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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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276 - 300 of 3,612 Reviews for Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential

By Havrylova K

Jul 30, 2017

Thank you!!!

By Yasnai P S

Jul 30, 2017

Excelente!

By Liu W

May 14, 2017

Very good!

By Yuliya A S

Nov 22, 2021

Loved it.

By Loraine

Jul 24, 2017

Excellent

By Edinso M

Jul 4, 2017

Excellent

By German N

Jun 18, 2017

Excellent

By Jesús S

Jun 7, 2017

Great!!!

By Катерина Р

Jun 6, 2017

Love it!

By Tien H

Jul 11, 2023

good la

By Meghana G

Jun 1, 2017

AWESOME

By Radim P

May 14, 2017

Perfect

By Stanley E

May 5, 2023

gOood

By عدنان ا

May 2, 2023

شكرا

By Elvin M

May 6, 2017

A+

By Marcelle P

Jun 6, 2017

I

By YM

Aug 11, 2017

This course wasn't as eye-opening to me as "Learning How to Learn" was, but nonetheless I still learned some interesting things, so I think it was still well worth the time.

The transcripts of the lecture videos seemed to have more grammatical errors, but that was only a slight inconvenience.

Also note that there are some quiz questions that ask about some of the concepts mentioned from the "Learning How to Learn" course.

Despite those concerns, overall the contents of Mindshift had some obvious points to it such as how it's never too late to learn something or change your career path (regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity, etc.), anyone can learn anything at any time, and people should be open-minded about their opportunities and surroundings.

Of course, there are some specifics that the course covers that provide extra detail to the obvious points I mentioned above (as well as other not-so-obvious points).

And to be fair I guess this course was more of a course that was meant to boost your confidence and encourage you to maintain your humility than anything else anyway.

If you expected to learn something you didn't already know, then that's not going to happen that often in this course. It is still worth the time though. After all, this course is "Mindshift", now "Mindblow".

It's supposed to convince you to change your perspective and remember the things that you may have forgotten such as your own self-confidence. It's not meant to outsmart you.

By Deleted A

Jul 1, 2018

In general, this was a fascinating course that debunked many of the beliefs I had about learning. I found Professor Oakley's personal anecdotes about switching careers from languages to engineering to be inspiring, since I'm making the same jump. All of the lectures were very high-level, but there were links to more in-depth research papers in the resources section, which was a nice balance. That being said, I think this course could be reduced to two weeks, instead of four. The lectures started to drag towards the end. Certain segments of Week 4 felt more like advertisements for the course than lectures. Other than that, I'd like to see more interviews with career changers and expert learners. The concepts were interesting, but having practical advice from people who have actually changed their mindset and learning habits would be more beneficial.

By Pramit B

Apr 30, 2017

Mindshift as a course was "easy", and "helpful". What i have learnt from the course can be applied to my life to make it slightly better. There is a wealth of exercises in self-help today on the internet and from books. It doesn't hurt to do this course, its well put, and you learn new things(sometimes). What you gain from this course is ultimately dependent on how much you are able to exercise the points of this course. Given the small amount of time you are investing in completing the course (it is a very low requirement course and you can finish it in 2 days if you want to, although that is not recommended), i would suggest you take it, since the investment pays off depending on how new you are to the material and how much you are able to put it to use.

By Ellyn K

May 7, 2017

As always, showcases Dr. Oakley's passion, compassion, intelligence, and practical wisdom in MOOC design. A solid support for those in transition for career choices and learning paths. Implicitly supports a practical application of growth mindset, building on principles of the neurobiology of learning discussed in more detail in sister MOOC, Learning How to Learn. Less technical/scientific information in this course; this course seems more a "lighter" discussion of fewer tools than in the sister course, and, importantly, focuses on delivering a supportive mindset for expanding one's abilities and passions.

By Ma. A S

Jun 23, 2017

I truly enjoyed "Learning How to Learn" MOOC so I was eager to find out the next installment. However, there are some overlaps from this course and Learning How to Learn which made certain portions redundant. Minus the overlaps, I liked the topics covered such as career choice, mentors, skill set building, and loved the Nelson Dellis memory tips videos (especially the the first one, the names and faces and language - I have not completed watching all the optional videos but intend to do so). Both professors are very engaging and informative and I look forward to their future MOOCS.

By Doruk D

Jun 23, 2017

It is good and informative content in general—with spinoff parts to quite a few specializations. This was my second Barbara Oakley MOOC. I can confidently recommend her enthusiasm and professionalism as an instructor to any learner at any age and career step. I think definition of career is changing to self-employment either as specialist or contractor. This MOOC could be designed to prepare learners for near future forms of making a living. Therefore, four stars instead of five. Nevertheless, Mindshift is a job well done. Highly recommended!

By Sreevathsa J

Apr 19, 2017

Great content on certain important aspects of learning, especially after one is into career. In the information era, learning new stuff and keeping up with the trend is one of the most essential trait expected of a knowledge worker, and this course equips one with the right mindset for a lifetime of learning. I recommend this course for everyone who has a yearning for learning.

By Fabrizio F

Jul 26, 2017

The course is interesting, well organized and always clear both in the content and in how it is explained.

I found very interesting hints about career planning, and about emotional aspects in changing job/company/mansion.

In some part, in my opinion, there are some repetition of the "Learning how to learn" course.

By RM

Jun 2, 2017

Great course. Lots of good ideas for overcoming obstacles to learning. Should be mandatory for college and graduate students, entry-level professionals and senior professionals. I enjoyed listening to and watch Barb. She does a great job of making seemingly unremarkable content interesting. Bravo!