Gabriel Wyner is an author, ex opera singer and the founder of the Fluent Forever language learning method. In this conversation, we discuss: - The three pillars of the Fluent Forever language learning system - The process Gabe uses to maintain the languages he speaks - How learning languages can help you gain a better understanding of yourself So whether you’re looking to pick up a new language or dive into an immersion this episode will give you all that and more....
Aug 15, 2017•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Virtual reality has the potential to change learning and education immeasurably and so it’s important that we engage critically with the technology. In this episode we discuss: - The current state of VR in learning and where it’s likely to go - The disadvantages of VR that we need to guard against - The potential benefits of using VR to learn motor skills So whether you're looking to understand more about VR or prepare yourself for what’s to come this episode will give you all you need and more....
Aug 11, 2017•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jo Cruse is the CEO of The Unreasonables, which delivers leadership programmes to the UK”s top schools. In this conversation we discuss: - The most important skills young people need to develop in the 21st century - The lessons Jo learned about entrepreneurship on her travels - The tradeoff between social impact and the bottom line in business So whether you’re looking to arm yourself for the 21st century or build a business with a social impact, this episode will give you all that and more....
Aug 10, 2017•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Deliberate practice isn't just doing something repeatedly – when done properly, it’s a little more complicated. In this episode we discuss: - How to manage the tradeoff between quantity and quality of practice - How to reflect on your progress to calibrate accurately - How to build learning habits so that practicing becomes automatic So whether you're looking to play an instrument or pick up a sport this episode will give you the ideas you need to structure your learning and get practicing now!...
Aug 03, 2017•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert Twigger is a bestselling author who has written books on everything from accelerated learning to studying martial arts. In this conversation we discuss: - The process of using micromastery to learn new skills quickly and enjoyably - The difference between the Eastern and Western philosophies of learning - How to learn about yourself and the world through travel and adventure So whether you’re looking to pick up new skills or start new adventures, this episode will give you all that and mo...
Aug 01, 2017•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Experts can help you plan your practice, focus on the right sub skills and accelerate your learning through feedback. In this short episode I cover: - The different types of expert and how to choose the right one for you - How to get objective feedback so that you can improve - How to balance your needs for self direction and guidance to accelerate your learning So whether you’re looking for an expert online or in person, this episode will help you separate the wheat from the chaff....
Jul 27, 2017•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julian Baggini is a philosopher and author who has written almost twenty philosophical books for a general audience. In this conversation we discuss: - How to become more aware of your own thinking in the different areas of life - Julian’s discussion of the question “What’s the point of school?” - How to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills to make better decisions So whether you’re looking to make better decisions or understand your own thinking this episode will give you all that and...
Jul 26, 2017•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve all probably had glimpses of great teamwork in our own lives, where every one’s strengths complement each other and compensate for individual weaknesses, but these are often fleeting and temporary. But examples of these learning experiences are few and far between in most schools and universities and in the organisations that many work in after finishing their education. Collaborative learning skills must be continuously refined and practiced, not just things that people write about on the...
Jul 21, 2017•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ulrich Boser is a bestselling author and senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress. In this conversation we discuss: - The key MetaLearning principles Ulrich discovered in his research - How Ulrich has applied learning science to basketball - The importance of trust in education and how to develop it So whether you’re looking to upgrade your learning skills or understand how to leverage trust in your learning, this episode will give you all that and more.
Jul 18, 2017•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our natural instinct to compete with others can be a powerful motivator for learning. In this short episode, we discuss: - The benefits of competition in learning and how to use it constructively - How competition can harm learning if it’s not kept in check - How to compete with yourself over an extended period of time So whether you're looking to use competition to start learning a new skill or just want to try competing with yourself for a while, this episode will give you all you need and mor...
