Highlighting Is a Waste of Time: The Best and Worst Learning Techniques (Time)

[Lark]

I wonder about the criteria, are they interested really in learning or in learning as indicated by success at taking tests.

Personally learning for me has been about reading and discussion, discussion is a big one, and I take a pride and ownership of my learning too, its an affect thing, but also I find that good learning can come from interaction.

I'm interested in the topic of learning per se though, learning theories and the like because I'm motivated to learn.

The highlighting and underlining I do think is a bad strategy, most of the people who I've known to do that dont memorise what is highlighted or underlined because they think that highlighting it or underlining it saves them the need to do so. Its a lazy strategy. Sort of like going and buying all the latest books and having a stack of books and some how expecting it to jump of the page and into your head. Consumerism not concentration.

Beginners mind is important, believing that you have something to learn in the first place and dont know it all, then being motivated to learn.

Having good material to learn from, concentrating and removing things which will adversely effect concentration and attention, ie background noise, intrusions, distractions, and not being tired, not being hungry, craving coffee or something like that.

 

[Orangey]

^^ I don't know...like [MENTION=1206]cascadeco[/MENTION] said, highlighting often serves as a way of encouraging a more active reading state of mind. It's really easy to pass into passive reading mode, and that makes it more difficult to retain details and memorize. I've noticed that when I'm on stimulants like Adderall, I go crazy with the highlighting and marginalia not so much because I ever plan on referring to them again, but more because it's the natural impulse if your mind is active.

With the exception of a few classes in h.s. and college, I was never exceptionally good at paying attention.. I'd zone out. Sometimes it was due to my finding the teaching relatively useless, and my thinking I'd be just as well off learning on my own, reading the book, etc prior to the exam (and that worked fine). Also though, I tend to have a pretty poor retention of details (and so many classes/exams are based on knowing the details, and aren't as much about the concepts..at least the classes I took; chem/bio details, definitions, dates/peoples' names, law names, math rules, and so on), so notes were a MUST, and re-reading/drilling in my head was a must. There's no way I would have been able to just go to class and absorb everything and remember all on my own.

I used to think that I was bad at paying attention, but that's because I was confusing the "I hate listening because he/she's fucking boring" with "I can't remember what people say to me." The reason I found teachers boring is because I would be the only one paying enough attention to notice that they repeated themselves five times. I don't know why, but I don't even need to try and I retain things better when people say them to me, even if I'm only half paying attention. It's strange how different learning styles really do manifest themselves concretely, unlike a lot of other typologies.

 

[FDG]

I highlight everything.

Well then, it's as useful as highlighting nothing.

 

[highlander]

Well then, it's as useful as highlighting nothing.

I should have said everything important. It is useful because then I only need to look at what I highlighted when I look at the book again.

 

[DaniaWania]

highlighting works once you have determined what should and shouldnt be highlighted.

I skim first.. talk to myself about the concept as I go along... make jottings.
Then I read in sections... make jottings and refer to other sources (if necessary), highlight, sketch etc


Everyone is different. the coloured highlights and all the scribbles give the page an IDENTITY... I will always remember that page if ever I am trying to remember a specific word or a sequence from the page. In my memory I will see the page and everything will jump out at me.

Rereading I will not do... I will skim and re-skim... but not reread. I dont have to, just a glance is enough for my memory

Self testing is good too. I like to make up n tape record memory questions... and the web is awesome for test/case questions.


Summarizing is good, idk what you are talking about.
When I have gone through a huge topic it helps to restructure everything in my head and barf it all out anew, in my own way, adding additional info from other sources or from my head as I go on. My summaries are not limited to one topic/article.. but are usually the combination of two or more topics... I can make connections and in the end I have one big piece that is still shorter than reading all topics mentioned. In the near future when I glance at my summary everything comes back to me and I remember every detail.

 

[Lark]

I got a second hand book today and it had some underlinning and circuling on it, it was pretty scribbly and of what appeared to be pretty random words.

That sort of highlighting is a pain in the ass for anyone reading the book afterwards, I always was careful if I ever underlined any of my books and generally it was books which I did not plan on selling or sharing on. I knew a friend who said she liked to read books which had been highlighted or written upon by friends because it was nice to know what friends thought of them and I agree with that but not if its crap highlighting and usually its just a spring board to the discussion which, again, I think is the real learning experience.

 

[Giggly]

Five leading psychologists have evaluated learning techniques and Time summarized their findings.

Worst techniques
- Highlighting and underlining (even can get in the way of learning);
- Rereading;
- Summarizing.

Best
- Spreading out study sessions (the longer you want to remember, the longer the intervals should be);
- Practice testing.

But I succeeded my study with almost all worst techniques (except for rereading, which I didn't have the time for as an INTP), and I did none of the best. But I remember a lot even 30 years after my exams.

