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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential by McMaster University

4.8
stars
12,626 ratings

About the Course

Mindshift is designed to help boost your career and life in today’s fast-paced learning environment. Whatever your age or stage, Mindshift teaches you essentials such as how to get the most out of online learning and MOOCs, how to seek out and work with mentors, the secrets to avoiding career ruts (and catastrophes) and general ruts in life, and insights such as the value of selective ignorance over general competence. We’ll provide practical insights from science about how to learn and change effectively even in maturity, and we’ll build on what you already know to take your life’s learning in fantastic new directions. This course is designed to show you how to look at what you’re learning, and your place in what’s unfolding in the society around you, so you can be what you want to be, given the real world constraints that life puts on us all. You’ll see that by using certain mental tools and insights, you can learn and do more—far more—than you might have ever dreamed! This course can be taken independent of, concurrent with, or subsequent to, its companion course, Learning How to Learn. (Mindshift is more career focused, and Learning How to Learn is more learning focused.)...

Top reviews

EC

Aug 26, 2020

I enjoyed this course very much. I am 64-years-old and this course taught me that you can learn anything new no matter what age you are. I am now broadening my passions and learning is a lot more fun.

DI

Oct 30, 2020

Great course! This is a lot more general than Learning about Learning but is also useful nonetheless. I like the focus on keeping positive and being confident in your potential despite our weaknesses.

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476 - 500 of 3,613 Reviews for Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential

By Jingyi L

Nov 9, 2017

I come to this course after I finished "Learning how to learn". I find that I can learn a lot of tricks to deal with my mindshift in my daily life. The course itself is really helpful. What's more, Barb' s teaching style is really fancy and she can always encourage me though we don't have face-to-face talk. So beyond taking the course and learning something new, enjoying the time with Barb on MOOC is another main reason that I take the course.

By ADITYA P

Jul 22, 2020

i have completed the course my suggestion is 1st take learning how to learn and then mindshift it will boardern your horizon about learning

teachers like

Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, they are real reason why im in love with course its efective yet simple teaching and the way they present complex materials with metaphors and analogy that what make this course amazing definately try to ernoll in this course and keep learning

By Ayush P

Apr 26, 2020

I was a bit sceptical about this course initially. But, then the way the course is structured helped me make a "mind shift" about my skills, career and passions.

One of the key takeaways from this course was that we are often passionate about things we are already good at. So, instead of always looking for work that we are passionate about, we should try to be passionate about the opportunities we currently have and will get in the future.

By James H

Apr 8, 2018

A very good course full of interesting ideas and techniques to help you become the best you can be. It is not a difficult or overly time consuming course, yet it is jam packed with examples on how you can improve your lifetime opportunities. Recommended as a good start point for those seeking to commence lifelong learning plan or change career. Note that the course goes a long way to repeat that age is not a barrier to change.Recommended.

By Megna R

Apr 17, 2020

Marcus Aurelius rightly quoted, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” I agree with this thought. Through this course, I learnt that mentors like Barbara and Terry can be invaluable. They taught me how a change of focus and perception could change your life. It's rare to find such great mentors who leave a lasting impact in your life. I enjoyed this MOOC journey and will never fail to use the amazing concepts I learnt from this course!

By Yong Y C

Apr 16, 2020

It's an eye-opening course. As a future-educator in traditional academic world, and a current learning and development practitioner, I would like to thank Barbara and Terry who showed us that there are so much more about learning that we haven't discovered. I'm passionate in learning, and now after taking this course, I have started to plan for broadening my passion into learning differently or in an unorthodox way. Happy mindshifting!

By Apivat H

Oct 8, 2017

A fantastic, inspiring, yet practical course on making a career/mindshift in a new direction. I'm looking to make 2018 a learning mindshift year as I tackle learning a programming language, so many of the ideas like monitoring societal trends and staying up to date with the information economy deeply resonated with me. Better yet, there are half a dozen practical strategies i'll be taking with me into the new year. Highly recommended!

By María A F

Sep 22, 2020

It was an excellent and clear course. It is really useful for everyone.

From the first part until the last one I understood everything and practiced and reflected about mindshift.

I strongly recommend this course if you have any doubts about your passion or career it may help you to clarify your thoughts and ideas and also reflect about yourself in a deep way.

Now that I ´ve finished the course I consider many things that didn't before.

By Toni H

Jun 28, 2020

This course is a must take if you're struggling with low test scores, difficulty concentrating or if you're stuck in a rut. This is my second MOOC course with Dr. Barbara Oakley, who is a true inspiration and model example for human potential and life long learning. I thoroughly enjoyed this MOOC as well as Dr. Barbara Oakley's other course Learning How To Learn and look forward to any new content Dr. Oakley might have in the future.

By Zeeshan A

Jul 24, 2020

Along with learning new things, I was able to share my thoughts and experiences via optional small activities as well as the optional peer reviewed activities that were compulsory for the completion of the course with honors! I highly recommend this course to those who have just entered into or are about to start their new careers, and those who are exploring new fields or are thinking of changing their career paths. Happy learning!

By Eva B

Dec 4, 2020

What I got after completing this course, gave such a deep impact, and I already feel it will largely enhance my life. I learnt lot of techniques and gained so much insight where was at a completely wrong point, and I knew I'm missing these, but nobody could really tell me - so it was an obstacle for years..

