Learning to Code For Steem - How to Avoid Cognitive Overload While eLearning
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
You know that feeling like your brain just can't take any more information? It's almost like someone hit you with a shovel and you go around feeling dizzy.
Well, that happened to me last Tuesday after spending almost my whole day going through 3 modules of the Web Developer Bootcamp.
WHAT COGNITIVE OVERLOAD DOES AND WHY IT'S COUNTER PRODUCTIVE
Cognitive overload creates a situation where you have a diminishing return on what you are able to absorb in your memory bank. The more you keep learning while in a state of cognitive overload, the more chance you have at completely forgetting what you've learned.
Tuesday night before bed, I knew I went too far too fast and I went on the internet to know what I should be doing to integrate and not lose what I've just learned.
STEP 1 - TAKE A BREAK FROM eLEARNING
Anybody who did strength training or conditioning knows that ideally, you want to have at least 24h of rest between training in order for your body to adapt to the stress you've just imposed on it.
That adaptation will happen so that next time you get to push iron, you'll be able to lift more.
It's not that different for our brain.
I'm quite new to coding and what I'm realizing is that it's not just about memorizing a bunch of code or syntax. It's about using our brains in a way that most of us are not used to.
I'm in marketing and the way I think is almost entirely about human psychology and human motivations. It's very different from thinking in term of algorithms.
Giving your brain the time to adapt to this new way of thinking is important.
2. DURING YOUR BREAK, TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO REVISE WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED
If you are like me and get worried that you'll forget something important. Spending an hour or two during your day of break to revise what you've learned could really help.
Basically, rather than adding new stuff, you work at integrating what you've learned so far.
That's what I did yesterday. After going to the hospital to know which sex is our little baby (more on that on a future post), I took some of the problems that I had to figure out before and revisited them such as:
Create a printReverse() function that print the elements of an array in reverse
Create a todo list app in the console to add, delele & list todo items (and exit)
...among other.
That helped me make sure that I didn't forget anything about functions, loops, if/then statements, arrays, and objects.
3. STUDY IN SHORT BURST AND USE MENTAL SPACING
FastCompany has a great article about 6 Brain Hacks to Learn Anything Faster, I would highly recommend it if you are interested in the topic.
On Short Burst Learning The Article Says:
Experts at the Louisiana State University’s Center for Academic Success suggest dedicating 30-50 minutes to learning new material. “Anything less than 30 is just not enough, but anything more than 50 is too much information for your brain to take in at one time,”
Using a Pomodoro Technique to time your eLearning rather than binge-watching can be a good idea.
On Mental Spacing The Article Says:
Benedict Carey, author of How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens, says learning is like watering a lawn. “You can water a lawn once a week for 90 minutes or three times a week for 30 minutes,” he said. “Spacing out the watering during the week will keep the lawn greener over time.
Conclusion
eLearning is an absolute thrill for me and I can't recommend it enough as a personal development tool. The world is moving fast under our feet and if we don't catch up with the times, we may be left in the dust. Having a plan to constantly upgrading ourselves is a good way to stay happy and productive in this fast changing world.
If you have any other strategies on how to avoid information overload / cognitive overload, please let me know in the comment below.
First Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash
Second Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
I think that’s the point where we need tot ale a walk and refresh our mind . Go over the material we know , apply it and move on. Sometimes too much information can lead to half of it leaving our heads
This is something anyone can do without any really real resources and it’s a great opportunity to learn as well @cryptoctopus
for me to study i need to be in study environment , like school,university or small room with students with same interest, so if i see that all are working and learning hard i learn hard too. If im alone for me its hard to be effective, because after some time my focus become weaker and i can stop studying .
I know that feel man!! You reach a point when you're just hustling through the motions to get it done with and not actually being productive which is why, as you said in your next post, take a break!! But during the break i'd rather have my mind completely fresh and not get revising or anything, just let your mind relax.
After you're done with your break, before starting take some time to quickly revise what you did the last session and then begin the new session.
What's awesome is that 30 - 50 minutes is enough for most people to get some learning in during their lunch break at work. Everyone may not have access to a computer or internet, but it's interesting to see that instead of wasting lunch with reading news articles or taking a break, I could be putting that time towards leanring a new skill.
Well-done work, my friend and the best way out, in my opinion, is a manageable, reasonable consumption of information, which is also accompanied by its comprehension and use in practice. Read news and blogs, listen to the radio and watch TV and you can and even need to throw food for the mind, but you need to manage this process to remove harmful effects (the same information overload) and leave useful ones. I would recommend :
First. We determine and take control of the main "channels" for which information is received, we limit them.
The second. Classify incoming information before use by urgency.
Third. Classify incoming information on the topic, choose the most important topics - in advance.
Of course, these three councils do not exhaust the problem of info overload. But here it is quite possible to act as the three whales on which your system of correct work with incoming information will be based. Thank you @cryptoctopus
Such type of things happen when working constantly on a thing, I appreciate what you have suggested us. One suggestion from my side, you can do yoga to make your mind calm and that also increase your concentration. One more thing take care of your wife. Good luck, have a nice day.
You definetly make have no regrets following you. Another post saved for the Future.
Great to take a step back and think again what you learned... And you know the SEX now of the baby.. This is such great to have kids. The best thing what happened in my life... some time ago now but a proud dad each day!!
looking for the next post & now you must take a break. relax you did well & i know you'll do well. you got dedication, inspiration & domain knowledge. see you soon with next post @cryptoctopus
@resteemia
reteemed & upvoted & commented & followed
Great advice, I’ve noticed the overload in the past but never really found a good coping mechanism, hopefully you don’t mind if I borrow some of yours