The Textbook Question

Are you in a course that has a newly updated textbook? I know there’s a question you want to ask. Go ahead, ask. Here’s the short answer to your question: Yes.

This is the question you’re asking:

“Do I need the new edition of the textbook? Because my friend/brother/grandmother has the old edition and they gave it to me for free/for a discount/for a bottle of moonshine.”

So the answer is: Yes. Yes, you need the new edition.

Put it this way: Do you want to get the best possible grade in the course? Or do you want to save money?

I know that’s a facile dichotomy. Textbooks are expensive. When a new edition comes out, there are no (much-cheaper) used copies available yet. Saving some money on a textbook is not trivial--and if you can get one free from a friend, that’s great. Some students literally do not have the money to buy new copies of the textbook for every course they’re taking. I am sensitive to the high cost of textbooks, and it’s an important factor when I’m choosing the textbook for a course.

On the other hand, textbooks (especially in science) are continually being updated with new research findings and theories. And there are exam questions drawn on newly updated material. If you don’t have the current edition of the textbook, you’ll just be guessing on those questions. They make up only a small portion of the exam (in my courses, anyway), but every mark counts.

All publishers have a “What’s New” section for every newly updated textbook they publish. This is for instructors mostly, but I encourage you to take a look at what has been changed before you make your purchase decision. Here’s what’s new in the updated textbook I’m using in my PSYCO 282: Behaviour Modification course starting in fall, 2015. It’s a fairly substantial list of changes, compared to other textbooks I use in other courses.

If you are short on funds, the good news is that the University of Alberta Libraries have started a new purchase program for reserve materials. If there are at least 100 students in a course, an instructor may ask the library to purchase the textbook for the course and make it available from their reserve room(s). (For my PSYCO 282 course, the UAlberta Libraries actually bought four copies of the new textbook, and placed them on reserve in Cameron Library.) If you can’t afford to buy a textbook, you can check the textbook out for 2 hours at a time. So you can potentially read the old edition, and check out the new one to read the updates.

Why aren’t you studying?

The Google Calendar

I took an informal poll of one of my classes this term, asking about students' use of Google Calendar. I was shocked (shocked!) to find that only a small minority of students used it. (Although a few did promise to start trying it out.)

For every class I teach, I've been creating a separate Google Calendar containing important dates and deadlines. For example, I include the due dates for assignments. There are also reminders that will be emailed to you a day before each exam, as well.

I have a hard time keeping track of all the stuff going on in my life--and that of my family. Who has dance class today? Where is the soccer game? When is my dentist's appointment? There's no way to remember these in my head. (Some of my colleagues can really harness the power of their mind, memorizing the first 100 digits of pi, which is great. Me, I don't trust myself to be so organized.)
My wife has used a paper calendar in our kitchen, but that system is flawed. I can't book an appointment for myself if I'm not standing in the kitchen looking at the calendar. I don't know when the dance recital starts unless I'm standing in the kitchen looking at the calendar. It's very awkward. The solution: Google Calendar.

OK, it doesn't have to be Google--any online calendar that synchronizes to your devices will work. I've been using GCal since it came out in 2006, and it works well. You can get to it via the web, but it also syncs nicely with my Android phone and iOS devices.

You can "subscribe" to a whole bunch of different calendars, too. In addition to your personal calendar, you can subscribe to Canadian Holidays, UAlberta's academic schedule, or even the Department of Psychology's events calendar.

Here's a sad story. Despite my Google Calendar--and Bear Tracks, too--giving the time, date, and location of the final exam, one student last term forgot/missed the final, and ended up with a terrible mark. Don't let that happen to you!

Google has killed off other products that don't make it any money, and I can't see the revenue stream for Google Calendar. But the good news is that GCal is part of Apps@UAlberta, so it will likely survive future purges.

Why aren't you studying?

The Crunch Time

It's crunch time for me--and for you. For me, I've got 18 projects due for my "other employer" for a December 1 deadline. (No, that's not a typo: eighteen projects.) Then, I've got 2 more projects due later in the month. That's on top of marking term papers, prepping exams, and getting courses ready for next term.

