Active vs. Passive Learning

Elaborate. Monkey.
(source)

Thinking about our thinking is an important step to maximizing our potential for learning.  Metacognition during learning allows us to evaluate our own learning to determine if it is being effective.  Am I really learning the material?  Do I really understand the material?  Thinking about our own comprehension is an important part of any learning process.

I recently read an article by Kathrin Stanger-Hall, a biology professor at UGA who has an interest in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching strategies.  This article points out the difference between active and passive learning strategies.  For example, passive learning may be limited to the following mindless study habits:

• Reading the material
• Going to class
• Making index cards
• Highlighting
• Looking up information
• Reviewing notes

On the surface, these behaviors seem like learning.  However, while these activities may be parts of a successful learning process, they do not include an active awareness where the student is working to connect the information within a larger context or to evaluate self-understanding of the material.

Active approaches to learning would augment these activities with the following sort of thinking:

• Asking "How does it work?"
• Drawing the process or system
• Writing study questions to evaluate self-understanding
• Reorganizing information into new categories
• Comparing and contrasting information

This type of approach to learning leverages the concept of elaboration that we've discussed before:  somewhat non-intuitively, our brains seem to encode information better with more details and comparisons, rather than less.

As we learn, metacognition should be simmering in the background.  Are we learning?  How can we connect this with other information we understand?  How could we distill the essential elements?  This self-awareness is essential for learning to remain productive and efficient.

Meta-Feedback

I'm lookin' at the monkey in the mirror.

My boss has been on a feedback-seeking, awesomeness rampage.  In the last two weeks, I estimate that he has come to me, or other members of our little group, and asked a ton of questions of the "how am I doing" or the "what could we do better" variety.

Perhaps he's stumbled on to this blog, but I can't be tickled given that I've been a bit obsessed lately with the idea of seeking out feedback (see here and here).

In fact, tickled doesn't even really do my reaction justice.  A better word might be "grateful".  Another one might be "flattered", of the "it's nice to know he really gives a shit"-variety.  I mean, I already knew my boss cared, but it was still nice to get some hard behavioral data as evidence of his interest in the opinions of the group.

This series of interactions made me realize something: asking other people how they feel about our performance earns respect.  It indicates empathy, it indicates a desire to improve which, in turn, bodes well for future performance, it indicates a respect for the opinions of others.  All really, really good cognitive qualities.

So, what did I do in the face of all this ass-kicking, feedback seeking behavior on the part of my boss?  I went all Meta up in here and gave the guy some meta-feedback.  Specifically, I said something like: "You want some feedback?  How about this: I think it's awesome how much you've been seeking out feedback from us.  It makes us feel valued and it makes me confident the group is moving in the right direction."  We then high-fived.  I'm joking about the high-five.

Lesson for today? My vote is that if someone has the guts to come to us and ask for feedback, we should show how awesome that is by giving some meta-feedback in return.  It's sure to keep the feedback seeking behavior going strong.

Tell Me About Myself

I just realized that seeking feedback is a very selfish thing.  As I've discussed before, the act of talking can be thought of as an act of charity: you are giving away your hard-earned experience for use by others.  In contrast, the act of listening is an exercise in selfishness: you are more likely to gain new information and expertise.  After simple listening, asking questions is even more selfish!  By asking questions, you can steer a conversation in a direction that is interesting or useful to you.  Today, we're going to take selfishness to a whole new level.

Question and Question

This week at The Happy Homunculus, it's all about feedback for us and our homunculi, and if we're ever going to get and use quality feedback to be awesome, then we need to work on a few mental-ninja-skillz.  Yesterday, we practiced not speaking and used our aural acumen as a first step to learning something new.  Today, we're going to take things a step further and prompt for more information: forget Q&A, today is all about Q&Q.