discussion of this topic, I recommend Using Testing to Improve Learning and Memory. 3. Teach It Teaching combines the benefits of declaring yourself and testing yourself. No matter what method you use, when you commit to teach something, you make yourself accountable to those seeking to learn from you. And the process of preparing to teach effectively - not to mention the actual act of teaching - requires "retrieval" similar to what testing requires. As a bonus, you get the personal satisfaction of helping others to learn. These days, the opportunities to teach others are myriad. Simply posting to a blog, or sharing your knowledge and experience in a social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn are informal forms of teaching. Or, if you want to be a bit more formal, post an instructional video to YouTube, or take advantage of sites like MindBites or WizIQ. The possibilities for teaching - and learning - are endless. Those are my suggestions. What are some of the ways you hold yourself accountable for learning? Please comment and share. Jeff P.S. - Here are links to the other posts in this series: 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 1 - Growth Mindset 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 2 - Cultivate Your Network 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 3 - Ask Questions 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 4 - Be an Active Note Taker 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 5 - Set and Manage Goals 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 6 - Practice Deliberately And, of course, if you haven’t already, I’d be grateful if you would subscribe to Mission to Learn by RSS or e-mail. Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 6 - Practice, Deliberately 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 5 - Set and Manage Goals 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 4 - Be An Active Note Taker

These days it is easy to get overwhelmed by the wide range of lifelong learning options that technology has made possible. But given that people obviously were able to learn long before the days of Google, TED Talks, and Twitter, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on how technology enhances our natural learning capabilities and opportunities. This understanding can help us use technology for learning in more productive and beneficial ways. Here are five key ways in which I see technology boosting learning. For each, I’ve also proposed some questions that might help us improve our use of technology. Assessment By the term "assessment" I mean not simply traditional quizzing or testing - though certainly there are ways to test your knowledge on any number of topics, ranging from quantitative aptitude tests to squishier topics like Civic Literacy. Rather, I think technology can be used in a broader sense to gauge what you need to know and at what level.  You can get a sense of this by using search and other tools intelligently to track a topic and by listening in to the conversations you find. And look our in particular for good curators in areas that interest you: these people generally provide very good clues as to what the baseline of knowledge is for that area as well as what is on the cutting edge. Have I found tools that help me test the knowledge I possess in a particular area? Have I identified information sources, conversations, and curators that help me assess ways in which I might want to build my knowledge or skills? Access There is no doubt that technology has dramatically expanded access to learning opportunities. The Web has all but eliminated time and distance as barriers to learning in many cases, and a great deal of what is available on the Web - from open educational resources to learning games to podcasts millions of blogs - is free.  One challenge, of course, is that with so much available, it can be hard to know where to turn or how to focus - that’s one reason why the curators mentioned above are so important.  Even with the help of good curators, though, effective use of technology for learning requires continuous reflection on your own learning goals and exploration of the types of content, experiences, and interactions that may be available. Ask yourself the following: When is the last time I went "learnabout" (a mental variation on "walkabout") to find interesting new resources to support my learning goals? What are the types of technology-driven learning experiences I have found helpful, and why? Where can I find more of a similar nature? Diversity An extension of both Assessment and Access is that technology opens up the possibility of listening to and interacting with a much more diverse range of people and ideas than we might ever have encountered living in other times. Since I started blogging, I’ve communicated with people of all sorts from across the world, and I have no doubt that doing so has enhanced my knowledge and understanding in a variety of areas. But certainly the opposite can easily be true as well: if we don’t actively use technology to promote diversity we may succumb to homophily. More questions: How consciously am I using technology to seek a diversity of learning experiences? Do I just do the same old things again and again, or do I challenge myself to find ideas and perspectives I have not considered before? Action It’s easy enough to read a blog post, view a video, or tune into a podcast - and certainly these are activities that can support learning - but the technology also provides any number of opportunities for being active rather than passive as a learner; for being not just a consumer, but a producer. For me, this blog is an example - I have used it over the years as a way to explore ideas and consolidate my knowledge by writing about them. I have used podcasting in much the same way.  Whatever tools you prefer, there any number of ways you can use technology to review things you have studied, be an active note-taker, and create learning opportunities for others while learning yourself. Am I using technology to not just as tool for passive consumption, but as a way to actively engage in learning activities - from taking notes, writing a blog, playing learning games, etc. What new approaches - e.g., creating a podcast, producing a short video, starting a Tumblr feed - might align well with my current learning goals? Order Finally, technology gives us ways to manage information and learning opportunities that we have never had before. Personally, I think I would be lost at this point without an RSS reader for aggregating and organizing all of the many blogs I track.  