As for you, you should be well underway writing your term papers--not deciding on topics, or looking for papers and books to read. If you want the best possible mark, now is go time.

Not getting the marks you want so far this term? It's not too late. I've written posts on improving exam prep, learning, and studying; just click on the Category links on the right side of this page. I've also got a page of study resources for you.

The Student Success Centre has workshops coming up soon, but you better hurry, time is running out! Need help writing your term paper, the Centre for Writers is still open, but only until the last day of class (but that's when your term papers are due anyway, right?).

Why aren't you studying?

The Udacity Partnership

Earlier today the UofA signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Udacity to develop a research partnership about MOOCs (massive open online courses). In a MOOC, the entire course is done online, for free. You may or may not get some kind of credit for participating and completing it; you may have to pay for a certificate. So far, you can't use these MOOCs for credit towards an actual degree.

This morning at 10:00, a group of instructors, researchers, and administrators met with Sebastian Thrun, who cofounded Udacity. (Yes, this is one of the "secret projects" I'm currently involved in. Now it's not a secret anymore.) Thrun, who gave a talk about MOOCs on campus last month, showed us his content creation system, which runs as an iPad app. Even in pre-alpha, it was pretty slick, allowing videos, sketches, and interactive quizzes to be put together to create a course, which can also be "consumed" via an i-device.

MOOCs raise many important questions about pedagogy (the "science of education"), instruction, interactivity, and the role of universities. We're thinking about those. But the reason I'm writing this post is to get the view of students on MOOCs.

What do you think about free, online courses? Would you take one? Why? What would you want to get from it? Would it help your mom learn about psychology (or whatever your major is)? Or for your younger sister in high school, who hasn't decided what topic to study in post-secondary education (much less her future career)? Would you take it to supplement what you're learning in your in-person, for-credit class? Or would you want to get your whole degree online, instead of going to meat-space classes? (Hmm, isn't that already available?)

Why aren't you studying?

The Importance of Sleep, Yet Again

Here's an interesting research finding about sleep: if you exercise, chances are that you'll sleep better. If you do an average of at least 150 minutes per week (about 20 minutes per day) of "moderate to vigorous" exercise, you will likely experience an increase in sleep quality, and decrease in sleepiness during the day. Walking briskly counts as moderate exercise, so even rushing from one class to another counts. Bonus!

On the other hand, The Gateway has a silly feature about an editor's attempt at getting more stuff done by dividing the week into six 28-hour days. I think it's telling that the story concludes with the line, "I might try it again sometime...but not until I sleep for a day to catch up." That's pretty conclusive evidence that this kind of lifestyle is not sustainable. If you want to be more productive, maybe you should be thinking in terms of better quality of work, not quantity. More than once, I've been handed a term paper by a bleary-eyed student who mumbled, "I was up all night writing this." You know what? I can tell.

I've posted about the importance of sleep before, and then again. I'm going to be lecturing on it in intro psych, so I't on my brain. Even, like, fantasizing about it. Not dreaming about it, however--that would require actual sleep. I don't want to name names, but someone is still waking me up every night.

There was a blissful period of a few weeks when she decided to sleep through the night, but now she's at the age when she needs more than zero naps, but less than one. (Yeah, try to do the math on that one.) If she takes an afternoon nap, she won't go to sleep until 11:00. But if she doesn't have a nap, it's Miss Crankypants for the rest of the day. Oh, and she'll also fall asleep on the floor in the evening, which means she won't be tired at bedtime. Sigh.

Anyway, in sum: Sleep is good.

Why aren't you studying?

(HT: PsychCentral.)

The Right Way to Study

Do you know how to study? Yeah, that's obvious. But do you know the best way to study? Here's a quiz, from Chris Chabris' and Dan Simons' The Invisible Gorilla blog:

Imagine you’re taking an introductory psychology class and you have to study for your first test. You’ve read the assigned text, and now you three more days to prepare. What should you do?
1. Re-read the text once more each day.
2. Spend each day studying the text to identify critical concepts and the links among them.
3. Quiz yourself the first day, reread the text the second day, and quiz yourself again the third day.

