The document presents three techniques for becoming a better learner, focusing on overcoming procrastination, using interleaved practice, and the importance of exercise and rest for memory and health. It introduces methods such as the Pomodoro Technique for managing time efficiently and explains the benefits of interleaving various skills during practice. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for a positive mindset, planning, and proper sleeping habits to enhance learning capabilities.

1. THREE TECHNIQUES TO BE A
BETTER LEARNER
Abdelkrim Berkous
28/01/2015

2. Welcome
Wilkommen
Bienvenue
Click on the video ….

3. Agenda
• Who am I and what are my goals
• Goal of this presentation
• Technique 1 : Kill the serial procrastinator
that resides in you
• Technique 2 : Interleaved Practice
• Technique 3 : Sport and Rest !!!
• Example of study plan

4. Who am I

5. • I was born a long time ago, in the beautiful spring
1974 in a town…euh I’ll sum up it’s not a bio !! Well
I’m 40(guess you could have guessed by calculating
but you’re definitely too lazy), a devoted father of
two daughters, and a good guitar player oscillating
between reggae, trash metal and classical music!
1
• My job is to sell donuts …no I’m currently a network
architect. In fact I’m building networks for a french
major company and my job had recently a lot of
evolution I must cope with. So I don’t want to miss
that train and be left behind !
2
• So a I must learn a lot of new things and consolidate
the basis, and play guitar and running, I must plan my
duty accordingly and be a better and more efficient
learner. So that’s why i’m sharing three techniques I
find efficient to fulfill my requirements !
3
Who am I and what are my goals

6. Goal of this
presentation

7. • In a first time, we will talk about procrastination.
What is the procrastination, what are the related
feelings about it, and how to avoid it
1
• In a second time, we will talk about interleaved
practice. The idea is to present the technique , which I
find is the more efficient when you are studying
things in parallel you want to retain later.
2
• Finally, we will have a word on why sport and sleep
are very good for memory and health, and provide a
study plan.
3
Goal of this presentation

8. PROCRASTINATOR :
I’LL BE NEVER BACK

9. What is procrastination
• Procrastination is when you say « ok, this task
i’ll do it on tomorrow », and you repeat it
every day…For instance, ok i’ll pay the
taxes…and you’re waiting till the last day on
when you’re forced to do it
• Procrastination is linked to a kind of pain, and
you always find a distraction to avoid doing
this task

10. Unpleasant
Task
Short
hapiness (but
you haven’t
done the task!)
Procrastination Funnel
Distraction
And then again and again…Don’t wake the Sisyphe which
sleeps in you !!

11. How To tackle procrastination(1/2)
• The main method is Pomodoro !!!
– Method created by M. Cirillo. The legend told that his wife was upset with
him because she was always burning the food when he was cooking
beacause he didn’t know how to manage the time, and her wife has bought
him a timer which was a tomato(a pomodoro in italiano si !!)…
– The method will be described in the next slide
• The other method is stay positive and adopt the lucky attitude !!!
– Non procrastinor people are always positive when they’re dealing with
unpleasant tasks
– When you adopt the luck attitude, lady’s luck favors the one who tries !!
– Always begin by the most unpleasant tasks…eat your froggies in the
morning…Except in France for sure where maybe drink your californian wine
will be more adapted(okay …guess where i’m living …)

12. How To tackle procrastination(2/2)
• Pomodoro(tomato in italiano si!)is a measure of time. The technique consist in alternating 25
minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest and repeat it 4 times. After the 4th repetition take a longer
break (lunch for instance or the 5th coffee if you’re working in France)!!
• On top of that and to make it efficient, you :
– Check the schedule. Make sure to assess correctly the time it will take to finish a task
– Set the time. You can use for that Clear Focus on your smartphone (i assume you have one or
check on google, you’ll find one). You must commit on the time and never get bothered during this
time
– Only work on the planned task !! You can keep a notepad near if something goes through your
head(oh dear you will not forget to buy the bread for the dinner…).
– Respect the break !! Respect the break !! RESPECT THE BREAK(repetition is important for the
memory expecially if we want to recall the positive stuff). You can do anything else, looking at you
mail, web surfing etc.
– Always begin by the worst task. Give this task one pomodoro or two so that you progress on it !!!
• Discipline and Rewarding. Make sure to respect this and to reward yourself so that you trick
your brain so that everything is natural.

13. INTERLEAVED
PRACTICE
ABC…123…DO RE
MI…

14. What is interleaved learning and what
is blocking learning(1/2)
• A simple image to describe the difference :

15. What is interleaved learning and what
is blocking learning(2/2)
• Block practicing is when you focus on learning one skill at
a time. You practice a skill repetitively for a period of time
and then you move onto another skill and repeat the
process.
• Interleaving practice on the other hand involves working
on multiple skills in parallel.
• If you want to learn skills A, B and C then a block practice
session would look something like this AAABBBCCC
• An interleaved practice session would look like this
ABCABCABC (in series) or ACBABCBAC (randomized). The
only constraint is that you can’t work on the same type of
problem back to back.

