An interview with Julie Delham, a student who has discovered some essential new learning skills.
An interview with Julie Delham, a student who has discovered some essential new learning skills.
Welcome to the stellar labs podcast, future learning today at Stellar labs, our mission is to bust the technology skills crunch with effective, measurable, engaging training. We consult on design and deliver the technical and people skills and competencies you need in business. In these podcasts, you'll hear from industry experts and practitioners from the worlds of technology and training. They'll share their experience, insights and inspiration and their visions for the future. With you. Keep listening to start your future learning here today. Hello and welcome back to the Stellar labs podcast. Today. We're taking a bit of a break from tradition and rather than interviewing somebody in business or in the learning profession, we're actually going to interview a genuine learner. So I'd like to introduce you to Julie Delhem, who is a veterinary student in her third year at the university of Antwerp. Hi, Julie, how are you?
Julie:Hi, I'm fine. Thank you. How are you?
Stella:I'm very well, thank you, Julie. It's really lovely to have you on the podcast today because you as a learner, I know you've had some struggled a little bit recently with some learning, but understanding a bit more about the learning process has really helped you.
Julie:Yeah, I had a lot of stress upfront for the exams that are coming up because I had like big books to study. So I really needed some tips to make my life a little bit easier at the moment.
Stella:So tell us a little bit about some of the challenges you had in terms of studying, what it felt like and what you were actually struggling with.
Julie:All of our teachers were always like, you need to read stuff over and over and over again, then you will know it eventually rather than understanding what everything is all about. So I find it hard because I didn't make any connections between one chapter or another because our teachers were like, just learn and then reformulate on an exam paper. But for me it was like, Oh my God, a lot.
Stella:The question was almost, you know, how do I learn? You didn't know how to learn. And they were just suggesting you just read in order to learn.
Julie:Yeah. Or I would like rewrite my entire course, which would take a lot of time. And then a few days before the exam I was like: I can't get this all in my head in these two day span. So I really needed to change my learning habits.
Stella:And I know you said that you had been doing some studying with your fellow students, but that perhaps sounded like that wasn't perfect for you either. So tell us a little bit about those Skype calls you were having.
Julie:Yeah. We would leave our camera on, but the sound off. And then when anybody had a question, then we could answer, but like, when I saw someone else study, they didn't take any breaks. So I felt a need to keep studying. Then I would get really tired and skip pages or do half the work. And then it just gave me a lot of stress because everyone's like, okay, I will study until like 12 in the evening. And then I was like, Oh God, I need to keep up with them in order to feel validated, like, okay, I've done enough for today. But there was stress on stress. So I didn't sleep very well. So it gave me more stress than it should have.
Stella:Yeah. Okay. So we're already hearing that you weren't able to make connections between different elements that was difficult, and then you were stressed, which we know is really bad for learning. And then also not sleeping is, you know, that's not great for learning either. So definitely had some challenges and then the sort of the peer pressure of having to be seen to learn, but actually not really knowing what learning felt like or look like and having no clear instructions about how to learn.
Julie:No, because everybody has a different way to study things. So when I was doing my thing and then someone else is doing their thing, it works for them. But for me then it was like, okay, this isn't working. So it's hard to find like a way to connect with other students because when I would tell them, I'm drawing this and that, then they would see my notes and they didn't understand because for them it was like reading Chinese. And then I was like, okay, maybe not Skyping all the time, just so that I can get to meet times. So I would understand just what I'm doing.
Stella:So it's that kind of peer pressure of kind of what other people are doing, they might be thinking about what you're doing is not right. Or you're thinking that you're not doing it, right? There's all sorts of peer pressure going on there. Isn't that? Okay. All right. So you and I ended up having a really enjoyable conversation. I enjoyed working with you. You were sort of asking if I could come up with some ideas for you, but I think what I started doing really was by asking you what you actually liked learning, what was it about what you were doing in your studies that you'd like learning?