Before you answer, don't try to guess what the right answer is, think about what you actually do. OK, now make your choice. (The answer is below.)

Do you know what you know? That is, are you able to make an accurate assessment of what you know (and what you don't know)? Let me explain. Take an intro psych course. You go to class, you read the textbook, you learn stuff. But how well have you learned it? With your gradually coalescing knowledge about psychology, do you have the ability to assess that knowledge? It seems like a paradox. Chabris and Simons call this the "illusion of knowledge": you believe that you have a better understanding of something than you actually do. This false sense of security is given by your feeling of familiarity with what you've read (and can be explained by fuzzy trace theory).

There are two ways are to get around this illusion. One, you take an exam. No, seriously. Exams (especially midterms) are not meant to be completely evaluative (judging your understanding), but are also formative (indicating what things need more work). Not surprisingly, students focus on the former at the expense of the latter. But exams can provide you with valuable feedback on your progress--as long as you actually check out your exams, going over each question to see what you did. If you just check your marks online, you're limiting yourself to the evaluative side of it.

The other way is to do what it says in choice 3 above. If you quiz yourself (before the exam) by trying to answer learning objectives or sample multiple choice questions, you are shifting the balance from evaluative to formative; you are giving yourself a chance to improve on weak areas before you get evaluated by an exam. Multiple quizzing can help you determine what's working, and what's not. Unfortunately, students tend to go with choice 1, even though it's more work with less of a payoff.

To put the quizzing together with the studying, you can apply the SQ4R method (survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review).

(HT: The Invisible Gorilla and research by Karpicke and Blunt, 2011.)

Why aren't you studying?

Exam Prep I: "Do I have to know this...?"

At this time of year, students are starting to prep for exams, which is good. How do I know students are prepping? By The Question I get asked. The Question is: "Do I have to know this...?" This is not a stupid question. I'd love to say that there are no stupid questions, but one like "Is this going to be on the exam?" is close. Er, why don't I just give you a copy of the exam so you can see what's on it?

Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I get snarky when that one comes up. Don't take offence at my snarkiness. It's just that I'm tired of answering certain questions over and over. That's why I've decided to write a post about it--so I don't have to answer it over and over. I hope.

And don't think that I'm writing this post because you were the one who asked me The Question. Lots of people have asked me The Question over the years. And lots have asked it already this term. In fact, I planned on writing about The Question this week a long time ago. So get over it.

I know what's happening when The Question starts to form in a student's mind. They're reading the textbook and increasingly getting overwhelmed by all the names and dates in the first chapter. There so much stuff--most of it not even mentioned in lectures. "Gosh, I'm getting tired. It's going to take me a long time and a lot of effort to commit all of this information to memory, and to understand all the different names for things. Hmm, maybe I'd be wasting my time learning about all of this. I better check with the instructor and see." Aaaand The Question is born, and gets sent off through the Intertubes to me, landing in my inbox. Ping!

Can you see my frustration with The Question? There are a couple of things. First: No, there will not be exam questions on everything--that's impossible. I cannot test every single concept presented in the textbook and in lectures. The test would be thousands of questions long. The best I can do is take a random sample of those questions. If you've learned everything in the course so far, it shouldn't matter what content the questions address. On the other hand, if you've been a bit...intellectually lazy and skipped over things that were long, complicated, or hard, there will be gaps in your knowledge. Exams should be designed to reveal those gaps, in order to differentiate among students' learning.

Second, the little vignettes and stories at the start of every chapter will not be on the exam. But that doesn't mean you should ignore them. Why did the textbook author spend time writing them? To help you understand the context and reason for the chapter? To illustrate an important concept? So, do you need to know that specific story or not? Probably not. But by reading it, you'll better understand the concept it's trying to teach you.

