Creating Developmental Good Luck

An Overview of Learning, Scheduling, and Anti-Procrastination Apps and Software for Students and ProfessorsBarbara Oakley and Christopher KobusSchool of Engineering and Computer ScienceOakland UniversityRochester, MI 48309So there's an iPhone app for fighting zombies. Interesting.

Amelia Beamer, The Loving Dead

Overview of procrastinationThe effect of procrastination on learningThe Pomodoro and ListsTask-related appsWeb blocking appsFlashcard systemsWhat we will cover

The lobbing, throbbing hemispheres and the mistake of trying too hardThe importance of simple recallMemorizationgood, fun, and deeply creative

380%95% of college students engage in procrastination 75% of students consider themselves procrastinators 50% of students procrastinate consistently and problematicallyStudents spend one third of their time procrastinatingProcrastination chronically affects 15%20% of adults.

Understanding procrastination

(Steel, P. "The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure." Psychological Bulletin 133, no. 1 (2007): 65-94.)

These percentages appear to be on the rise

Students report that procrastination through sleeping, playing, or TV watching typically occupies over one third of their daily activities

4Practice makes permanentand takes time

Building new neural structures takes timeLearning a saying in another languagelike the expression Slishkom mnogo znat, para ubivats, which I frequently heard as a Russian translator for the Soviets.

The left picture symbolizes the compact connections between synapses when one chunk of knowledge is formed. Solving problems in math and science is like playing a song. The more you practice, the firmer and darker your mental patterns become. Mental practicepracticing solutions to problems in your headis very effective.

5Procrastination

Learning well means allowing time to pass between learning sessions, so the neural patterns have time to move solidify properly. Its like allowing time for the mortar to dry when you are building a brick wall, as shown on the left. Trying to learn everything in a few cram sessions doesnt allow time for neural structures to buildthe result is a wall like that seen on the right.

6The Pomodoro

(Pomodoro is Italian for tomatoFrancesco Cirillo, who originally developed this time-management system in the 1980s, used a tomato-shaped timer.)7Working memory

Make a List If you dont write your tasks down in a list, they lurk at the edge of the seven or so slots in your working memory, taking up valuable mental real estate. But once you make a task list, it frees working memory for problem solving. Yay!9

The value of a personal trainerThe value of a friendthe buddy systemDaily journaling

Action Enforcer

30/30

Jorte

Procrastination A Habit

14Freedom Locks you away from the internet so you can be productive. ($10) (Both Mac & Windows)For more specific blocking needsStayFocused (Google Chrome)LeechBlock (Firefox) MeeTimer (Firefox) tracks and logs where you spend your timeeven providing pop-up warnings. Limiting Time on the WebIt can be a real eye-opener to learn how much time you waste on Facebook and Twitter. 15Disable sound on your phone and computeremails messagesThe simplest tool

This digs deep, neurologically-speaking, to avoid activating habitual responses that pull you away from your work.http://www.ochsner.org/programs/neurology/

16StudyBlue combines flashcards and notes with text messages when its time to study again, along with a direct link to the material.Evernote Similar to StudyBlueAnki A really good flashcard system thats got a good timing system for learning language-related things.Flashcard systemswww.43things.com Over three million people who list their goals and cheer one another on as they share their progress.www.stickK.com

Cheering each other onA nice tool is that provided by www.43things.com. Youll find a list of over three million people who list their goals and cheer one another on as they share their progress. Interestingly, one of the top goals is people commonly share is to get a grip on habits of procrastination. Another is www.stickK.com.

18Make subtle changes Set finish time for the day

Keep in mindA OU wiki experiment

Team upWhat have you found most useful in this lecture?Relate a specific example of how you will use something youve learned here.Write down your feedback for usNow You Try!Boice, Robert. Procrastination and Blocking: A Novel, Practical Approach. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.Fiore, Neil A. The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. New York, NY: Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin, 2007.Karpicke, J. D., and J. R. Blunt. "Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborative studying with concept mapping." Science 331, no. 6018 (2011): 772-5.Steel, P. "The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure." Psychological Bulletin 133, no. 1 (2007): 65-94.

References