Archive for 'Resources'
3 Quick Tips on Becoming a Successful Learner
Posted on 10. Sep, 2009 by Koichi.
I found this image in a great blog post that I was reading, and it really struck a chord. How about you? You certainly aren’t one of the 99%, right?
In all before-and-after success stories, there’s one thing that they didn’t tell you about: perseverance. Every one of these people had to work hard to be successful, and even though they make it look easy, it wasn’t! Nothing is as easy as we want it to be, but in the end, if you try hard and take the leap you will make it. Then you will be the one to make it look simple. Today, let’s look at three things you can do to increase your learning potential and be one of these success stories. (more…)
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Top 10 Learning Resources for the Aspiring Esperantist
Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Scott.
In case you haven’t heard of Esperanto, I recommend checking it out. For a quick introduction, know that Esperanto is a constructed language that is easy to learn, fascinating, and meant for international communication. It is over 100 years old, and has a thriving culture to this day. However, I am not here to convince you to learn Esperanto. Katherine Garcia, one of eduFire’s members, has already done a good job of that. I am here to give you some fantastic resources for assisting you in your studies. (more…)
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Top 10 Psychology Blogs on the Web
Posted on 26. Jul, 2009 by robyn.
Psychology is powerfully linked to education; without research in neuroscience, speech pathology, learning, cognition, and much more, we would never be able to advance and improve teaching. Besides being useful, psychology is extremely interesting and can tell you a lot about how you learn and why you think the way you do. Sadly, there aren’t too many psychology courses on eduFire, though that will hopefully change in the near future! In the meantime, here are ten blogs about various fields within psychology. All of them provide great ways to learn more about the subject (the links and articles are REALLY interesting) and see how it relates to important social issues like bettering education or special needs learning.
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7 Free Online Resources for Homeschool Language Learning
Posted on 21. Jul, 2009 by Koichi.
Of course, we think eduFire (not to mention SuperPass!) is an absolutely incredible way for any homeschooler to learn a language or new skill, but we can’t always go and toot our own horn when there’s so many others that do such a good job as well. Here is a list of seven free resources (besides us) that home schoolers can use to study a language quickly and effectively. With the web, using software on your computer is old. These resources are often better, more effective, and free! (more…)
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Following the Brilliant Minds Behind Hacking Education
Posted on 06. Mar, 2009 by Koichi.
An incredible event went down in New York today: the “Hacking Education Conference.” Jon was there, and even though I wasn’t, I followed it on Twitter and was able to contribute a bit from across the country. Everyone at the conference (or tweeting about it) used the hashtag #hackedu to keep track. All day, I’ve been compiling a list of all the contributors to the #hackedu conversation and wanted to share them here with you, so even after the conference is over, you can continue to see what these educational geniuses are up to. Oh, and of course, with every Twitter-related article, a shameless plug: follow us over at @edufire. (more…)
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10 Ways to Hack Your Next Exam
Posted on 07. Sep, 2008 by reg.
For many people Fall means exam time. Whether it’s a standardized test to get you into grad school or college or simply a mid-term exam, it seems that once the leaves start to turn it means that it’s time to turn to the books. Some enjoy the challenge. Others dread the anxiety. Everyone wants to know how they can do better.
I’ve spent thousands of hours teaching in my life. A good chunk of that time has been focused on helping to prepare people for various exams including the SAT, the ACT and the GMAT (while working for Kaplan) and for various technology exams while working at a Microsoft training center. In addition over the years I’ve taken each of those exams as well as the PSAT, the LSAT, the CMA and Level One of the CFA. I’d like to share the top 10 “hacks” that I’ve learned over the years and taught to others in the hope that they might be helpful to you.
Hack #1 – Surround yourself with people who expect to score well. In my experience nothing will give you a better chance to score well then surrounding yourself with other people who expect to score well. Life works this way in general (the more successful people you surround yourself with, the more likely you are to succeed) but for some reason people forget about this when it comes to test-taking. If you’re looking to score 170+ on the LSAT you want to be hanging out and studying with others who are looking to do likewise. You’ll learn tips from them and be challenged as you study together in a way that you simply won’t be with people who have more humble expectations. And now with the Web it’s easier than ever to connect with people who have similar lofty aims.