Third, names and dates. Yes, I'm deliberately wasting your time, sir. Or, wait. Am I? Is an important part of learning about psychology to know the contributions made by philosophers, scientists, and psychologists? To know their names? And to know when in history those contributions were made? If you want to become a psychologist, is all of that important? In the science biz, the way that we refer to important research is not by where it was done (although the media love to report the institution for some reason), but by who did it, and when. One psychologist will sling around names like "Smith, Shoben, and Rips", "Treisman and Gelade", and "Ramachandran and Hubbard, '07" and another psychologist will know instantly what the other is talking about. But then, psychologists know all about psychology and you don't. Not yet. You get to know a lot about psychology by reading and remembering it, not by skipping over a bunch of it. On the other hand, from a pedagogical standpoint, is there value in evaluating students on their ability to rote memorize what seems like a meaningless string of names and numbers?

So, in answer to The Question, "Do I have to know this...?"

No. No, you don't.

You also don't have to pass the course, or get an A. Students who do, will know...

Why aren't you studying?

The Spring Term, 2011

I've written about Spring Term before, describing my misconceptions about the kind of students who take courses in Intersession (Spring and Summer Terms), and about their reasons for taking them. This time, a little bit about one of the greatest challenges in taking an Intersession course: time.

Courses in Spring (and Summer) Term last for 6 weeks. Unless you've signed up for a 3-week Spring or Summer Term course. That's right: first day of class to final exam in 3 weeks. I've taught 3 weeks courses before, at another institution. It's 3 hours of lecture every day, Monday to Thursday. Then on Friday there's a midterm and another lecture to round out the 3 hours. It's brutal. Don't even think about taking two of these monsters at the same time. Your social life will go out the window and you'll have to catch up on your favourite TV shows later. It's just go to class, read the textbook, go to class, read the textbook. So, in contrast, a 6-week course doesn't sound too bad.

In 6-week courses, there's "only" 70 minutes of class every day, and an exam "only" about every 2 weeks. Let's compare (labs aside, assuming a full course load):

• "regular" Fall/Winter Term: 770 minutes (about 12.8 hours) per week in class (five courses)
• Spring/Summer Term: 700 minutes (about 11.7 hours) a week (two courses)

For me, here are my in-class teaching hours (not counting prep work, of course):

• Fall/Winter: 7.8 hours/week
• Spring/Summer: 11.7 hours/week

(Net result? I have to work harder in Intersession.)

The point of all this silly number crunching? Don't take Intersession courses lightly. Be prepared to devote your time appropriately--these courses still count toward your GPA. It's tough to concentrate on the yada-yada of your instructor when the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. *sigh*

If you've taken Intersession courses before, what are your tips for making it through?

Why aren't you studying?

The Importance of Sleep, Again

I've written about the importance of sleep before, but I'm lecturing on sleep in intro psych so it's on my mind again. Actually, it's on my mind a lot--every day. That's because I haven't slept through the night in over a year. (This past week has been especially hilarious: the baby has actually had a few good nights sleep-wise, but on those nights, my other daughter has woken up in the middle of the night--needing Dada to help her get back to sleep. I totally get the irony of lecturing on the importance of sleep when I'm likely the most sleep-deprived individual in the room.)

What's worse is that I've been reading a lot of really good research showing just how important it is to get a good night's sleep. The Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) has an annual meeting showcasing a huge amount of interesting work on sleep. At their meeting in June, 2009, one study in particular caught my eye (and the attention of some journalists and bloggers). It was found that sleep quality (not quantity, per se) was correlated with math scores. That is, the better your sleep, the better your scores on math exams. English scores went up, too. You don't think you can affect the quality of sleep you get? Sure you can: sleep on a regular schedule, don't pull all-nighters, and don't have a baby who wakes up every couple of hours. (OK, maybe that last one is a bit hard to do.)

Sleep also has been shown to aid memory: "Sleeping on it" may just be the best way to remember something. And in another widely reported finding, sleep quality turned out to be important for learning in general, and for learning vocabulary in particular. Ya, more gooder sleeps does to help your talking goodly-like and knowing the betterer words.

