Indians are learning 'how to learn'

Do you know that learning is the most common desire expressed by people and most of them rely on Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for it. 'Learning How to Learn', created by McMaster University, University of California, San Diego, is the third most popular MOOC across globe.

According to online learning platform Coursera, this is the 6th most popular MOOC in India (as of December 2017). In the past one year, the course has witnessed a jump of 245% in the enrolment rate. The Indians enroling for the course fall in the age bracket of 18-39 and over 55% of them are full-time employees. The course teaches mental tools that can assist a learner with grasping any subject/concept they want to study, faster and more efficiently.

"From day-to-day schooling to the demands of modern-day careers, everybody needs to keep learning all the time. This course uses latest scientific breakthroughs to provide practical insights into the working of the brain that one can use for better learning," says Barbara Oakley, professor of Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Oakland University, who teaches the course.

"Knowing how your brain works help you to use it to your best advantage. For example, when you think about something you dislike or do not want to do, it activates pain centres of the brain. This makes your mind shift to other topics and the result is you procrastinate. There are some easy mental tools you can use to help prevent procrastination - these are among the many powerful techniques we teach in the course," she tells Education Times.

Stressing on the need to have more similar courses, Oakley says that most schools are overwhelmed with only teaching the subject and do not focus on the learnability of students. There has been spectacular work done in both cognitive psychology and neuroscience on how to learn effectively. But, most of it has been restricted to the research labs and has not really reached to the common learners.

Other countries where this course is highly popular include the US, China, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Egypt and France.

According to Jayant Krishna, ED and COO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the enrolment numbers for this course show that there is an ever-changing market dynamics and evolving jobs, which make appropriate education and upskilling a necessity. "Students must be encouraged to develop and improve their learnability. Retention of what they learn would certainly help them improve their career, social skills and working ability."

"It makes sense to acquire good learning skills sooner than later. We should experiment with different ways of learning, by using different teaching techniques, thereby enabling the students to find a pedagogy that suits and interests them," said Krishna.