I will use most of these techniques and try to keep in mind this very new direction. A great and rewarding learning experience.

By Shashank A

Jul 29, 2020

Mindshift is a great course, it gave me opportunity to rethink on my strategies and helped me to introspect and rediscover myself in a more positive way. The videos are well edited and presented and the scripts are direct and injected with humor, very much simple words that can be easily understood and can easily be related to. It opens your mind to keep transforming in your life the way you want it to be, regardless of your age .

By Joudi A

Jun 20, 2020

The best course to start with before taking any other online course. Highly recommend it for people who want to understand how make big changes in their academic lives and in their jobs and careers. The tutors are very engaging and entertaining, and the MOOC is well made and thoughtfully edited. I also recommend any one who is interested in making online courses to watch this. They teach you how to make a very good online courses.

By Shereef Z

Jun 25, 2022

I benefited a lot from the scientific material of the lecturers, as well as the additional materials that they guided us to, including videos, blogs and websites for specialists in their fields, and the assessment method used in the course always helps to remember more of the most important points in the course, I recommend it to everyone who wants to He learns something new to choose the right field to further his current career

By Hiếu V V

May 12, 2020

I enrolled in this course after I have completed another course by Dr. Barbara and Dr. Terrence - Learning how to learn. I enjoy this course very much as it has debunked a lot of myths in learning, expanding passion, and selecting or switching careers. The materials are well prepared and presented in a straightforward and interesting way. I can take away the knowledge and apply it right away in my life. Great course for everyone!

By Sam L

Mar 18, 2021

Thank you Professor Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski! You are the best! I wish I had this course sooner! The course is very informative and very resourceful! It’s never too late to learn, and perseverance is the key! “Your worst traits can sometimes be some of your BEST traits.” Also, “It’s never as bad as you think it is at the time, and there is always a silver lining.” It gave me a courage to learn! Highly recommend!

By Indira K

May 15, 2020

Another amazing course created by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski.Very entertaining yet full of useful tips on career development and lifelong learning. This course made me reconsider my thinking on aptitude tests, being more scientific and technical vs being into arts and humanities. It turns out with the right mind and attitude you can be both!

I also enjoyed memory tips optional videos by Nelson Dellis VERY MUCH!

By Ray P S

Mar 31, 2020

It was an excellent MOOC, one of my favorites alongside Learning How To Learn. Although some concepts have been repetitive based on the other-mentioned course, I believe it's to further reinforce what I've learned so far.

The additional videos with Mr. Dellis was also a delight to watch. Great memory tips and learning strategies! I would highly recommended this course to my peers and mentors. Thanks, Mrs. Barb and Mr. Sejnowsky!

By Shaimaa M

Sep 28, 2019

I've really enjoyed every minute of the course. It is entertaining and useful. I've learned a lot and i was in a real good mood, which encouraged me to start taking serious steps in my life. Now i know that not all my bad traits are really bad, i know how to make them work for me. Now i know that it is never to late to change. Now i know that it is never as bad as you thing it is at the time.

Thank you so much for this course :)

By jooonkee

Jul 7, 2018

highly recommended for anyone who'd like to learn anything; a good first course to take before taking any other learning. it gives you sense of direction, navigation tools and help you reap more from forth coming learning activitiesa very solid, practical and useful course for career-switcher and any working, retiring or young adults to acquire mindset and skills needed to learn in the future life; Learning made useful and easy!

By JOSÉ S A C

Nov 26, 2017

Excelente curso. Hubiera querido conocer estas técnicas, métodos y trucos desde mi juventud. He reforzado mi forma de pensar, siempre he sido un autodidacta, y estas enseñanzas ratifican que he estado en el camino correcto. Agradezco a los profesores por compartir sus conocimientos y experiencias. Siempre positivo en la vida y es buendo cambiar de mentalidad para lograr el éxito en todo lo que emprendamos. Buena suerte a todos.

By Iris A S

Jan 14, 2021

This course, such as the previous "Learning how to learn" teaches you very useful tricks for better understanding and memorizing the material. The reason why it is so effective is that it uses visual content, metaphors, tricks that make you stay focused. In my opinion, the most significant reason for this course's success is that the two instructors obviously enjoy what they are doing and put a lot of effort to keep improving.

By Yashila B

Sep 26, 2018

Really interesting and eye opening course, which can be watched relatively passively because of how well the concepts are laid out and reiterated. Awesome student engagement in the optional assignments and well written quiz questions meant to reinforce ideas and themes as opposed to test particular phrases. Relatable and dynamic lecturers and videos and interspersed helpful tips and tricks really helped maintain my attention.

By Arpine A

Oct 1, 2020

I really loved this course to be the continuation for the "Learning how to learn" course, because there were some ideas that were being repeated but the course was full of new ideas and interesting useful tips. The video graphics were better too :).For me these courses made major changes - I have remembered how I loved learning, as well as the idea that i should never stop learning!Thank you Dr. Oakley and Dr. Sejnowski!

By Stan

Apr 9, 2019

This was a great course which explained the neuroscience behind learning and how to apply it to making changes in learning endeavours within a societal context. Both lecturers were engaging and presented the material in an insightful and humorous way. Self-check activities throughout the course were very helpful in internalising the material and applying it to my own life. Highly recommended for all lifelong learners!