Author: Luc P. Beaudoin

Head of CogZest. Author of Cognitive Productivity books. Co-founder of CogSci Apps Corp. Adjunct Professor of Education, Simon Fraser University. Why, Where, and What I Write. See About Me for more information.

Good Things to Come in 2013

The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, mentioned at D11 last week that Apple’s “customers love surprises”.  Our clients at CogZest have had the benefits of some of our products and a window into the future of cognitive productivity.  However, coincidentally, CogZest has been rather coy on this web site about our own direction. Continue reading Good Things to Come in 2013

What’s Your Problem?

Ph.D. students I meet for the first time are sometimes taken aback when I ask them with a smile “What’s your problem?” I then clarify, “What problem are you addressing in your research?” Even then, they are often still bemused. That’s because many research students think that their task is to research a “topic”. Later, they conclude that their job is to “answer a question”.
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Benefits of Learning in Depth for Kids and Adults

It is often said that “there are no quick fixes in Education”. Yes and no. There are no panaceas, quick or not. However, for many complex problems in many domains, there are some relatively simple but potent partial solutions. Vaccination is one example.
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The Tenacity of Paper

Since 2001, I have been specifying the problems we face in learning with technology. I have been developing products—knowledge, software and services—to the cognitive-productivity challenges we face. The first draft of my first book on the subject is written. I am not giving up…

This video, however, provides an original view of the tenacity of paper. It suggests that people will not ditch paper. However, I believe it also demonstrates that people will ditch paper after they have put it to good use.

Collaborative Productive Practice for Professional and Personal Development

At the Simon Fraser University (Education) Learning Together Conference May 17-18, 2013,  I will present some of the ideas from my upcoming book on developing professionally and personally from knowledge resources using cognitive science and technology.  By “knowledge resource”, I mean documents, podcasts, audiobooks, presentations and other learning materials. In keeping with the social theme of this conference, in my session, we will explore collaborative aspects of productive practice. The title of my talk is “Collaborative productive practice for professional and personal development: Socializing a new deliberate-practice framework.”
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Why Use Several OpenMeta Applications?

The main point of this blog post is that if you’re going to use the OpenMeta tagging framework for OS X, you should consider purchasing more than one OpenMeta app. They are not expensive. But first, I describe some of the benefits of tagging. Then I present and respond to criticisms of OpenMeta.
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Why Managing One’s Reading is Challenging

Managing one’s reading today is more challenging than ever. In order to capitalize on knowledge, we need to understand and resolve these challenges to our cognitive productivity. Here are some of them.

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An Evening to Celebrate Camaraderie with the Zest of Brel

This evening, we are resurrecting the spirit of friendship of the Grand Jaques Brel, one day before his 83rd birthday anniversary (April 8, which falls on Easter Sunday this year).  I am hosting an intimate Celebration of Camaraderie with the “Zest of Brel”.
Continue reading An Evening to Celebrate Camaraderie with the Zest of Brel