Learning Strategy Is More Important Than Practice, Claims New Study

Practice itself will not help you achieve perfection in what you do; the point is to choose the right approach, claim a group of psychologists after having analyzed data from about 850 000 people who were playing the same game online.

The main conclusion of the study, which was recently published in the journal Psychological Science, states that if you want to quickly learn something, you should find the optimal strategy for the task before you start practicing.

Tom Stafford of the University of Sheffield, UK, and Michael Dewar of the R&D lab of The New York Times analyzed the results of 854 064 people in the online game “Axon“.

Players had to grow “neurons” by clicking on potential targets. Simultaneously the participants’ ability to learn, decision making, and reaction speed were tested.

The researchers’ goal was to find out to what extent the practice contributes to increasing the performance of players. Particular attention was paid to the “champions” who had reached the highest results for the same period of time as the rest of the game participants.

It turned out that the most successful players had chosen one of two strategies: they either completely immersed in the game, relying entirely on intuition, or spent some time on testing the game in the beginning in order to find out all the possibilities thoroughly, thus obtaining complete information.

“Our research shows that we can significantly speed up the learning process, choosing the right strategy: while someone may need to immerse himself in the process from the beginning, someone else should first master the theory”, explains Stafford. “The life of modern man is inextricably linked with learning new technologies and complex skills. Optimization of the learning process is one of the highest priorities of science.”

The following two tabs change content below.

View the original article here

Choice Hotels International announces new vice president of brand strategy

Choice Hotels International, Inc, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, today announced that Anne Engelking Smith has joined the company as Vice President of Brand Strategy. Smith joins the company from AARP where she was responsible for overseeing the AARP brand in commercial marketing and driving membership growth including the organization’s multicultural membership base.

At Choice Hotels, Smith will oversee the brand strategies for nine of the company’s midscale, economy and extended stay brands: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Suburban and MainStay Suites. Smith will lead the overall strategy for this portfolio of brands to promote a compelling value proposition to both franchisees and consumers, with goals of optimizing unit growth, and driving central reservations. She will report to Alexandra Jaritz, Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy and Marketing.

“Choice Hotels enjoys some of the strongest brands in the industry from our iconic Comfort Inn to our storied Quality Inn which was the first of our brands. Under Anne’s leadership our portfolio of brands will become even stronger,” said Alexandra Jaritz, Senior Vice President Brand Strategy and Marketing.

Smith’s extensive brand management experience includes leadership roles at Frito-Lay, Inc., a division of Pepsico, where she was responsible for overseeing multiple award-winning campaigns and product launches including the relaunch of SunChips. She also led innovation for a $5 billion portfolio that included the Lay’s, Tostitos and Rold Gold brands. Smith also led an effort that highlighted the company’s environmental sustainability practices to evolve the company’s corporate identity.

Anne received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Earlier in her career, Anne worked in the publishing field, where she produced compelling content for science and technology textbooks to engage children in learning and demystifying these subjects. The creative skills she honed developing scholastic content combined with her educational background and consumer packaged goods experience, have sharpened her ability to create a compelling brand strategy and tell the “story” of a brand.

View the original article here