Interview Insights
Top Takeaways
- We are fortunate to live in a time when excellent online courses are available for learning and a teaching platform.
- Use the Pomodoro method to eliminate procrastination. Minimize distractions and focus on the task at hand for 25 minutes, then reward yourself for 5 minutes of relaxation. When you return to your next task, your brain will thank you with better focus, recall, and productivity.
- The assimilation of new ideas and new skills takes time to marinate. We just don’t scoop them up, dump them in our brains, and expect the best results despite how frequently people attempt to do just that.
Show Notes
- Barbara’s Dad inspired her at key junctures in her career path. [01:07]
- How Barbara, someone who hated mathematics growing up, became a prominent engineering professor and online instructor with over two million students worldwide. [03:23]
- Business owners today don’t have to pause their careers to go back to university due to the abundance of online courses online. [07:38]
- Why do we need to be cautious of people telling us that we don’t need analytic skills? [09:23]
- Where and how to choose the best online courses. [10:38]
- What makes online courses successful and effective? [13:04]
- Barbara talks about bringing online courses to a higher level. [15:44]
- An introduction to the Pomodoro technique. [17:35]
- Developing work and productivity habits that allow us to be our best. [20:04]
- How to stop procrastinating? [23:18]
- My Quest for the Best lightning round begins. [25:36]
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Expert Bio
Dr. Barbara Oakley is a professor of engineering at Oakland University and McMaster University. Her online courses on learning are some of the most popular MOOC classes in the world and her research interests range from STEM education to learning practices.
With more than 2 million participants in the Coursera course thus far, Barb’s work proves that learners appreciate practical methods and materials grounded in research about how the brain learns.
She is based in Rochester MI and is here to talk about her book, A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra).
Contact Info and Social Media for Barbara Oakley
- Primary website
- Travels from: Rapid City, SD
Resources Mentioned During the Interview
Below are key people, places, books, quotes, websites, and other resources that we discussed, so you can explore further.
Coursera Courses by Barbara Oakley – with top ratings by over 3 million students
- Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects
- Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential
- Learning How To Learn for Youth
- Uncommon Sense Teaching
- Uncommon Sense Teaching Specialization
Additional Resources
- Scott Young – MQ4B Ep 314: Prepare to shatter your limits of what you thought could be learned quickly
- Andrew Ng – co-founder and head of Google Brain and was the former chief scientist at Baidu, building the company’s Artificial Intelligence Group into a team of several thousand people
- Francesco Cirillo – Originator of the Pomodoro Technique
- Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies website | Coursera page
- Pathological Altruism by Barbara Oakley (Editor), Ariel Knafo (Editor), Guruprasad Madhavan (Editor), David Sloan Wilson (Editor)
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Authored by Barbara Oakley
