Aims of the course:
- Improve understanding of what the neuroscience and psychology of learning and memory can (and can’t) tell us.
- Raise awareness of how the brain changes throughout life and how this affects our behaviour.
- Help develop strategies that can be used at home to improve learning & memory.
Learning outcomes:
As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to:
- Know what happens in the brain when we learn.
- Recall what psychological studies have taught us about learning & memory, and their limits.
- Understand how the brain changes as we grow and age.
- Use this understanding to improve the efficiency of their learning & memory.
Course content overview:
Research in Psychology and Neuroscience progresses rapidly; we discover more about how we learn and how our memories work. This online course will provide a guided tour through the brain, looking at the changes that occur on a cellular level when we learn new information or store a memory. We will examine the way the brain changes from child to teenager to adult, and how these affect the way we learn and remember information. By understanding more about the way memories are stored and recalled, we can explore different ways to help improve this process, at any stage of our lives.
The study of how learning happens in the brain is a popular emerging field, but it is filled with misinformation. The course will tackle common misconceptions and look at ways in which we can use our understanding of the brain, as well as the tricks psychological research has uncovered, to help everyone learn more quickly and efficiently. We will finish with a practical session covering memory tricks and exercises anyone can use to learn and remember information more effectively.
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 19-25 October 2020
Teaching Weeks: 26 October-29 November 2020
Feedback Week: 30 November-6 December 2020
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
What our students say about our online psychology courses - September 2015
“The lessons were well prepared, structured impressively and optimally pitched at a diverse group of students”
“The tutor’s feedback in the discussion forum was always motivational and student centred”
