Metalearn

Uri Bram is the bestselling author of Thinking Statistically and speaks about using data and statistical thinking effectively in the real world. In this episode we discuss: - The key statistical principals that everyone should be aware of - How understanding music theory makes you a better musician - How to learn complex skills from experts So whether you’re math-phobic or already consider yourself a stats maverick this conversation will give you a whole range of useful insights that.

Anyone can learn another language but the thing that holds most people back is a series of limiting beliefs. In this episode we discuss: - Whether there is a "language learning gene" that most great polyglots have - Whether immersion is important for the language learning process - Whether children are actually better language learners than adults So if you're looking to learn a new language this episode will eliminate any doubts you have and give you the tools needed to make real progress.

Gabriele Oettingen is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg and a bestselling author. Her research focuses on human motivation and goal setting, exploring the impact of the way we look at the future on our emotions and behaviour. We’re living in an age where positive thinking is all the rage – from pop music to political speeches thee message is the same: think positive, focus on your dreams and they’ll come true before you know it. The problem with following this advice is not only that it’s empty and hard to action – but that it can actually reduce your chances of achieving your goals. Gabriele Oettingen has spent twenty years researching the science of human motivation and discovered time and again that conventional positive thinking falls short. By changing the way we think about the future her research has proven that we can become healthier, improve our personal relationships and perform better at work. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics includi

If you’re someone with multiple interests, you’ve probably been branded a “Jack of all Trades, Master of None” more times than you can remember. And those of us with many interests sometimes struggle because we can’t be put into a box and labelled as an expert in a specific field. But during the Renaissance, a polymath was seen as a perfected individual, someone who had mastered intellectual, artistic and physical pursuits. Hence the term “Renaissance Man” that’s still often used to describe people with multiple interests to this day. In this short episode, I'm joined by my friend Will Reynolds, who is a perfect example of a polymath and MetaLearner because he’s taught himself a whole range of skills including writing, playing the guitar and videography – and importantly he’s been able to make a living from these skills. We discuss a range of topics including: - The lessons we can learn from great polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin and Johann Goethe - Where society's obsession with special

Ellen Langer is a Harvard psychologist widely known as the “mother of mindfulness” and is the author of eleven books and more than two hundred research articles on mindfulness over the last 35 years. Mindfulness is becoming more and more of a buzzword these days but very few people actually understand it and even fewer know how to apply it in their everyday lives. But there are few things that can have a bigger impact on your learning and life than improving your awareness of yourself and the world around you. Ellen is the perfect guide to the field of mindfulness because she takes a clear, no nonsense approach, devoid of the mysticism that often surrounds it. This makes her ideas easy to digest and more importantly, easy to apply in practice. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - What mindfulness actually is and how it differs from mindlessness - Some of the most common learning myths and how to combat them - How to keep learning fun and avoid it becoming a chore So whether you're

Simon Peyton Jones is a computer scientist who currently works as a researcher for Microsoft and has built his own programming language, Haskell. He is also chair of Computing at School, which was central to the 2014 reform of the English curriculum that made computer science a foundational subject. As our lives become increasingly influenced by computers, it's surprising how few of us know anything about how these devices work. We don't all need to become programmers, but understanding the core principles that are behind our favourite websites and apps is important when we spend so much time on them. Simon is uniquely positioned to offer insight into the field, given his many years of research and application and his experience teaching computer science as a Professor at University level. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - The core computer science principles that everyone should understand - The importance of focusing on ideas, not devices, in computer science education - Simon’s

Jeff Cobb is a thought leader in the field of lifelong learning and the author of the bestselling book, Leading The Learning Revolution. He also runs a popular blog and podcast, and is the founder of Tagoras, a learning consultancy. As we move from a knowledge economy to a learning economy where we need to acquire new skills everyday just to stand still, the importance of lifelong learning is rapidly increasing and opportunities in the space are huge. Jeff is someone who is uniquely placed to view the lifelong learning industry from a big picture perspective given his many years of experience and the range of different clients he has been involved with. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - The main trends driving the increased demand for lifelong learning - What makes good educational content and what should be avoided - How the shift towards mobile is likely to affect the future of learning So whether you're looking to start a business in the lifelong learning market or are just cur

