12 Keys for Effective Learning

Name: 12 Keys for Effective Learning
Rating: 5.0 (2 reviews)

A Course for Academic Success

Created byD Michael Duggan

Last updated 6/2022

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

How to organize information
How to retain information
How to do well on exams without expending too much time
How to plan so that what you know now will be available for you in the future

Course content

1 section • 14 lectures • 1h 23m total length

Introduction8:11
Explore the 12 keys for effective learning, including teaching others, diagramming concepts, and forming study groups to deepen understanding and improve recall.
Key #1: Know the Educational Program and Future Needs6:53
Know your curriculum and future needs to plan ahead. Build a knowledge base across courses, map how subjects connect, and prepare for future challenges by documenting and revisiting material.
Key #2: Be Motivated AND Interested to Learn the Subject Studied6:35
Align motivation with genuine interest to unlock deep learning; motivation alone may not drive excellence, while curiosity and passion propel you to learn and contribute.
Key #3: Study to Understand well enough to Teach It5:30
Learn deeply by testing yourself and teaching others; familiarity alone does not prove understanding, so master the facts, their interrelations, and the ability to explain and apply them in context.
Key #4: Learn from Multiple Resources6:30
Use multiple resources, including textbooks, notes, coloring books, and lab manuals, to build a personal, organized body of knowledge that speaks to you and reflects multiple perspectives.
Key #5: Don't just READ - STUDY!5:04
Activate your study by turning reading into purposeful, resource-driven inquiry. Identify topics, skim sections, and summarize across sources to build a clear understanding and accountable learning.
Key #6: Get the BIG Picture4:36
Get the big picture by linking facts within a contextual landscape before zooming into details, building mental maps, diagrams, and lasting associations that anchor learning.
Key #7: Organize TIME and INFORMATION6:28
Organize time and information by studying from multiple resources and identifying broader areas. Actively summarize what you learn and document it with diagrams or notes to create a learning product.
Key #8: Set Specific Study GOALS4:18
Set specific study goals for each session, identify subtopics, gather resources, and produce a tangible document showing what you learned.
Key #9: Make Memory Maps to Preserve your knowledge!11:47
Create memory maps that visually organize concepts, showing how the facts and theories relate in two-dimensional diagrams to form the big picture and strengthen long-term memory.
Key #10: Test Yourself - Make Long-Term Memory by Practice3:54
Test yourself by reproducing memory maps from your study sessions, compare with prior diagrams, and focus on key parts to embed knowledge into long-term memory.
Key #11: Seek Friendly Competition3:08
Seek friendly competition to push you to learn more and quiz each other on the material. Study together to exercise the information you gain and help each other learn.
Key #12: Plan for Future Needs!8:01
Save memory maps from study sessions as a personal knowledge base to review, reproduce from memory, and prepare for future exams, including national boards, with efficient revisits.
Summary of how we've secured your future!2:59
Discover how the 12 keys for effective learning help you learn concepts, principles, and fundamental knowledge while visually representing ideas to boost retention in any field, including dentistry.

Requirements

Any student in any course of study can benefit from this course. There are no requirements except a desire to learn things very well and a passion for the subject.

Description

This course evolved from a booklet I wrote over 30 years ago so that students in dental school could more readily manage the intense information flow that is part of that curriculum. I developed the approach originally as an older dental student who needed to do well in school, but had limited time because of family responsibilities. My formulation of the strategy that worked for me grew from experiences I had in school 20 years earlier than dental school, and from teaching both chemistry and dentistry at the university level. This course is most effective for students who have a PASSION for learning - they will find success most easily. But, even if you are not as driven, following this systematic approach can take you farther in your program that you ever thought possible.

There are 12 specific concepts or "keys" that form a fully articulated strategy for learning. Every aspect of this strategy builds on previous work, so that you will have at the end a resource that will help you make SENSE of your individual courses, see how they FIT together, and retain all of the associated information in such a way that whatever your future challenges, you will have this foundational knowledge at your fingertips!

Who this course is for:

Students in a learning curriculum where there are exams to complete, and likely comprehensive exams later in the program. This course will also help you prepare for national exams that test your more global knowledge. While this approach evolved during a dental school program, medical school, math majors, psychology students, and all others can benefit a lot!