Ugh, I need a nap.

Why aren't you studying?

How to Get Free Marks

You want free marks? Sure, no problem--all you have to do is prove to me that I'm wrong.

It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Earlier this term, Melissa T. asked me why the teaching assistant had marked an answer wrong on one of her assignments. She had written an alternative answer that sounded plausible to me, so I told her about my free mark policy. Melissa came back a couple of days later with a strong journal article supporting her point, and she ended up with a free mark! (To be fair, my TA stuck to the marking guide I provided, so it's not the TA's fault Melissa initially lost a mark. It's impossible to create a marking guide that covers every possible answer, and every variation on an answer. But that's another post for another day.)

You might have learned something in another one of your classes that contradicts what I say (or what the textbook says). This shouldn't be surprising--"facts" change all the time in science. (Like, old-time doctors used to prescribe smoking. And cocaine. Nice going, stupid old-time doctors!) The instructor of one of your other classes might be up on some brand-new study that hasn't worked its way into the textbook I use, into my lectures, and into my exams. So why should you be penalized for knowing more? Or, perhaps, for knowing something in more detail?

So, to get a free mark, all you have to is:

• find an error in the marking of an exam or assignment (sorry, no free marks for correcting an error in the textbook--that is worth $2, however--and no free marks for pointing out an error in my lectures, although you will have my genuine gratitude)
• find good (i.e., peer-reviewed, primary source) evidence to support your answer (sorry, Googling some random website or even finding empirical evidence cited in a textbook is not good enough--it's got to make it through the peer-review process)
• find current evidence (sorry, digging up a peer-reviewed paper from 1847 may not qualify if subsequent research has undermined it)
• give me your supporting evidence at least one day before the final exam
  

This is a great win-win situation: you end up getting a free mark, and I end up with a exam or assignment question that's more relevant, up-to-date, and fair.

Why aren't you studying?

The $2 Reward

I hate it when a textbook contains an error. After reading a section I'll go, "Whoa, that doesn't make sense." The first thing I do is: Blame myself. I must not have understood it correctly. So, frustrated, I'll go back and read it again, and then re-read it again. At some point, I'll realize that I'm not wrong--the textbook is.

In the best case, I'll know what research or theory the textbook is talking about and I'll be able to spot an error immediately. But not always. And I hate that moment of not knowing--or more precisely, the moment of believing that I don't know. I imagine students feel the same way.

I've always asked students to let me know whenever they encounter an error in a textbook. But not many students did. So then I started offering a $1 reward as a sort of bounty for being the first one to find an error, and still got a low response rate. Then I started offering $2--and crossed some sort of threshold. Now I get quite a few emails from students sending me textbook errors. The response rate was also "helped" by recently having a textbook that had 47 errors. Another textbook by the same author has 31...and counting. (Yes, I am quite motivated to find errors first.)

Some errors are not a big deal--like a misspelling of a researcher's name, or saying that Halle Berry played Catwoman in the movie Batman (it was, of course, the movie Catwoman). But other errors are more serious, like explaining things backwards, or labeling parts of diagrams opposite of what they should be.

You'll see a list of errors posted on the main page of the class website. Any new errors have an "updated" tag beside them. (Make sure you pencil in the corrections in your textbook.) I also collect these errors to send them to the publisher of the textbook so the errors can be corrected in any new printings of the textbook. I figure it's the least they can do, especially when you consider the high cost of textbooks.

Interestingly, there's another way that my $2 reward can help students. If a student reads something in the textbook and it doesn't make sense--if it seems to be backwards, like the author made an error--I'll get an email asking me for a $2 reward. Quite often in cases like this, the textbook will turn out to be correct; the problem is in the student's understanding of the material. This is a great opportunity for me to directly help a student understand the material. So you won't get a toonie for a cup of Tim's, but you will get some free help in understanding a concept--and in overcoming that feeling of not knowing.

Why aren't you studying?