Julie:Yeah. I really like the practical side also things, but I liked drawing in my free time. So when I had courses that were like really anatomical, but the drawing aspect of it, like we draw muscles and veins and all that stuff. Then I really enjoy it, but when I had a course that was purely theoretical. Then I struggled because I was like, okay, how am I going to reproduce this when I'm not enjoying anything of it? So then the link that you made with drawing then, made it a lot more fun for me to learn and going to be like, okay, I'm going to draw bacteria. And then I would recognize it when I saw a word or a question on the exam, like, okay, that's my bacteria. And then I could draw it again. And then that was a lot more fun for me than just reading lots of texts every time.
Stella:And I think you did show me one of your pictures of bacteria and I've still, you know, I can't remember it exactly, but I can still remember seeing that picture, the cute little bacteria. So that's really easy for things like bacteria and for things like muscles and things. But I think you then started looking at more text-based stuff. How could you capture that in a visual way? So what were you doing there?
Julie:Yeah, for example, we had to study food in general and then bacteria or some kind of diseases in food, but like, how do I draw this, when there's like 50 pages of one chapter. And then I would draw an Apple just to represent food. And then when it came to diseases, I would just like draw a worm in the apple so that I could like, okay, this is the normal way food is supposed to be. And when there's a worm, that's everything bad with it. So to tell for me, for like big things, I was just like the main thing that a lot of pages had in common, then I would like form a drawing of that and then reconstruct the text around it.
Stella:Okay. So it helped you make more connections between the things on the pages that were the same. Okay. All right. So you kind of got the idea of drawing. Did you do anything else?
Julie:Yeah, different words that would be the same throughout like different chapters. I would make it one color. So when I read it, I was like, okay, I saw this color, a few pages back. And then in the exam, then I would like, okay, that was all blue. So when I wrote the answer down, it's like, okay, I need to write everything that was blue in different chapters. And that was like my highest point that I ever got on an exam. So it did help.
Stella:So you effectively, color-coded the chapters. And then when you were trying in the exam, when you were trying to recall it, you were thinking what was in that blue chapter and just that just knowing it was blue helped you to recall it. Cause I guess it gives you more hooks, doesn't it. If you know something blue as opposed to black, which is perhaps more ordinary in terms of texts, it gives you more hooks. That's really interesting. And you did really well on that exam
Julie:Because I was really stressed about because like I had one day for it. So I'm going to just main words that are important for like making combinations for like the way a Nerve goes to the front of brain to a different organ or something like, okay. That all in one color. So when they ask a question about the eye and how everything works in a brain I'm like, okay, that was all that color. So it's more easy to make links then just like, okay, that was on that page, in that long text, because then I would forget everything. And then I was like, I had an answer of like two sentences and now I had one of like probably 25.
Stella:Wow. Okay. the quantity and the quality of what you're remembering was better just by using color. Yeah. That's really interesting. And now I'm sure for different people, different things work. You said a few fellow students, some other people found other things work from your friends and colleagues that they suggest any ideas that you think might be helpful for other learners.
Julie:Yeah. What they said was like put post its up from things you find difficult to remember. So I tried it because we had to make links between different parts of the brains. And then I find it really hard to just keep remembering. So I put post its up and then when you're just sitting at your desk or walking around to room, then you see that constantly and whether you know it or not, your brain is like, Okay. That was there in your room and you walked past it a couple of times. So that was a tip I got. And that helped really well. So at the exam was like, okay, you know this, you looked at it multiple times and then just breathing and then okay, calming down and you will remember it eventually.
Stella:Okay. So I think there's a couple of things in there. The post-its are there all the time. So there's quite a lot of repetition. You keep seeing them, but then, because you knew you'd seen them that gave you the confidence to think, you know this, and as you said, you breathhe, which reduces your levels of stress hormones and reduces your heart rate and actually helps you to think more clearly anyway. So even if it wasn't true, just the belief that you could remember it helped.