Hack #2 – Block your study time. Almost all exams are timed. Yet for some reason most people they don’t time their studies. Blocking your study time serves two purposes. First, it puts you in more realistic exam conditions to what you’ll experience on Test Day. Second, it’s simply more productive. In Tony Schwartz’s excellent book The Power of Full Engagement he recommends breaks every 90-120 minutes:
The body, if you listen to it, asks you for a break every 90-120 minutes. We override that rhythm at our peril. If people are operating effectively and are following the natural demand of the body, it pays for them to take a form of recovery every 90-120 minutes.
Use a timer and block your study time and not only will it be more enjoyable, it’ll be way more effective.
Hack #3 – Research your study materials carefully. I’m shocked at how many people use crappy study material to prepare for their exam. You’re likely going to invest dozens or even hundreds of hours studying. Why would you not spend at least a few hours planning and researching your approach and materials? Sadly, many people find themselves wandering the isles at a Barnes & Noble and end up grabbing the book that “looks good”. Don’t do that. Go to Amazon and read the reviews. Talk to your friends who’ve taken the exam (preferably the ones who have scored very well!). Frequent discussion boards for your exam and ask questions there. And if you end up taking a test prep class grill your instructor about the best study materials (if he or she can’t give you intelligent advice you may want to switch to another class!). The time you spend upfront will be well worth it!
Hack #4 – Teach someone else. This is perhaps the most underutilized form of studying which is a shame because it’s one of the most effective. Perhaps the most effective. You’ve heard the adage that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else and that’s definitely true for test prep. I recently read the excellent book Disrupting Class which contained a great story about someone who discovered this to be true:
Dan recounted to us that as he began to teach accounting, “All of a sudden, I understood it! I had grunted through all those years as a student by sheer guts and willpower, memorizing all the rules. But I never understood why we had to do all of those things. As soon as I had to prepare for class and teach it, I understood it!”
The ideal is to find someone who’s preparing for the same exam and who hasn’t studied very much yet or is not expecting to score very high. Offer to tutor them for free. It’s one of the best ways to reinforce your knowledge of the material!
Hack #5 – Tuck studying into the cracks of your day. We’re all busy but most of us have little gaps here and there throughout the day where studying is possible. Over the course of a day all those gaps add up. Find creative ways to study during those gaps. For instance, preparing flashcards that you can put in your backpack is a great idea. Then the next time you’re in line somewhere break them out and do a quick study session.
Audio can be another great way to maximize your study time. There are audio learning materials available for many exams and even if there aren’t you certainly can create your own. Ideally you can get these onto your iPod or iPhone and listen while you’re in the car, at the gym, etc. I used this hack a lot when preparing for my CMA exams and it was amazing how much studying I was able to do without taking any extra time out of my day.
Hack #6 – Become an expert in the details of the exam itself. Over the years I taught many people who spent lots of time preparing for the exam without having much of an understanding about how the actual exam scoring and timing would go. Big mistake. If you’re going to do anything to prepare the first thing should be to know how the exam is administered. Is it pencil and paper? Computer adaptive? How long is each section? How does the scoring work? You should know the exam so well that you could write a blog post describing all the details that is completely accurate. All of that information is (usually) publicly available so there’s really no excuse for not understanding how the exam is constructed. This hack alone will mean a big difference between scoring well and scoring poorly.
Hack #7 – Utilize The Million Dollar Proofreader Hack. This one can be very effective, especially if you practice it ahead of time. If you’re taking a traditional exam (this doesn’t work as well for computer adaptive exams although you can adapt it), try this once you’ve completed all of the questions. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. When you open them pretend like you are looking at someone else’s exam. Now pretend that you’ve been given a task. For every mistake you can find on that person’s exam between now and when time is up, you’ll be given one million dollars. Go back in and dissect every question as if there were huge stakes on the line (given how much your score can impact your future, there probably are!). In almost every case you’ll find at least one mistake and often many more!
Most people simply get through the questions and stop and wait aimlessly for time to be called. That’s a big mistake. Don’t be like them. Go after those millions.