May it the case that personality type is involved in learning techniques?

Interesting. I highlight but I do it so I know what to review when the time comes. I don't like rereading everything, only the important parts.

That said, I have had a few experiences with only what claim here to be the best methods and I can attest that it works (at least for me, it did). The longer I spread the study sessions out, the more I remember them. Whenever I do last minute cramming, I may do okay on exams but I forget the material afterwards.

I'd always buy a pack of rainbow highlighters when I went back to school shopping, and the first couple days I'd obsessively highlight and color code anything I could. then I forget about the highlighters, maybe use them to color on myself with, then lose them.

Hahaha I can only stand yellow. The other colors are too distracting.

 

[FDG]

I should have said everything important. It is useful because then I only need to look at what I highlighted when I look at the book again.

Wouldn't it be optimal to force yourself to remember what's important, instead of using higlighting?

 

[highlander]

Wouldn't it be optimal to force yourself to remember what's important, instead of using higlighting?

Everybody is different. It's what works for me. It might not be what works for you. That's fine.

Don't force yourself to do something that isn't optimal for you personally. We do not all learn in the same way.

Interesting. I highlight but I do it so I know what to review when the time comes. I don't like rereading everything, only the important parts.

Hahaha I can only stand yellow. The other colors are too distracting.

Pretty much exactly what I do .

 

[Glycerine]

I find highlighting distracting. I just read the material once through and wing it.

 

[Nicki]

I find highlighting distracting. I just read the material once through and wing it.

Same. Go Se.

 

[Rasofy]

Highlighting alone won't do anything, but once you need to review what you've already read, it can be time efficient to have the most important parts highlighted.

Besides, a customized material tends to be memory friendly.

 

[IZthe411]

The more senses involved, the better. When I want to learn it's definitely seeing it and rewriting/repeating it in words/terms I understand, then repeat. (Sight/Sound/Touch). I definitely need to re-visit as well if it is going to stick. I do this alot when I do public speaking. With this method it becomes less about memorizing what exactly I'm going to say but just expanding on whatever point I'm trying to make. Then you can add lib or whatever in the moment.

edit- for the purpose of test taking- practice exams work, along with what's up there. If

 

[Giggly]

I'm highlighting as we speak. :S

 

[Habba]

People who highlight:
How do you know that highlighting actually improved your learning?

"I did just fine!" isn't really a proof, since you can't know if you would have done better if you hadn't spend all your time highlighting.

I for one never highlighted anything. When taking notes (in certain stages of school these were mandatory, and even graded at the end of course. ), I never used anything else than a pencil. My handwriting was so awful that most of the time I couldn't figure out what it says myself! Until final years of college, I never read for exams (okay, once I did and got a bad grade). And in college I mostly read because I tended skipping the lectures (all the slides are available online).

All in all, I was very lazy student. But I kept getting good grades because I paid attention during the classes. Writing notes just distracted me (or more precisely, gave me no time to process the data... I just automatically write what I heard).

Then again, I guess primary Si helps a great deal.

 

[FDG]

People who highlight:
How do you know that highlighting actually improved your learning?

"I did just fine!" isn't really a proof, since you can't know if you would have done better if you hadn't spend all your time highlighting.

Right, that's the problem.

 

[Pushbeat]

People who highlight:
How do you know that highlighting actually improved your learning?

If so, how did the researchers find out that highlighting is not effective for them? ;-)

 

[INTP]

May it the case that personality type is involved in learning techniques?

Yes, there are some studies about it that you might find from google scholar

 

[ewomack]

I highlighted and underlined for a while before I realized that I had started to underline 1/2 of the books I read... and that I may as well re-read it... so that was pointless... but writing down main points, themes and referencing important passages as I was reading - at decent stopping points - really really helps me retain info... but what really solidifies a book's contents (for me, at least) is going back and trying to summarize the book and its main themes... actually writing a mini-paper... maybe a page or less... highlighting didn't help me at all with this, but the notes I took during reading delivered everything I needed... this forces me to think about what the book was actually about, not just regurgitate little bits of it that seemed important while reading... and now I read books with the idea of writing this mini-paper, which has gradually taught me to read books in a different way... and I find I'm retaining material much better... and, if I do forget something, I go back and read what I wrote and usually it pops right back into memory...

...wow... typing all this out and reading it back makes me feel a little insane... whoa...

 

[PrettyWoman]

I highlight and make my own mindmaps. I'm a visual lerner and highlights and mindmaps help me a lot. Highlights make the words stick when I look at them a bit longer and then maybe I get back to those later without having to read all the material, just the important parts. Mindmaps are created while I analyse my own thoughts. When I see how it relates, I understand and thus also remember it better. Little details won't help if the big picture is not understood so I always concentrate on big themes and connections and ignore little details but miraculously sometimes can recall those too. Oh, and of course I always got/get top grades!