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MetaLearn Podcast

The MetaLearn Podcast gives you the knowledge and skills needed to understand yourself and the world around you, so you can futureproof yourself and thrive in the 21st century. Host Nasos Papadopoulos interviews the world's top experts in every field, extracting the principles needed learn faster, think smarter and live better.
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Now displaying: 2017
Mar 21, 2017

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.

Mar 14, 2017

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, football or fencing, this episode has you covered with practical strategies you can apply straight away.

Mar 7, 2017

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 system or not, you'll gain insights that will help you reflect on the role of teachers in your life and help you become a great teacher to others, whether at school or in life as a parent or friend.

Feb 28, 2017

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 future of online education and the success of "Learning How To Learn"

So whether you're looking to upgrade your learning skills, find out more about how they pick up skills in the military or understand the secrets behind great online education, this episode will give you all that and more.

Feb 21, 2017

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 share the world with.

Feb 14, 2017

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 and points at what it means to live a good human life.

Feb 7, 2017

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 supercharge your learning or start your very own learning marathon, this episode will give you the tools and techniques you need to succeed.

Jan 31, 2017

Children are full of life. They're constantly growing and learning. They embody curiosity and the creative spirit. And these are all qualities we could all use more of in every area of our lives.

We become so used to learning things we don’t really want to at school and university that we stop asking questions. We forget what it’s actually like to learn something we love and to learn it in a way that’s fun and enjoyable.

But the good news is that every one of us can rediscover that boundless curiosity and learn like a child again by looking to the creative geniuses all around us.

In this episode I explore the insights children have to offer us, including:

- Asking questions about everything and exploring your curiosity
- Living fearlessly and recognising your limiting beliefs for what they are
- Having fun and making the learning process enjoyable rather than a chore

So by the end of this episode you'll have everything you need to bring more creativity and joy into your life and work.

Jan 24, 2017

Dr Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist and writer who is committed to exploring the mysteries of the brain and mind. He is best known for his book The Master and His Emissary in which he explores the differences between the brain's right and left hemispheres and their effects on history and culture over the centuries.

Most scientists have long abandoned the attempt to understand why nature separated the brain's hemispheres. But anyone who knows anything about the area would say there are differences: it’s just that no-one seems to know why.

Iain has spent years researching the subject in depth and has made some remarkable findings about the differences between the left and right hemispheres and their impact on society in the Western World.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The true differences between the left and right brain
- The impact our left brain dominated world has had on the educational system
- How to apply what cognitive science has established about the learning process

So whether you're looking to understand the mechanics of your brain a little better or find out how our thinking affects the society we live in today this episode will give you all that and much more.

Jan 17, 2017

Most people over estimate how hard it is to learn a new skill because they confuse getting good at something with becoming a master in it.

This short episode will give you a simple framework to take you from the novice, beginner stage to an intermediate level of proficiency as enjoyably and effectively as possible in the skill you want to learn.

In this episode you'll learn how to:

- Filter learning projects in order to choose the ones you're likely to stick with
- Build strategies based on the three pillars of mindset, habits and environment
- Deal with the inevitable challenges you'll face on your learning journey

So whether you're building a business, learning a language or picking up a sport, this episode will give you the principles and techniques needed to succeed.

Jan 10, 2017

The idea that we all learn differently has been appropriated by various theorists who suggest that most of us can be placed into one of several predefined categories - or learning styles.

While I’m reluctant to promote one specific category set when it comes to learning, I think the process of looking at them can be helpful in getting you to reflect on your own experience and understand what works best for you.

So in this episode, I’ll outline some areas that I think are important to pay attention to when trying to work out how you learn best, including:

- The activity of learning – Reading vs. Listening vs. Speaking vs. Writing
- The optimal time for learning - The times of day you're wired to learn best at
- The mode of learning - taking a specialist approach vs. a generalist one

This episode will help you identify how you learn best by offering you some simple tools and techniques you can apply to reflect on your personal experience and consider how your learning differs according to the situation you’re in so that you can adapt flexibly to learn the skill you want to in the most effective way.

 

Jan 3, 2017

In this short episode I review what I learned in 2016, sharing my successes and failures in everything from the process of starting a podcast, to holding discussion groups as a university lecturer and pursuing my own language learning projects.

In ancient Roman myth, Janus was the god of transitions. The early part of January, named after Janus, was traditionally seen as a time for reflection on the year gone by and planning the year ahead - a process of looking forwards with one head and backwards with the other to determine action in the present.

For me, this last year was a significant one and in this episode I condense the most important lessons I’ve learned into 5 main areas, sharing my successes and failures with you along the way.

Some of the themes related to what I learned in 2016 include:

- Discussion and dialogue as learning tools
- The power of community for learning anything
- Knowing when to give up on a learning project

So whether you're looking to learn better in teams, manage your learning projects more effectively or find out what I've learned from teaching at a university this past year, this episode will give you all that and more.

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