Learning new things can seem frustrating, especially when you’re trying to learn a difficult skill or concept. However, it can become exciting, simple, and fun if you are able to uncover how learning happens in the first place. This is the life lesson Dr. Barbara Oakley lives by and imparts in her well-renowned Coursera course, “Learning How to Learn” made with neuroscientist and computational biologist, Dr. Terrence Sejnowski.
LUMS had the privilege of hosting Dr. Barbara Oakley during her visit to Pakistan where she delivered several master classes in Lahore and Karachi. During her visit, Dr. Oakley informed us that she hated math and science as a student and flunked these subjects from elementary school through high school. Today, she is a Professor of Engineering and credits her success to unearthing the art of learning. She shares the secrets of how she grew to love learning in her course, which is amongst the most taken courses on Coursera.
The course carries an empowering message that LUMSx as a center wants to embody and convey to our learners – ‘that anyone can learn if they have the right support’. We as a center aim to be that support by being the technological bridge between learners and the education they would like to attain. We decided that there was no better way to begin our foray into the world of accessible digital learning than with an Urdu adaptation of this course for our Pakistani audiences and so we began work on “Seekhna Seekhain.”
The course is developed using the latest neuroscientific research on how learning occurs in the brain and is packed with tried and tested tricks to make it easier. We explore how procrastination happens, its connection to memory as well as how to work with it to study effectively. We get an understanding of how the brain “chunks” information and how learning is simply helping the brain build these chunks for us.
The course is developed and delivered by four brilliant teachers (and learners):
- Dr. Sabieh Anwar, whose life’s work entails making the Sciences accessible and fun for students everywhere.
- Dr. Haniya Azam, who makes math an adventure for all of her students.
- Dr. Arshad Ahmad, the sixth Vice Chancellor for LUMS and a leader in the field of education and teaching with a career spanning over 20 years.
- Dr. Suleman Shahid, the director of LUMSx and a believer in the power of multidisciplinary education or “Renaissance Thinking” as Barbara Oakley calls it.
Begin your learning journey with us today – Seekhna Seekhain is available on LUMSx now!
