Roadmap
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Created by
Tony Ingram, PhD
- Last Update: 4 weeks ago
This roadmap depicts the current plan for the website. Yes, feedback is encouraged.
Table of Contents
No, we will not be targeting specific dates — content and updates will be done when they’re ready. This is a one-person operation (and I have a day job and kids). Of course, with enough support from subscribers, I can spend more time on this. 😉
Foundation (Current Work)
Learning Method Pages & Research Database — detailed overviews of prominent learning techniques that include summaries of the research supporting them. Each will be backed by a handful of detailed study reviews, with a preference for meta-analyses. Focus will be on what works and how to apply it, rather than on why it works (which is later on the roadmap). Topics to be covered:
- Spaced Practice (Procedural). ✅
- Spaced Practice (Declarative).
- Interleaving (Procedural).
- Interleaving (Declarative).
- Whole vs. Part Practice (Procedural).
- Retrieval Practice (Declarative).
- Variability of Practice (Procedural).
- Elaboration (Declarative).
- Concrete Examples (Declarative).
- Worked Examples (Declarative).
- Dual Coding (Declarative).
- Augmented Feedback (Procedural).
- Augmented Feedback (Declarative).
- Action Observation (Procedural).
- Motor Imagery (Procedural).
- Self-Explanation (Declarative).
- Metacognitive Strategies (Declarative).
- Summarization (Declarative).
- Mnemonic Devices (Declarative).
Skill Learning Guidelines, Frameworks, and Templates
Primarily involving a synthesis of the skill learning database built during the first phase of content creation, this phase involves developing high-level guidelines, detailed frameworks, and templates to help you design the best study or practice plans possible.
The goal is to build tools that are generalizable to a wide variety of skills, but with nuances respecting the characteristics of a skill. So for example, we will not be producing a “how to learn golfing” guideline (unless in collaboration with a subject matter expert). Instead, you’ll see things like:
- Beginners guide to practicing a complex movement skill.
- Examples: sports skills, gymnastics, dance.
- How to learn a sequence as quickly as possible.
- Examples: remembering steps of a process, memorizing phone numbers or passwords.
- Mastering highly specific movement skills.
- Examples: mastering a three-point shot, dart-throwing, etc.
- Out of time? How to cram effectively.
- Examples: next-day test performance.
Community
Learning a skill is a journey. Especially if you’re aiming for mastery. There may be significant benefit to sharing our journeys, helping each other through challenges, and celebrating our successes together.
Therefore, it’s possible we may implement a community platform, which may be as simple as a forum, but the possibilities are endless. Please offer your feedback if you would like to see this happen — and especially if you’re interested in becoming part of it.
Tentative: Injury Prevention & Management
We will specialize in movement skills, and nothing prevents progress more than getting injured. Therefore, we will cover general injury prevention and management information. Topics to be covered include:
- Course: Fundamentals of Injury Prevention.
- Guideline: Ligament Sprains (e.g., Rolled Ankle).
- Guideline: Muscle Strains (e.g., Pulled Hamstrings).
- Guideline: Understanding Chronic Injuries and Pain.
- Guideline: Building Mental Resilience.
These aren’t the main focus of this website, but they’re a topic the founder is passionate (and opinionated) about, with relevant expertise and experience as a former physical therapist.
Science of Learning
This phase involves creating a series of content covering the science of learning skills. This gets beyond what works and how to leverage it, but also why.
There are several reasons to cover this information. First, it’s interesting! Second, often times it is useful to understand how something works when applying it. There simply isn’t enough research to cover every scenario, so understanding something gives you intuition for handling nuance. Third, all of this content will be free, which should attract a larger audience and help this entire project succeed.
In addition to completely new content, we will be adding a “how it works” section to every skill learning technique already covered.
Finally, this content sets the stage for courses. The current plan is to build several of varying depth, including one high-school level “how to study” course, but mostly university level, introductory courses on human learning.
Continued Updates
As research continues to evolve, we will strive to stay up-to-date.
Furthermore, there are topics that we will have neglected, and will be requested. For instance, I fully expect people to ask for reviews of “nootropic” supplements (meant to improve cognitive function and memory), behavioural interventions, and (another interest of mine) brain-computer interface and brain stimulation. Let’s do it. I doubt I’ll promote these things — but let’s see what the science says, and how it all compares to simply building a great study or practice plan.
Big Ideas
More courses, perhaps specific (and likely in collaboration with others), like “beginners guide to golf” or “skill development for powerlifters”.
Perhaps an app that helps you build a practice plan. Likely leveraging retrieval augmented generation architectures based on the content already created on this site.
What would you like to see? Contact me!
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