Ed Fidoe is one of the founders of School 21, an innovative new school in Stratford, East London that's reinventing education by preparing its students, aged 4-18, for the 21st Century. For so many people, school was characterised by drudgery, rote learning and the stress of exams. But school doesn't have to be that way and there are plenty of people trying to reinvent education for the 21st century. Ed is one of these people, and along with cofounders Peter Hyman and Oli de Botton, he built a school from scratch that aimed to rebalance head (academic success), heart (character and well-being) and hand (generating ideas, problem solving and making a difference). In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - The core skills needed for the 21st century and how to develop them - The process of reinventing education and the challenges ahead - The effective and balanced use of technology in classrooms So whether you're a parent thinking about how to manage your children's eduction or are just curi

Barry Schwartz is an acclaimed Professor of Psychology who recently retired after 45 years of teaching at Swarthmore College. Barry has also written three bestselling books on the Paradox of Choice, the Meaning of Work and Practical Wisdom and has done a series of popular TED talks on those subjects. Practical wisdom is something we could all do with more of. It’s close to what the Ancient Greeks called phronesis - a general understanding of how to live a good life and the decisions we should make. Barry has spent years studying the subject and even had the opportunity to teach a class on it at Swarthmore, which makes him perfectly placed to offer insights into the topic of wisdom. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - How to become wiser using tools to learn from our everyday experience - How practical wisdom could be applied to improve the educational system - How to make better choices in a world of infinite possibilities So whether you're looking to make better decisions in your l

Barry Pousman is the founder of Variable Labs, a Virtual Reality company that creates immersive experiences to help people develop soft skills. Virtual Reality is likely to be a game changing technology for a number of industries but its impact on education in schools and businesses will be huge. As someone who's running a company at the cutting edge of the industry, as well as filming his own VR experiences, Barry is perfectly placed to offer insights into the potential of the technology. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - How learning in VR accelerates the development of soft skills like negotiation - The potential for VR to revolutionise education in schools and universities - How VR differs to other storytelling mediums like film, audio and books So whether you're curious about how VR can help you learn new skills or want to know more about it's impact on the educational system, this episode will give you insights from the cutting edge of this revolutionary new industry.

Kalid Azad is the founder of Better Explained, one of the world's most popular maths websites that makes hard concepts easy to understand. After studying Computer Science at Princeton, Kalid spent a few years at Microsoft as a program manager, founded a Y Combinator startup, and currently works as a developer. For many people, maths is the subject they used to hate most in school and they carry this fear of numbers into later life. But it doesn't have to be that way - and understanding basic mathematical principles can be both fun and useful. Kalid uses an intuition first approach to explain difficult ideas in a way that anyone can understand and this makes him a great person to talk to about any subject or skill including his current profession of computer programming. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - How to get better at maths and why some people find it so hard - The secrets behind great explanations of tricky concepts - How Kalid has learned skills from coding to snowboarding

Niklas Jansen is the co-founder of Blinkist, an app that distills the core insights from non-fiction books into 15-minute summaries that you can access from your smartphone or tablet in written or audio form. If you're someone who wonders about how to apply what you read in everyday life, then the app is worth checking out, because the short summaries or "blinks" cut away the excess and drive you to take action. Niklas founded Blinkist with three friends in 2012 and the business has since gone on to raise Series A funding and acquire over a million users. In this conversation we discuss a range of interesting topics including: - How Niklas started the business and learned the skills of entrepreneurship - How to apply what you read and use Blinkist to learn more in less time - How Niklas and his co-founders create a learning environment at the business So whether you're looking to build your own business, remember more of what you read or learn better from your coworkers, this episode will give you actionable

The MetaLearn podcast has reached the big 5-0. The show is now in 127 countries with listeners on every continent and is growing rapidly – in fact in the first 3 months of 2017, the podcast had 40% more downloads than the whole of 2016! In today’s special episode you’ll have the chance to hear my reflections on learning and education after fifty episodes of the podcast. I'm interviewed by Joshua Fields, who was the very first guest on the podcast. Josh is a mental and physical health expert with qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and mindfulness meditation and is also a blogger at the Huffington Post, contributing on mental health, entrepreneurship and economics. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - My main reflections on learning based on my insights from the podcast - The lessons I’ve learned from working as a lecturer and teacher - My views on the future of learning and the educational system So if you're interested to find out what I've learned after 50 episodes of the podcast,

They're two words that get thrown around a lot but what exactly is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? Knowledge is something closer to what the Ancient Greeks called Episteme – a specialised knowledge in a particular field or an ability in a skill that's descriptive or explanatory in nature. Wisdom is something that’s harder to define but it’s closer to what the Greeks called Phronesis – it’s a more general understanding of how to live a good life and the decisions we should make. In this episode I discuss the differences between knowledge and wisdom, and the insights we can draw from them, including: - Knowledge comes and goes but wisdom lasts - Knowledge is additive and wisdom is subtractive - Knowledge Can Be Taught But Wisdom Must Be Learned So whether you're looking to make better decisions in your life or become more practically wise, this episode will give you actionable insights that will help you think smarter and make better decisions.