I channel some Twitter streams into RSS, but I also use Hootsuite, which lets me easily organize people into groups or track particular hashtags. And increasingly I use Evernote as a way take notes and sync them across my laptop, iPad, iPhone, and the Web. I could go on and on, but you get the point. If you would like a more resources on the range of tools that can be used for organizing and tracking learning, you might want to have a look at the Learning 2.0 resource area at Tagoras. While aimed at trade and professional associations, there is plenty there that is useful to individual lifelong learners. Am I using technology tools effectively to help me make sense out of the chaotic flow of new information and experiences? Have I explored the full capabilities of the tools that I am using so that I can get the most out of them? (Hint: Return to "Assessment" above to start getting a bead on what you may need to know to use a particular tool effectively.) That’s it. Of course, just do a bit of exploring here on Mission to Learn - perhaps starting with the Tools and Tips category - and you will find any number of ways to incorporate technology into your lifelong learning efforts. And please comment to share any tips or insights you have. Jeff P.S. - This post is part of the 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner series. If you like it, please use one or more of the social buttons over to the left to share it. Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 2 - Cultivate Your Network 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 10 - Embrace Responsibility 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 5 - Set and Manage Goals

This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer Autistic students typically require a much different learning structure and environment than students who are not on the autism spectrum. This can cause challenges for both educators and parents of autistic students as well as the students themselves. Fortunately, there are many different education resources and games that are available specifically for autistic students, their families, and their educators. These resources are definitely worth checking into if you are looking for helpful materials to support an autistic student’s educational program. Do2Learn - There are many different educational resources for autistic students available on this helpful site, including songs, games, art projects, learning tools, and software. This site also offers career and employment resources for job-seekers with disabilities such as autism. AutismEducation - This website provides information and training to families with autistic students. It details the special education rights of students with autism as well as successful education and treatment methods that allow autistic students reach their full potential. This site also provides helpful downloads that assist parents and educators with understanding the educational needs of autistic students. PCIEducation - With education resources for autistic students available in numerous subjects, this site is extremely helpful for both students and educators alike. There are various different learning tools available for each subject, including board games, audio cassettes and CDs, and activity cards. AutismSupportNetwork - This extremely informative and helpful website provides great resources for families affected by autism. It has great articles on teaching methods and college internships for adult students with autism. There is also a free support community available where members can connect with other families affected by autism spectrum disorders. IAutistic - If you are looking for some games to play with an autistic student, look no further than this website. It provides several free games that help autistic children better understand people and emotions. This site also provides a number of videos, articles, and treatment methods for autistic students. Time4Learning - This site provides an online education service for students on the autism spectrum. It has been used with success by many families who have had educational struggles elsewhere. There is an interactive curriculum for students from preschool to eighth grade, which gives a visual learning experience that has proven to be very beneficial for many. AutismSpeaks - There is a "Family Services" section of this website that offers many great resources for people affected by autism and similar disorders. There is information on "Autism in the Workplace," which highlights autistic individuals who perform well on the job. There are also sections that provide educational tools and a resource library. TinSnips - Educators of autistic students can find various educational materials on this helpful site. It provides activities that promote various skills through different learning styles. There are also ideas for seasonal activities, which can be quite interesting and exciting for autistic students. Multiple links to other useful educational resources are provided as well. AutismInspiration - This website is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers of students on the autism spectrum. The content provided has been used with success in both home and classroom settings. There are lesson plans, games, activities, and worksheets that subscribers to this site can use freely. AutismPDD - Adults coping with disabilities can find helpful information regarding employment, postsecondary education, and various other things through this website. It provides the contact information for various organizations and agencies that are concerned with the well-being of disabled individuals. Guest post from Karen Schweitzer. Karen writes about online universities for OnlineColleges.net. Additions from the comments: Autism…Learn - Carol Rudd writes in that  she creates "visually structured learning activities that are designed for children that have autism. The focus of each activity is to help develop different skills." Related posts:Self Education: Five Essential Sites 5 Learning Games for Climate Change - Blog Action Day Where to Find Free Computer Programming Education Online

