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Ian Gibbs
The Learnability Man
Blog: articles about education, learning and getting better at things. Use the filters to get straight to what interests you.
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Ian Gibbs
Apr 9, 20232 min read
Optimising Your Learning: Three Essential Concepts to Bear In Mind
Whether you're studying for exams, learning new skills for your career, or simply broadening your knowledge, learning is an essential...
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Ian Gibbs
Feb 24, 20233 min read
Why Your Brain Goes Fuzzy
You might not be familiar with Cognitive Load Theory but you’re very familiar with its practical effects. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)...
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Ian Gibbs
Feb 21, 20232 min read
Key Learning Techniques #5: Social Learning
One of the 4 cornerstones of Learning Clubs is Social Learning - the way we acquire new behaviours, attitudes, and values by 'using' the...
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Ian Gibbs
Nov 20, 20222 min read
My son did it and I’m proud of him.
I finally succumbed to my children’s pleadings and gave them a phone each, but, much to their disapproval, with parental control. This...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 18, 20223 min read
Student Tip 23: What Did You Do Today?
One of the most annoying questions you get asked when you get home from school is “What did you do today?” Answering this question...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 17, 20222 min read
Student Tip 22: Overlearning
As well as personal learning strategies, I also help people with their public speaking. It’s a useful skill. Giving a presentation to a...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 14, 20223 min read
Student Tip 21: Do It Again
There’s a guy on YouTube called Mike Boyd. Look him up. He’s great. He learns stuff. Not German or Geography but fun stuff like...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 13, 20223 min read
Student Tip 20: Jeux Sans Frontiers
Why is it so easy to spend a few hours playing Call of Duty, Minecraft or Fortnite and yet so difficult to grind out thirty minutes of...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 11, 20223 min read
Student Tip 19: Two Heads Are Better Than One
You’ve just seen in the previous tip that if you explain something to someone else, it helps you understand it better. You could even go...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 10, 20222 min read
Student Tip 18: Explain It to Someone Else
A teacher once did an experiment with two groups of students. She gave the same homework to both groups but with one important...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 5, 20222 min read
Student Tip 17: Picture This
Remember those children’s story books you had read to you when you were little? You know, the ones with all the pictures. Have you ever...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 4, 20223 min read
Student Tip 16: Assume You’ll Forget
There’s a man called David Allen. Lots of people think he’s a productivity guru—a man who knows how to get things done. But when asked...
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Ian Gibbs
Oct 3, 20222 min read
Student Tip 15: Something To Do With A Pencil
Maybe you already know this game, but an entertaining way to pass the time on a long journey is to play ‘Things you can do with...’. It...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 28, 20223 min read
Student Tip 14: Don’t Lose Those Nuggets
You probably already know what flashcards are: small rectangular cards with the stuff you want to learn written on the back and some sort...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 27, 20222 min read
Student Tip 13: Trick or Treat?
I’m sure you’re already very familiar with prizes and punishments at school—especially the punishments. But the reason why your teachers...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 26, 20222 min read
Student Tip 12: The Power Of Habit
We are all creatures of habit, and this includes you, too. By this I mean that you tend to do the same thing in the same way every time...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 22, 20222 min read
Student Bonus Tip: Don’t Do This
In Tip 9 we looked at not worrying about making mistakes. In Tip 10 we looked at learning from the mistakes we do make. But in this Bonus...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 21, 20222 min read
Student Tip 10: Don’t Ignore Them
Having said in the previous blog that making mistakes is good, I think we both know that if you keep making a pig’s ear out of your...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 20, 20222 min read
Student Tip 9: Make Mistakes
Making a mistake is a bad thing, isn’t it? Yes... and no. It depends. If you’re a brain surgeon or a Jumbo Jet pilot or a nuclear...
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Ian Gibbs
Sep 19, 20223 min read
Student Tip 8: Deep Thought
Have you ever been scuba diving? There’s lots of fascinating stuff at the bottom of the sea but it’s not easy to get to. You have to do a...
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