The SQ4R Study Method: Review

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the sixth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, done some reading, recited what you've read, and related it to other things you know. This installment: R (the fourth).

The fourth R is for "review." This does not mean that you frantically try to cram all of your notes into your short-term memory 10 minutes before an exam. This is called "cramming," and it's a poor learning strategy--it may even reduce your retention.

A proper review is done well in advance of an exam. For example, you can go over the questions I pose in lectures, as part of the objectives for every topic. You can answer practice questions that are commonly provided by publishers on a textbook's companion website. Or you can go back and think about the questions you asked yourself before you read the chapter. Can you answer these questions? Or (even better) how well can you answer these questions?

After assessing your learning, you should have a pretty good idea of the things you understand well, and, er...everything else. After identifying the material that's giving you problems, you can do the actual review. This may involve going back and re-reading certain parts of a chapter, or asking your instructor (or the teaching assistant) for further help. By the way, there's nothing wrong with asking for help. Think of it this way: Would you rather struggle with something you don't understand and get a below-average mark? Or would you rather summon up your courage and talk to the instructor, allowing him or her to help you understand something better, and get an above-average mark? Hmm?

(Inside secret: Instructors love it when they can help a student learn something better--whether it's in class, or one-on-one, it doesn't matter. It makes us think we're doing a good job, and not just wearing out our shoes walking to and from class every day. We are resources for you to exploit! Wait, that didn't come out right...)

Why aren't you studying? reviewing?

The SQ4R Study Method: Relate

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the fifth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, done some reading, and recited what you've read. This installment: R (the third).

This third R stands for "relate," and it's based on a fundamental aspect of human memory. When we learn and remember something, it's not like the memory gets plunked into a little mailbox. We learn by associating new things with things that we already know. The implication is that if you want to remember something, it's best to tie it into your knowledge structures.

Now, if you've just read something that didn't make any sense (don't worry, this happens to the best of us--er, I mean other people), it's going to be pretty hard to relate it to other things you know. Take learning the alphabet: alphabetical order doesn't relate to anything else you know, so you've got to learn a little song to help you remember its arbitrary order. This explains why it's so difficult to remember things that are complete gobbledygook--nonsense is impossible to tie into our existing memories. So, things have to make sense. Fortunately, the previous step of reciting has helped ensure that you know what you've read (see how things are getting integrated together so nicely?).

When you're reading and you really want to remember what you've learned, think of how the material relates to you personally. Fortunately, this applies easily to psychology, especially topics like memory, sleep, and learning. (OK, not so much when it comes to sociopathic behaviour or brain damage, I hope.) But even if the things you're learning do not apply to you, research shows that the enhancement of learning and remembering comes when you do the comparison. So if you're reading about sociopathic behaviour and conclude that that's so not you, you've just improved your learning. Bonus!

Why aren't you studying? relating?

The SQ4R Study Method: Recite

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the fourth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, and done some reading. This installment: R (the second).

That's right, there's another R. "SQ4R" doesn't mean you read something 4 times. I guess that can't hurt, but we're looking for more efficient ways of studying and learning here, right? This second R stands for recite. Although you can do this step out loud, you might feel a bit self-conscious about it if you're studying in the library. (SHHHH!) So, a better thing to do is write it down. Write what down?

In doing the recite step, you should recite (or write) in your own words what you've just read. So for example, after reading a section, stop and pull out a piece of paper (or pull out your computer) and try to come up with a summary of what you've just read in your own words. It's important that you put things into your own words. In fact, if you don't put things in your own words, you're mostly wasting your time: you're just copying words from the textbook. If you are able to do this, you're actively organization and interpreting the information you've read.

Research shows that this approach is far superior to a passive approach, like copying sentences from the textbook or (shudder) highlighting. Also, if you are unable to put things into your own words, it reveals a problem with your understanding. This step isn't perfect, because you might put things into your own words that are wrong. Oops. So it can't help you detect a misunderstanding, just a lack of understanding.