A while back I wrote about my some of favorite iPad apps for lifelong learning. A new one (for me) has come along that is quickly moving to the top of my list: Zite. In a nutshell, Zite enables you to put together a "magazine" on the iPad that focuses on topics in which you are interested and then becomes "smarter" over time about finding and presenting new content to you.  The video below offers a quick visual overview. I’m using Zite to really zero in on a few topical areas that are of particular interest to me in my work and life - like, for example, how the human mind works. I set it up initially by choosing a few topical areas and also connecting Zite into my Google Reader and Mission to Learn Twitter accounts so that it could get a feel for what was already of interest to me. Now, every time I open Zite, it loads new articles in my topic areas. As I read them, I can give them a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to help the application better understand my interests. It keeps getting better and better. Of course, a narrow, topical focus is only one of many potential learning strategies I use, but for that particular purpose, Zite is pretty amazing. I recommend giving it a try. Jeff Related posts:10 Excellent iPad Apps for the Lifelong Learner

There is ample evidence that how we treat our bodies can have a significant impact on how well our minds function. If you want to learn better, it makes sense to support this goal with a good diet, adequate sleep, and plenty of exercise. Here are a few notes that just barely scratch the surface of how important each of these areas can be: Diet What we eat can directly impact how our brains function and how receptive and capable we are as learners. One of the better sources I have found on how diet impacts our brains is, "Brain Foods: The Effect of Nutrients on Brain Function," an article published in Nature in 2008 highlighting the research of Fernando Gomez-Pinilla.  I highly recommend reading it in full, but here are a few highlights for the time challenged: Food is like a drug in many ways - it contains specific substances that can impact how the brain functions; Omega 3 fatty acids - found in fatty fish, like salmon, flax seed, and walnuts - appear to help the brain function properly and may even slow cognitive decline in the elderly; On the other hand, saturated fats - found in dairy products, meat, and still too often in oily snack foods - can have a negative impact. Flavenoids - found in cocoa, dark chocolate, green tea, citrus fruits, and wine - may also improve cognitive function, particularly in combination with regular exercise. With respect to memory - a key element of learning - Gomez-Pinllia specifically mentions B vitamins as having positive impact on memory in women. Gomez-Pinilla’s article features a great chart that summarizes the effects of different types of food on the brain. The Happy Healthy Long Life blog has included the chart in a great summary it offers of Gomez-Pinilla’s article. As the author notes, it’s worth printing out and putting on your fridge. Sleep While learning is an active, ongoing process, a key goal for any learner is to "consolidate" learning by moving new information and experiences into long-term memory. A wide range of scientific studies support the idea that sleep is essential for this process. A 2009 MIT study, for example, brought us a significant step closer to understanding the sleep-memory connection by showing that "mice prevented from "replaying" their waking experiences while asleep do not remember them as well as mice who are able to perform this function." The bottom line: Sleep is important; get enough of it if you want to make sure your memory is functioning properly. Of course, that begs the question: what is enough? Unfortunately there is no "one-size-fits-all" answer to that question. The safest bet seems to be to aim for at least the standard 7-8 hours a night recommended for most adults and to pay enough attention to how you feel and act based on that amount of sleep to adjust up or down as needed. For more information on sleep needs from infants up to adults, I recommend an article on sleep requirements from Parenting Science. Exercise Tracing a direct path between physical exercise and our ability to learn is a little tricky, but a significant body of research suggests that physical exercise may boost spatial memory, neuroplasticity, and other aspects of the brain essential to learning. At a minimum, a short-term effect of exercise, and in particular aerobic exercise that is continued over a period of at least 30 minutes, is an increase in blood flow and corresponding oxygen supply to the brain. This can help boost cognitive function, including memory. A regular exercise habit can help to improve circulation in general and also ward off stress and depression - two established enemies of optimal cognitive function. Research also suggests that physical exercise may directly benefit the hippocampus - an area of the brain that is essential to memory. A recent study, for example, showed that "elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit."  As one of the lead researchers on the study puts it, "Basically, if you stay fit, you retain key regions of your brain involved in learning and memory." So how much exercise should the average person be getting? There’s plenty of debate on the topic, but one reasonable starting point is the Center for Disease Control’s "How much physical activity do you need?" *** Like I said at the beginning, this only scratches the surface of how the way we treat our bodies can impact our minds. It’s clear, however, that if you want to be a better learner, it pays to take care of yourself. Jeff P.S. - This post is part of the 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner series. If you like it, please use one or more of the social buttons over to the left to share it. Related posts:10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 4 - Be An Active Note Taker How to Improve Concentration and Focus: 7 Tips 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner: No. 7 - Be Accountable