Hack #8 – Do dry runs. Here’s a secret borrowed from Olympic athletes. Do at least a couple dry runs before your big exam simulating the actual conditions of the exam as closely as possible. If you know your exam is going to be at 9 AM on a Saturday morning then starting a few weeks before do a practice exam on Saturday mornings at 9 AM. This will get your body and mind conditioned properly for the test and you’ll also find out what works (e.g., a good workout the night before) and what doesn’t (e.g., partying until 3 AM the night before) in terms of being ready to go.
For your dry runs try as hard as possible to simulate the conditions of your exam. If your exam is going to be on a computer do your practice exams on a computer. Try to do the timing the same as it will be for the actual exam. Basically you want to set it up so that when you walk into the real exam you trick your body and mind into saying “Hey, I’ve been here before. It wasn’t that bad.”
Hack #9 – Get a tutor. Why a tutor? Simply put it’s the most efficient way of being taught. If you sit in a class with a lot of people you’re likely only spending a fraction of your time learning stuff that’s highly relevant to you. With a good tutor you should be spending almost all of your time on challenging questions and problem areas specific to you. Classes aren’t bad per se but if you really want to hack your exam and get a top score an individual tutor might be a better route to go.
Places like Kaplan and Princeton Review provide private tutoring face-to-face. If you want online tutoring you can find it here and on an increasing number of other websites. craigslist is also a great place to find tutors. It’s amazing how many smart people hang out in the “Tutoring & Lessons” category there!
Hack #10 – Write the exam. This is probably the most advanced of the hacks. And it’s not for everyone. But if you’re looking to get that killer score that will get you into Harvard Law or Stanford undergrad then this is something you should definitely try. Here’s what you do…sit down and pretend you’ve just been given a job by one of the testing companies to write 50 questions for the next year’s exam (you’ll want to do this after you’ve done a number of problems so you’re familiar with the question types, structures, etc.).
By forcing yourself to write really good questions (and importantly, provide really good answer choices) your brain will work in a different way. You’ll start to lay “traps” for the prospective test-taker such as an incorrect answer choice that would be correct if a step in the problem were skipped. By writing questions in this fashion you’re going to be much less likely to fall into those same traps on test day. Writing questions like this can take a fair amount of time and mental energy but it’s an elite form of test prep that will give you an extra edge over the competition.
I hope you’ve enjoyed 10 Ways to Hack Your Next Exam. If you have other strategies for prepping for a test please post in the comments!
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Traveling this Summer? 12 Cool Websites to Learn the Language (Mostly for Free!)
Posted on 20. Jun, 2008 by reg.
Today marks the first official day of summer and if you’re one of the fortunate ones who will be traveling to another country this year you’re in luck. There are more sites than ever to help you learn to speak at least enough of the language to get you out of trouble (or perhaps into trouble!). Lists like this have been put together before but given all the great resources that have come online in the last couple of years we thought it was time for a fresh one:
Rosetta Stone “Lite”
Rosetta Stone is software that you’ve no doubt heard of (at least if you’ve opened a SkyMall Magazine anytime in the last 5 years). They have great products but are also a bit pricey. Fortunately there are a few websites out there that offer lighter weight versions of the type of stuff you’d find in Rosetta Stone:
LiveMocha – LiveMocha now offers lessons in over 10 languages plus has a great network of students available for language exchange.
Mango Languages – While Mango Languages’ Premium Course Subscription costs a bit their Discovery Courses are free and a great way improve your vocabulary and grammar. Plus, their downloadable MP3s are perfect for listening on your iPod during your travels.
Babbel – For the more visually inclined Babbel is a treat. It’s an easy way to improve your vocabulary and listening skills. Plus, you can compete against others in the ultimate war of the polyglots! ;)
Language Exchanges
Know English and want to speak some French? Chances are that there’s someone in France who is in the opposite boat. A number of websites now exist to help you connect with someone and trade off speaking and listening in each others’ language. Most of these services utilize Skype so you don’t have to pay anything to talk. Here are some of the best we’ve found:
italki.com – italki.com is one of the larger language exchange sites and is popular in the Middle East, China and India.