Jul 13, 2017•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mads Holmen is the CEO of Bibblio, an API platform helping knowledge publishers and learning platforms deliver smarter content recommendation. In this episode we discuss: - How to live and learn in the attention economy - The structural problems that drive fake news - The fundamentals of AI and Machine Learning So whether you’re looking to understand the structure of the attention economy or get a deeper understanding of AI and Machine Learning, this episode will give you all that and more....
Jul 11, 2017•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast We all want to be perfect at anything we learn but these expectations are unhelpful and can leave us in a state of paralysis. In this short episode, we discuss: - Why perfectionism hurts learning, and the rare cases it helps - The difference between high general expectations and low specific expectations - Simple strategies to overcome perfectionism So whether you're looking to overcome perfectionism or find your balance between ambition and slacking, this episode will give you all you need and ...
Jul 06, 2017•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kevin Kelly is the co-founder and executive editor at Wired magazine, and one of the world’s leading technologists. In this episode we discuss: - How to build the learning superpowers needed to thrive in the 21st century - The technological forces shaping the future of learning and education, including AR, VR and AI - Kevin’s insights on skill acquisition So if you’re looking to broaden your understanding of the technological forces that will transform our society, this episode has you covered....
Jul 04, 2017•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many of us in the West have accepted the belief that productivity and efficiency are the foundations for success and happiness but that's not always true. In this episode, we discuss: - The problems with worshipping at the altar of productivity - The importance of constraints for the creative process - How to balance productivity and creativity So whether you're curious about productivity, want to cultivate more creativity or want to balance these forces in your life, this episode has you covere...
Jun 30, 2017•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nelson Dellis is a 4x US Memory Champion and one of the leading memory experts in the world. In this episode we discuss: - The techniques Nelson and competitive memory athletes use to memorise everything from names and faces, to decks of cards - The importance of regular mental training for mental health - The life lessons Nelson has learned from mountain climbing So whether you’re a beginner looking to boost your memory or want to memorise huge quantities of information, this episode has you co...
Jun 27, 2017•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast "What's the point of school?" is a question that’s been asked for hundreds of years but we still don’t seem to have a clear answer. In this episode, we discuss: - The difference between learning and education and why it matters - The harmful mindsets that education instils in us and how to combat them - How the method of teaching has evolved in schools across history So if you want to learn more about the philosophy behind education, this episode will give you all that and much more....
Jun 22, 2017•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Will Reynolds is a videographer and writer who has become a regular fixture on the podcast. In this episode we discuss: - How to go from novice to getting paid for new skills like videography - The importance of cultivating transferable MetaSkills - The lessons we can learn from autodidacts like Eminem and Frank Zappa So whether you’re looking to pick up hard skills and get paid for them or navigate the challenges of being an autodidact, this episode will give you all that and more....
Jun 20, 2017•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Technology is changing the way we learn but it's not a magic pill that will solve all our educational problems. In this short we discuss: - The best ways to filter information online to get to the good stuff quicker - The importance of working diversity into your content consumption - How to protect your precious attention in the digital economy So whether you're looking to filter content more efficiently or stay focused in a world full of distractions, this episode will give you all that and mo...
Jun 15, 2017•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Uri Bram is the bestselling author of Thinking Statistically and speaks about using data and statistical thinking effectively in the real world. In this episode we discuss: - The key statistical principals that everyone should be aware of - How understanding music theory makes you a better musician - How to learn complex skills from experts So whether you’re math-phobic or already consider yourself a stats maverick this conversation will give you a whole range of useful insights that....
Jun 13, 2017•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anyone can learn another language but the thing that holds most people back is a series of limiting beliefs. In this episode we discuss: - Whether there is a "language learning gene" that most great polyglots have - Whether immersion is important for the language learning process - Whether children are actually better language learners than adults So if you're looking to learn a new language this episode will eliminate any doubts you have and give you the tools needed to make real progress....
Jun 08, 2017•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gabriele Oettingen is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg and a bestselling author. Her research focuses on human motivation and goal setting, exploring the impact of the way we look at the future on our emotions and behaviour. We’re living in an age where positive thinking is all the rage – from pop music to political speeches thee message is the same: think positive, focus on your dreams and they’ll come true before you know it. The problem with follo...