16. Why and how interleaved practice
can be efficient
• A lot of studies has shown in many domains that
interleaved practice give to the learners a better
memory retention(see the references)
• When you want to learn many topics in parallel,
this is the method to use
• If you consider passing a test in a few month,
interleaved practice will provide you the better
results

17. How to use interleave practice
• Study the material – Before you can begin practicing you need to seek out
instruction on what you are trying to learn. You have to figure out what is the big
picture. For instance if you want to learn how to play a song , hear it first !
• Practice deliberately – This is a supplement to deliberate practice, not a
replacement. Whenever you are practicing you should be practicing the tenets
of deliberate practice.
• Avoid flow – Block practice allows you to get in a groove which gives a false
impression that you know the material. You need to actively avoid that sensation
and shift to a different exercise once you feel it occurring.
• Mix in old material – It is important that you mix up your practice material. This
can be accomplished by cycling in practice exercises you have already completed.
This also has the advantage of leveraging the spacing effect.
• Track your progress - This technique has the potential to frustrate and discourage
even the most persistent student. By keeping track of your progress you will
have confirmation that you are making progress even though it may feel like you
are constantly struggling.

18. How to use interleave practice
• Study the material – Before you can begin practicing you need to seek out
instruction on what you are trying to learn. You have to figure out what is the big
picture. For instance if you want to learn how to play a song , hear it first !
• Practice deliberately – This is a supplement to deliberate practice, not a
replacement. Whenever you are practicing you should be practicing the tenets
of deliberate practice.
• Avoid flow – Block practice allows you to get in a groove which gives a false
impression that you know the material. You need to actively avoid that sensation
and shift to a different exercise once you feel it occurring.
• Mix in old material – It is important that you mix up your practice material. This
can be accomplished by cycling in practice exercises you have already completed.
This also has the advantage of leveraging the spacing effect.
• Track your progress - This technique has the potential to frustrate and discourage
even the most persistent student. By keeping track of your progress you will
have confirmation that you are making progress even though it may feel like you
are constantly struggling.
• Couple it with POMODORO !!

19. Interleave practice – main caveats
• There are two main caveats to interleaved
practice :
– Counterintuitive. We’ve been used to do
blocking learning and are used to it. So we
must our mindset
– Learning is a challenging process that places
a strain on your brain and your will. Indeed,
it’s hard to implement this and you may feel
discouraged !!!

20. SPORT AND REST…
BUT ALWAYS IN PEACE…

21. BENEFITS OF SPORT
• We will not recall the benefits of doing
exercise(reasonably), good for health in so many
domains
• The more you’re doing exercise, the more your
brain is generating dopamine, the better you
feel…why will you buy this weed you don’t really
know the long term effect ..
• Exercise create news neurons !!!
• It permits you thinking and creating new
connexions ….

22. BENEFITS OF REST/SLEEP
• Our brain is consuming a lot of energy, so resting/sleeping. Our brain
is resting ..in a house party either you’re enjoying the party, either
you clean but you can’t do two things at the same time !
• The space between neurons is shrinking during sleep, and there is a
cleanup of your toxic waste …so next time explain your wife to not
think to much, she will be more happy  ! More seriously, this is a
good way to avoid Alzheimer from knocking at your heaven’s door
• Good for growth
• Memory consolidation…
• Next time, explain your boss that the more you sleep the more
efficient you are …if you don’t suceed in convincing him send me my
presentation !

23. EXAMPLE OF STUDY
PLAN…

24. An example of three days
Monday Tuesday Wenesday
1 pomodoro
Technical guitar stuff -
tapping
Technical Guitar stuff - Fast
picking Technical guitar stuff - sweeping
2 pomodori
Learn how to program
in Python Revising routing concepts
Repeat first part of "Sultans of Swing" and
learn first solo
1 pomodoro
Learn first part of
"Sultans of Swing"
Learn first part of "nothing
else matters" Testing yourself on Python

25. Summary – The Ten commandements
• You will not kill except your procrastination
• You will rest and sleep
• You will do some exercise to avoid taking drugs
• You will interleave your practice
• You will try to positive and adopt the luckattitude
• You will plan
• You will do tomato..euh pomodoro !!
• You will change your mindset
• You will open yourself to new topics
• You will count up to ten just to check that yeah there are
ten commandements  !!!

26. Resources – References
• The fabulous coursera training
https://class.coursera.org/learning-003
• http://j2jenkins.com/2013/04/29/interleaved-practice-a-secret-enhanced-
learning-technique/
• http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~drohrer/pdfs/Rohrer&Taylor2007IS.pdf
• http://www.salon.com/2014/04/20/ditch_the_10000_hour_rule_why_malcolm_
gladwells_famous_advice_falls_short/
• https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/spacing-and-interleaving/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23932577
• http://www.maxisciences.com/sommeil/bienfaits-du-sommeil-dormir-est-
essentiel-pour-nettoyer-le-cerveau_art31111.html
• http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/psychologie/bien_memoriser/ps_2051_uit.htm
• http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/psychologie/stress_angoisse/articles/12393-
bienfaits-sieste.htm

27. THANKS TO BARBARA, TERENCE, ALL
THE SPEAKERS AND MY THE PEERS WHO
WILL READ THIS….ENJOY YOUR LIFE AND
KEEP ON LEARNING !!