At the end of this step, you'll have several pages of notes summarizing the chapter you've read. This is handy for studying and refreshing your memory before an exam. If you don't have time to go through everything you've written, that's OK. The learning takes place not when you re-read your notes, but when you write them down in the first place. Neat, eh?

Why aren't you studying? reciting?

The SQ4R Study Method: Read

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the third of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook and asked yourself some questions. This installment: R (the first).

This first "R" stands for read. Yup, it's OK to go ahead and read the--no, wait! Hold on just a second. Let me elaborate just a bit on that.

You should be reading to try and answer the questions you just finished asking yourself. This makes reading a more active process, as opposed to a passive one. But that's not all: you should also consider your reading environment.

Your textbook is open in front of you, you're checking your text messages, one of your iPod's earbuds is tucked into one ear, and the TV is on--is this you? If so, you're not reading. I don't know what the heck you're doing, but you're not reading. Your eyes may be moving across the page, but you're not letting your brain absorb the material because your attention is elsewhere. It's the myth of multitasking. So, turn off your gadgets, get away from distractions and interruptions, and find a quiet place where you can concentrate on what you need to learn. This is what's called "studying."

Why aren't you studying? reading?

The SQ4R Study Method: Question

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the second of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook. This installment: Q.

The "Q" stands for question. Here's a question: What do I question? Good question.

While you are surveying a chapter, ask yourself this question: "What question is this chapter trying to answer?" or "What's the point of this chapter?" And then be more specific, going into more detail, "What's the point of this section?" You should also ask yourself, "What questions do I have about this topic that this chapter might answer?"

You can try turning headings into questions. For example, when reading a section called "The stages of sleep," ask "What are the stages of sleep? How many stages are there? How are they different?" You can also turn things around and ask very broad big-picture-type questions like, "Why is this reading assigned?" and "Why is this chapter included in this book?" Asking yourself these kinds of questions is important to start you thinking about what you know (or don't know) and what you're about to read (yes, that's coming--be patient).

You'll notice that I've tried to help you with this step in my lecture notes. At the start of every lecture topic, I give the objectives for the lecture as a series of questions. This will help prepare you for what's to follow, and you can use my questions to help you review after I've finished the lecture. You're welcome!

Here's one last question:

Why aren't you studying? questioning?

The SQ4R Study Method: Survey

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the first of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. This installment: S.

The "S" stands for survey. Before you start to read a chapter of a textbook, take a couple of minutes to skim through it. Don't actually read it now (that comes later). Get an overall impression of the chapter, and try to understand the organizational structure. There will likely be introductory material, and also summary paragraphs or points (or both).

Well-written textbooks will have a hierarchical organization: major topics are presented first, followed by more and more detailed ideas after that. Knowing that your textbook is organized in this way will make things easier to learn when you actually start reading the chapter (no, don't start reading yet).

Check for a glossary at the end of the chapter; you'll almost always find a list of important terms there. Some textbooks put important terms and definitions in the margins or at the bottom of the page. You can come back to these later, when you read the chapter. (No--no reading! Just skimming. Skim!) Surveying gives you an overview of what lies ahead.

Why aren't you studying? surveying?

The Seminar

When I started teaching, this is what I knew about teaching: Nothing. Impressive, huh?

Fortunately, University Teaching Services puts on great teaching seminars throughout the year. These seminars are typically presented by my peers: other instructors at the UofA. They have helped immeasurably with my teaching--from structuring a course, to incorporating technology, to creating better exams.

The last seminar I went to a few weeks ago, however, was off-campus, and was sponsored by Nelson Education--a textbook publisher. Why would they want to improve teaching? Of course, they're motivated by profit. They were actually promoting a new concept called Nelson Education Testing Advantage, or NETA. They've hired an educational expert in testing and exam construction to help revamp the multiple-choice questions that are provided to instructors with textbooks. The seminar was a gentle marketing event which allowed Nelson to promote their textbooks. I say, "gentle" because it was not a hard sell. Rather, they flew in the expert from Brock University to tell us (about 75 college and university instructors from the Edmonton area) how to improve our own multiple-choice questions. Attending a lecture like this, presented by a renowned expert, is pure gold.