Jun 06, 2017•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you’re someone with multiple interests, you’ve probably been branded a “Jack of all Trades, Master of None” more times than you can remember. And those of us with many interests sometimes struggle because we can’t be put into a box and labelled as an expert in a specific field. But during the Renaissance, a polymath was seen as a perfected individual, someone who had mastered intellectual, artistic and physical pursuits. Hence the term “Renaissance Man” that’s still often used to describe peo...
Jun 01, 2017•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ellen Langer is a Harvard psychologist widely known as the “mother of mindfulness” and is the author of eleven books and more than two hundred research articles on mindfulness over the last 35 years. Mindfulness is becoming more and more of a buzzword these days but very few people actually understand it and even fewer know how to apply it in their everyday lives. But there are few things that can have a bigger impact on your learning and life than improving your awareness of yourself and the wo...
May 30, 2017•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Simon Peyton Jones is a computer scientist who currently works as a researcher for Microsoft and has built his own programming language, Haskell. He is also chair of Computing at School, which was central to the 2014 reform of the English curriculum that made computer science a foundational subject. As our lives become increasingly influenced by computers, it's surprising how few of us know anything about how these devices work. We don't all need to become programmers, but understanding the core...
May 24, 2017•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jeff Cobb is a thought leader in the field of lifelong learning and the author of the bestselling book, Leading The Learning Revolution. He also runs a popular blog and podcast, and is the founder of Tagoras, a learning consultancy. As we move from a knowledge economy to a learning economy where we need to acquire new skills everyday just to stand still, the importance of lifelong learning is rapidly increasing and opportunities in the space are huge. Jeff is someone who is uniquely placed to vi...
May 09, 2017•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ed Fidoe is one of the founders of School 21, an innovative new school in Stratford, East London that's reinventing education by preparing its students, aged 4-18, for the 21st Century. For so many people, school was characterised by drudgery, rote learning and the stress of exams. But school doesn't have to be that way and there are plenty of people trying to reinvent education for the 21st century. Ed is one of these people, and along with cofounders Peter Hyman and Oli de Botton, he built a s...
May 02, 2017•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Barry Schwartz is an acclaimed Professor of Psychology who recently retired after 45 years of teaching at Swarthmore College. Barry has also written three bestselling books on the Paradox of Choice, the Meaning of Work and Practical Wisdom and has done a series of popular TED talks on those subjects. Practical wisdom is something we could all do with more of. It’s close to what the Ancient Greeks called phronesis - a general understanding of how to live a good life and the decisions we should ma...
Apr 25, 2017•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Barry Pousman is the founder of Variable Labs, a Virtual Reality company that creates immersive experiences to help people develop soft skills. Virtual Reality is likely to be a game changing technology for a number of industries but its impact on education in schools and businesses will be huge. As someone who's running a company at the cutting edge of the industry, as well as filming his own VR experiences, Barry is perfectly placed to offer insights into the potential of the technology. In th...
Apr 18, 2017•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kalid Azad is the founder of Better Explained, one of the world's most popular maths websites that makes hard concepts easy to understand. After studying Computer Science at Princeton, Kalid spent a few years at Microsoft as a program manager, founded a Y Combinator startup, and currently works as a developer. For many people, maths is the subject they used to hate most in school and they carry this fear of numbers into later life. But it doesn't have to be that way - and understanding basic mat...
Apr 11, 2017•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Niklas Jansen is the co-founder of Blinkist, an app that distills the core insights from non-fiction books into 15-minute summaries that you can access from your smartphone or tablet in written or audio form. If you're someone who wonders about how to apply what you read in everyday life, then the app is worth checking out, because the short summaries or "blinks" cut away the excess and drive you to take action. Niklas founded Blinkist with three friends in 2012 and the business has since gone o...
Apr 04, 2017•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