MyHappyPlanet – MHP is a well-designed site that is big in Asia (India, China and Japan) and very popular in Columbia.
FriendsAbroad – FriendsAbroad is one of the longest-running language exchange sites and popular with people in Europe.
Podcasts
The tremendous growth in podcasting over the last several years is a boon for people interested in learning languages. There are literally hundreds of podcast episodes available for many languages and this is a great way to turn drive time into study time and learn without taking any additional time out of your day. Here are a couple of resources for finding new language learning podcasts:
Open Culture – Open Culture’s list is a bit old (October 2006) but it’s a good one. You’ll find a lot of podcasts here for over two dozen different languages.
LearnOutLoud – Our sister site, LearnOutLoud has done a good job indexing language learning podcasts. They currently have 55 different podcasts in their languages category available to download or stream.
Of course, iTunes is a great place as well to find language learning podcasts!
Blogs
OK, this is cheating because there are really a ton of cool blogs out there that will help you learn languages faster. We spent some time tracking down the best ones this week and put it all into a post entitled The Top 21 Language Bloggers on the Web.
Videos
Nothing is bigger on the Internet than video these days. Take advantage of those minutes on your coffee break or lunch hour and watch a video or two in the language you’re learning. It’s amazing how quickly you can pick up a language from video (just ask all those people who learned how to speak English from watching Hollywood movies!).
YouTube – YouTube has a ton of foreign language learning videos. You can search for your favorite videos and then when you find good ones be sure to subscribe so you can be notified when they post new content. In addition, you can find innovative tips for how to go about learning a language including my personal favorite Play Video Games to Learn Languages Online.
(Also, we found that it was time-consuming to wade through YouTube to find the best language learning videos so we assembled the best ones in our videos directory. Enjoy!)
Tutoring
One of the best recent inventions on the Internet is the ability to connect to teachers for one-on-one live video learning. A number of websites have cropped up to help you find good teachers and engage in private tutoring sessions. It might not be free but there’s no faster way to learn a language and because you can find someone from anywhere around the world the costs tend to be lower.
Myngle – Based out of the UK, Myngle connects tutors and students for Skype-based sessions. Myngle also offers free student-to-student language exchanges.
Phrasebase – There’s a lot going on at Phrasebase including the ability to learn words and phrases and take lessons or classes plus very cool “Phrasebooks” that you can access through your mobile device.
eduFire – At eduFire we offer one-on-one private tutoring sessions using a Flash-based video chat system. In addition, we also have a number of other tools to help you learn languages including a fun Flashcard game, a Resources blog and the previously mentioned Videos section.
Indeed, it’s a great time to be a language learner given all the outstanding resources available to you. If you know of other great sites that we’ve missed feel free to add them in the comments.
Thanks and best of luck as you learn to Habla Espanol, Parlez-Vous Français?, etc.!
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The Online Education Market is Officially for Realz
Posted on 31. Jan, 2008 by jon.
So many of you probably saw this already but GlobalScholar, a company that could be considered a competitor to eduFire, announced today that they raised $27 million. Kudos to Peter and the rest of the gang over there as you have to be doing something right to raise that much $$$ so soon after launching. My first reaction to the news was excitement. I’ve shared my thoughts on competition before so I won’t reiterate here but let’s just say that if there ever were doubts about whether online ed is a viable market this announcement should go a long way towards putting those to bed. Some of smartest minds on the planet are getting behind online education plays and there are some very good reasons for doing that.
While I admire some of the stuff GlobalScholar has done from what I’ve seen so far their vision of the future of education and learning is quite a bit different from ours. And that’s the beautiful thing about competing…as long as your vision hasn’t been realized yet by someone else there’s absolutely no reason to fear any announcement that any one of your competitors could make.
The next couple of years are going to be incredibly fun as all of us carve out our place in this quaint little $2 trillion industry. May the best men and women win and at the end of day what’s incredibly kick ass is that regardless of who “wins” the true winners are going to be teachers and students who are going to be able to leverage technology to lift learning out of its current muck and mire and turn it into something fulfilling, fun and affordable by everyone on the planet. And when you view it through that lens there aren’t really any losers in this battle.
OK, back to work!