Julie:Yeah. Because last year when I had a lot of stress, I tended to hold my breath during an exam, just like, because I was so stressed, like, Oh my God. And then just panic. And then I sometimes just forget to breathe. And now it's like, okay, calm down. You've seen this. Or do another question so that your brain is doing something else. So it leaves the stress behind. And then when everything is done, come back to the question and then try it again.
Stella:So we definitely recommend breathing during exams then.
Julie:Yeah. Don't try to hold it.
Stella:No, but it's true. When we feel stressed out, we do tend to sort of hold our breath and hold our bodies very tense as well. So the breath can't get in and out easily. So yes. Okay. So, so that's definitely a useful tip for people: remember to breathe, but also to go back, you know, leave something it feels really stressful for now. Come back to it. It's okay. You can come back to it later when you've, when you feel less nervous or stressed about it. Yeah.
Julie:It's also gives you a lot more confidence when you just do questions that, you know, you can do well, then you build up some confidence when you get into the harder questions. Like, okay, the rest went well, so this shouldn't be as hard.
Stella:So okay. That's really sensible. So you dealt with the questions you knew, you could answer, you dealt with those first. So it sounds like now you've actually got quite a lot of different strategies for learning relatively successfully.
Julie:Yeah. But I also find a lot more fun than I did a couple of months ago. People say how can you find studying fun? And I was like, yeah, well, I combined it with something that I love to do. So it isn't as hard to put myself to it
Stella:Probably when you are studying, you're probably engaging with it more just because you're interested in it. Yeah. Cause what you're studying effectively is really interesting. Isn't it? I mean, you know, I'm sure learning anatomy and learning about all the diseases and things in animals. I'm sure that the content is really interesting. I think what you were struggling with was the way it was presented to you in these enormous pages of lots of text.
Julie:Yeah. Because our teachers are like, they know what they're talking about, but for us it's all new. But when they give us like 20 pages of one thing, then we're like, how the hell am I going to learn this? But like combining it with something that I love and then you can divide it in like shorter blocks of texts and then it's a lot less hard to go through.
Stella:So yeah. So that chunking it into small pieces that you can then manage is really important too. You're coming out with so many useful tips here. I think if anybody's listening to this, they're going to go away with all kinds of different ideas. It's really useful.
Julie:Hopefully it's useful. I would like to help other people because I found it very helpful, especially when I was like stressing so hard that I was like, okay, I'm not going to do my exams this year.
Stella:Okay. Well, that would have been a pity wouldn't it? Especially as you'd done a lot of the work. I know you also said that, you know, you started your studying sort of as Corona was hitting. So you were in solitary confinement effectively and you had the Skype idea, but as Corona sort of with here in Belgium, the lockdown was beginning to ease. What else did you do with your colleagues? Your friends. Okay.
Julie:My best friend. He doesn't understand, he doesn't understand it, but it's not like his, his field or anything. So I would like just randomly tell him something like, well, I learned this and I would like explain it. So he understood it. And then a later on, when I came home, I was like, okay, well that's embedded in my brain now because you can explain to others or we had learn different things in food. And then in my free time I would like read the ingredient list of chips or something, just so you know, okay. That's in it. And then trying to recall like, okay, that meant that and that is for that. So that helps. So just trying to randomly train your brain, like, did you remember this? We learned this yesterday or like explain it to my parents.
Stella:So yeah. So explaining things to somebody else is a really, really good way to help learn things for yourself. But I liked the way that you talked about, you know, maybe looking at packets of food to help you sort of, I guess, to link it to the reality.
Julie:Yeah. Because like, then you can touch something that you've learned. It makes it a lot more real and close to home than just some text that you get from any sort of teacher.
Stella:Okay. So yeah, even more strategies. So, I know you did your exams and you were more confident going into them and you've said you remember to breathe. Anything else you can tell us about sort of, you know, the experience of doing the exams, how that was?
