4 Ways to Take Control of Your Learning in College
Make the best out of it
Are you still in control of your learning? Or are you bogged down by how your lecturer delivers the course material? Is the course material insufficient? Are the slides not suited to how you learn?
It’s time to regain control of your learning.
1. Look for other resources
Don’t live your university life thinking that the course materials you receive are god-sent. That they are everything you need. That if you don’t understand, that’s the end of you.
Find similar materials online and see how other people present the course material.
- Explore different mediums — videos, GIFs, podcasts etc.
- Share resources with your peers.
2. Reorganise, rename
Don’t go through your semester thinking that the organisation of the content is what it is. That the first chapter should come before the second. That the name of the first chapter is what it is.
Here’s what you can do:
- Group topics together if you find that they are related but not reflected in the course material.
- Categorise topics differently if you think those categories make more sense.
- Rename chapter titles if you think they are misleading. I’ve had a professor (Probabilistic Graphical Modelling) tell us that the title of a specific topic is a misnomer and is better renamed as such and such — I was so glad he did because it made more sense.
- Express relationships and the hierarchical nature of topics using Notion, Typora, Obsidian or other knowledge bases.
3. Recreate the knowledge
Don’t go through your semester thinking you just need to read and listen to understand.
Recreate the knowledge for yourself:
- Simplify complex concepts using very simple words. This is the Feynman Technique.
- Teach your peers what you understand from the content. Of course, find the right opportunity for you to do this.
- Draw diagrams or mind maps. As for me, I like to draw out the concepts in diagrams because I understand them better visually.
- Summarise a chapter in 1–3 lines.
- Blog about what you learn.
When you recreate the knowledge, you spend some quiet time reflecting on the course material to ‘deliver’ it the best way possible to the primary audience — yourself. In the process, you’ll uncover gaps in your knowledge.
4. Ask stupid questions
Don’t live your university life thinking that the questions you cannot ask stupid questions.
Stupid questions are necessary because they cover the knowledge gaps you discover when doing 3. Recreate the knowledge.
It’s just that one stupid question that, if answered, will give you conviction on the concept, isn’t it?
- Ask in class — this is the hardest! Honestly, in a lecture theatre of 100 students? Not me.
- Ask after class
- Ask in Zoom chats — this is the easiest! Take every opportunity to do this in online classes.
- Email the professor — this is easy because it’s not face-to-face.
- Ask your peers offline — they probably have the same question as you.
- Google — honestly, try to ask in class first. Otherwise, it feels like you’re paying tuition fees just to Google. (I felt this way.)
That’s all for now, folks! Feel free to share your views in the comments below.
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