ULTRALEARNING

            SCOTT H. YOUNG

Scott Young is a writer who undertakes interesting and ambitious self-education projects. His Ultralearning is a book that brings a change in the attitude towards learning focusing on ultra learning. This is for anyone who wants to learn new skills and is interested in discovering effective techniques for doing it.

Ultralearning is an uncommon strategy, and these projects are challenging and time-consuming. It requires a lot of planning and self-motivation. The main characteristics of ultra learning are self-directed and aggressive approach. It is highly self-directed as one plays an active role in choosing what to learn, how to learn, and what not to learn. This is an aggressive approach to learning because it is hard but succeeding one can do amazing things.

Ultralearning begins with meta-learning, the process of learning how to learn. It is about looking for the big picture, then using it to devise the optimal learning strategy. It is better to follow the principles of meta-learning rather than learn a skill by merely absorbing information.

PRINCIPLES OF META-LEARNING:

• The first step is to ‘draw a meta-learning map’, based on the concept, facts, and procedures. This helps to get an understanding of what one has to learn.
• The next step is benchmarking i.e. to research the methods and resources used by people to learn the skill.
• Then, figure the key cognitive activities to be implemented in the new skill.

To follow these principles, one must strengthen the focus to not get distracted, but life is full of distractions and temptations which stops us from reaching the goals. Overcoming these is necessary, so one has to follow a few strategies that defend distractions and refine focus.

• The first challenge is to focus on. To do this, one can follow the Pomodoro technique, where a timer is set for 25 minutes, and once it gets over a 5 minutes break is taken. It helps in sustaining focus and controlling the environment by eliminating interruptions internally and externally.
• The next step is to combat without interleaving by altering the modes of learning like taking two 5 hours sessions instead of one 10 hours session.
• The final step is to pay attention to mental arousal i.e. on the level of energy alertness. One should do simple tasks like repetitive tasks while the arousal is high as the focus is intense and narrow and do complex tasks like music composition when the arousal is generated wide-range of focus.

These techniques hone focus and ensure mental stamina to complete the ultra learning challenge.

DIRECTNESS AND DRILLING

Formal education sets an indirect path between the learning context and environment as it fails to optimize transfer. The transfer is the process of learning a thing and transferring it to another. In ultra learning, the path between the learning context and the target environment is direct. To learn something effectively one has to do it. For instance, to learn a language one has to speak in that language. This is called directness.

Drilling is to perfect techniques and maintain a competitive edge. It is direct-then-drill. When a task is difficult, one should break it into pieces, separate it, differentiate it, and work on the simpler tasks first. Relying too much on drilling and ignoring directness will not allow one to learn a new skill.

Learning a new skill and not able to retrieve it is ridiculous. To retrieve effectively, there are two methods, namely, review and recall. A review is reading again what was learned and recalling is recalling facts and procedures. Often people prefer to review, on the perception of having learned already. But it is good to have a recall-focused study session as it helps to recall events in a certain strategy.

The next part of ultra learning is feedback and memorization. One can improve the performance by eliciting feedback and prioritizing it. Feedback tells one what went wrong and how to correct it. It encourages the person, highlights the problematic areas, and isolates mistakes. To memorize, one can follow a memorization system to memorize facts, formulae, dates, etc. easily.

The last part is intuitive expertise and experimentation. For this one has to resist taking shortcuts, have the force to face every challenge and obstacles, deepen the understanding and work through the ideas. Experimentation is a special ingredient that can be done through ‘copy and paste’, first learn to copy the work, and then develop creative works through it. Experiences help in better learning.

“Learning is an exercise in changing the self.” So, learn things in a new way by applying meta-learning, directness, drilling and other strategies to become an ultralearner. Anyone can adopt ultra learning as ‘Passive learning creates knowledge and active practice creates skill’.

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