Julie:Yeah. It was just like, when I got in the room last year, I could cry before I even sat down and now I was like, okay, then we were waiting in line. And then when somebody asks questions, normally I would totally freak out. Like, don't ask me anything because I probably wouldn't know. And I was like, they would ask something and then I would try to answer them. So that was a lot less stressful for me. And then when I would sit down and I would be like more calm, like, okay, I got this, this is something that I know. And then my studying was so much better than the last time I did this. So it must work this time. So it just felt more easy to go into the room then the previous exams.
Stella:Okay. So how long ago is it since you did the exam? About two weeks? So how, how well do you think that information is still in your brain?
Julie:They ask questions before and sometimes when, like somebody, a friend of mine ate something that was already like over time. And then we would like laugh about it. Like, Oh no, you're going to get this disease. And then we would joke like how much we still know. So now when I see something in the fridge, I'm like, you need to be careful with that because that can happen. Or like something was on TV because we have like, this program about vets in their masters and they were doing a test and I was like to my mother, oh I learned this a month ago that she's like, Oh, you still remember? Because normally it's like in and out after an exam. And now I'm like, okay, yeah, you need to do that and that. And then the animal responds like that. So it's more embedded than before.
Stella:Okay. So it sounds like it's more embedded anyway, because you are probably more relaxed and you were enjoying it and you had multiple different ways to access that and to work with that information. And then having had the exams now you're even actively looking for ways almost to kind of boost your own and then to continue your own learning.
Julie:Yeah, because I always found it's very, like sad that I would forget something because like, I need this for the rest of my life, but now I'm like, I still have my drawings from like my first exam. And then sometimes they're on my desk. I would like go through them also because I like my drawing. So I'm like, I'm going to look at them again.
Stella:Yeah. You can frame them, and have them up on the wall.
Julie:But like, if I recall them, the information that I learned and I find it fun to know that I remember everything.
Stella:That's great. That's really good. So we're coming to the end of the podcast. So tell me how you did in your exams this year.
Julie:Yeah, very well when I started this year, because I didn't do very well last year, I had to like earn 60% of my points this year and I made it through normally I was scared because like when I started the second semester, I was like, okay, I need to like earn all my points back in order to finish this year. And before the strategies, I was like, I'm not going to make it. And now I had an email that I made it through and then I'm going to next year. So, I'm very happy about it.
Stella:That's great. That's really good. It's really, really nice to know that you enjoyed the learning journey and now you've got the results that will actually enable you to continue this, this learning journey. Cause I think you're very passionate about what you're doing, aren't you?
Julie:Yeah, But I'm like a very practical thinker. So I struggled with that a lot, especially last year, because it was all like theoretical courses. And now with this new strategy, I'm like, everything goes a lot better. My grades were better. I will, like, my exams were less hard. My friends knew that I was less stressed when I got into an exam. And now, yeah, now that I can go through my final year of my bachelor, I'm just really, really grateful that all went well.
Stella:That's great. It's really lovely to hear this very positive story from you Julie and you know, all the different strategies that I think many of them you've probably, you know, we had a conversation, but I think many of them you've kind of developed and evolved for yourself, which is perfect. I think that's really good
Julie:With all the conversations we had was a good starting point because I like didn't know where to begin. And then like, as I get on with the drawings, I was like, okay, maybe I can add this to it and then add this to it. And then just like my friends their tips like breathing and just reading stuff on your wall. And then the combination of that just got me through this exam period.
:Well, well done, Julie, it's been lovely to hear from you and it's so good. I'm so happy that you did well in your exams and that you're really excited about, you know, you're learning for next year. I think that's really important. So thank you very much, Julie. And it was a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you for listening to today's podcast. Please share it with your friends and colleagues and visit our website.[inaudible] dot EDU, to learn more about what we do and how we do it tune into the next episode.