Ben Medder is a movement coach who has trained in martial arts, athletics and parkour. He’s taken inspiration from the likes of Ido Portal, best known for his work with MMA fighter Connor McGregor, and the Fighting Monkey and Evolve Move Play Methods. Many people don't identify as being athletic but physical skills can be learned like anything else. While you're not going to become the next Usain Bolt by doing a few sprint sessions, it's easier than most people think to get good at a sport. As someone who has learned and taught a wide range of physical skills as a coach, Ben is perfectly placed to give advice on the most important elements of picking up new sports or physical practices. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - Ben’s advice to people looking how to move better and pick up a physical skill - The parallels between parenting and teaching in different contexts - The role of movement and sports in the educational system So whether you're looking to learn karate or kayaking, fo

In modern society, learning has become synonymous with taking in information passively and retaining it. Students view teachers as people who are supposed to deliver information into their heads so that they can recall it when required. But this is the one of the most damaging misconceptions we carry into our lives because the truth is that all learning is active. It isn’t a process of having something done to you – it’s a process of you doing something to yourself. The best teachers all understand this – and know that their main role is not to build a whole fire for their students - it’s to ignite the spark of inspiration that will help them build and feed the fire themselves. In this episode I discuss some of my main insights about teaching including: - The teacher’s role in society and how it’s changed throughout history - The qualities and characteristics that I think make great teachers - The things we can learn from other educational systems who value teachers Whether you're involved in the educational

Barbara Oakley is an educator and writer who’s empowering people all over the world to learn more effectively. Barb is best known for her role as the lead instructor on Coursera’s Learning How To Learn – the most popular online course in the world last year – and her bestselling book A Mind for Numbers. For all the hours we spend in school it's remarkable that we're never taught how to learn. This is even more surprising when recent developments in cognitive psychology and neuroscience mean that we know more about the learning process than at any point in history. Barb's work on the MOOC Learning How To Learn has brought this knowledge to the public domain, with remarkable results thanks to her engaging presentation style and ability to communicate complex ideas in a simple way. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - Barb’s insights from learning in the military and retraining as an engineer at 26 - How to apply what cognitive science has established about the learning process - The fu

Is it really possible to learn from animals? For thousands of years, all kinds of authorities have been repeating the idea that we humans are exceptional and by far the most intelligent in the animal kingdom. So it’s easy to see why we humans think we’re much smarter than animals – but is that actually the case? The fact that animals don’t understand us in some ways, and that we don’t understand them in others implies our intelligences are different. But different in kind rather than rather in level – like the difference between analytical and musical intelligence, rather than the 'I’m smarter than you' type of intelligence. In this episode I dive into 5 of the main lessons I think we can learn from our friends in the animal kingdom including: - What wolves can teach us about leadership - What ants can teach us about collaboration - What giraffes can teach us about being ourselves So by the end you'll have gained insight into to some of the main lessons we can learn from some of the remarkable creatures we sh

In ancient cultures, mythology served a number of other important functions on an individual and personal level which may not be immediately obvious. On a personal level mythology created a sense of awe about the mystery of human existence. By creating this sense of wonder, mythology helped people to learn about their own lives in a way that few other fields could. On a social level, mythology educated people about how they fit into the group they lived in. Rituals would help to mark the different stages of life and would help to define the roles of the different members in that society. In this episode I discuss the insights we can take from mythology including: - My interpretation of the myth of the Trojan Horse in Homer's Iliad - The danger of hubris, drawing on the myth of Icarus and Daedalus - The hero's journey, drawing on Homer's Odyssea In this episode you'll learn to look beyond the surface of mythology and find far more than literary entertainment - because mythology is at the core of ancient wisdom

Zahra Davidson is a multidisciplinary designer innovating in education by encouraging people to learn in communities. She is the founder of Enrol Yourself, an organization that gives people the structure and support to pursue learning marathons (long term learning projects) with other lifelong learners. When we leave school we often miss out on one of the most important components of learning anything - community. Communities allow us to learn from others, assess our performance level and share the learning experience. Zahra has experience of participating in great learning communities and has now built and managed her own, so she's perfectly placed to offer insights into the process of using community to accelerate the learning process. In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including: - The importance of learning in communities - The impact of the educational system on collaborative learning - The qualities needed to become a self directed learner So whether you're looking to join a community to