First, I got a lot of great information, which I'll use over the summer to revamp the multiple-choice questions I've written for use in my courses. That means rewriting some (most?) of about 500 questions. It could take a while. So I'm not just going to be sitting out on a patio with a cold drink all summer--no, I've got a huge list of things to do before classes start for me again in September. In addition to revamping my m/c questions, I also have to read two newly updated textbooks and modify my lectures to reflect changes in the content. I've also got a big digital "pile" of research papers that I haven't had time to read, because I've been teaching for the past 12 months in a row. I'm also a bit of a bookaholic, so I've got a pile of those to read.

The other great thing about attending a seminar is that I'm on the other side of the lectern, sitting in a classroom, listening to an instructor, and thinking about things that enhance (or detract from) the classroom experience. I am also instantly turned back into a student, a learner, and I realize that learning never stops.

For those of you who are graduating, the university experience is over--and you're now facing the Real World. Others are gearing up for more classes in Summer term. Some of you are working, and won't be coming back to campus until the fall. But for all of us, learning will never stop.

Why aren't you--well...you know.

The Links

Now that lectures are over, it's time for learning to: continue. By now, being a student of psychology, you've seen just how broad this field is. Well, I'm a student of psychology, too. (OK, so I'm not officially a "student," but I love continuing to learn about psychology--which, really, is learning about ourselves.) I try to stay up-to-date on interesting and important research. A good way to get a general view of things is to follow a number of blogs.

Here are some of the blogs I read for education, for interest, and for entertainment. You might even see some of the things that are written about in these blogs appear in lectures.

• Mind Hacks. Although this Mind Hacks is a really good book on psychology, the blog goes way beyond that. It covers topics from art and aesthetics to hard-core neuroscience and bogus science. Vaughn is the main poster; I don't know how he keeps up the pace. Consistently excellent.

• Scientific American Mind Matters. Postings often include full-text articles from Scientific American Mind magazine. Eclectic and interesting, but a bit too much brain-focused. Still, there are many high-quality postings.

• Discover Mind & Brain. A companion to the print magazine Discover. Not quite as good overall as the preceding two blogs. Postings do not occur as frequency either. Also very brain-centric, which probably helps to attract readers.
  

• jnd.org. Usability "guru" Don Norman writes articles about design, science, and human factors/ergonomics. You can read his monthly column for Interactions magazine here, but there are lots of other neat things. One post made me run out and get a new stapler. Woot!

You can subscribe to all of the above blogs via RSS.

Why aren't you studying?

The Spacing Effect

There is a finding in the scientific literature that's been known for over 100 years. Recent research has continued to support its existence, and it turns out to be one of the most robust effects ever discovered about memory and learning. The problem is, few people know about it. It's called: The Spacing Effect.

This effect was first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus, who discovered it while doing a series of experiments on his own memory. In short, he found that, although repetition helped him remember things, spacing the repetitions over time led to a big improvement in his ability to remember.

When you're studying, the spacing effects says that it's counterproductive to repeat what you've studied immediately after you've studied it once. Instead, you should actually let some time go by before you refresh your memories. How much time? That depends--when do you need to know the information? Here's the deal, taken from a study published in 2008:

When the gap between initial learning and test date was a week, the optimum review took place a day after initial learning... With a month gap, the ideal review occurred after about a week; with a year, the prime review came three weeks after learning.

So, midterms are roughly a month apart, right? That means you should be reviewing and repeating the material about every week.

The research shows that not only is spaced repetition a benefit to your remembering, but also that cramming is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Really bad. Did I mention it's bad? Optimally spaced repetition beat cramming by 77% to 111%. Note that a 100% improvement would mean a doubling of performance. Yeah, it's that good.

The bottom line: everyone should space out.

(For more, read the article, "Will that be on the test?" from the APS Observer.)

Why aren't you studying?