From a Pile of PDFs to a Course You Can Study

Step 1: Get your materials into one place

Start with what you already have.

• Canvas. The Lykke extension for Chrome syncs your courses, assignments, announcements, modules and files. Canvas files arrive in Drive already filed by class.
• Your own files. Upload the PDFs and slides you have to Drive, where they sit in class folders.
• Notes. Type them, or record a lecture and watch the transcript appear. The extension also clips any page or YouTube video into your notes.

Step 2: Build a course from them

Upload PDFs or add a link or a YouTube video, and paste your syllabus too if you want the outline to follow it. Lykke drafts an outline first. You have 15 min to change it or approve it; after that, it builds as planned. Then it writes the sections, with quizzes and flashcards.

Use that window. Check the outline against your syllabus, and rename, reorder or drop sections until it matches what your class covers.

Step 3: Study it

• Read a section, then take the quiz. Recalling an answer from memory makes it stick better than rereading does (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).
• Ask about anything that's unclear. Ask Lykke answers from your course with a quiz, a simulation or a picture.
• Follow the practice path. It picks your next lesson and tells you why.
• Review your flashcards when they're due. Each one comes back right before you'd forget it.

For how to spread this out before an exam, see how to study for midterms.

Step 4: Let the week plan and prep pick it up

Once Canvas is synced, Lykke plans your week when you open it: every dated assignment with its time estimate, spread across the days, plus the notes and files to use for each. Morning prep writes questions on what's due in the next 7 days, each quoting the assignment or course material it came from, ready at the time you pick.

On Luminary, you can also ask for a schedule, like "quiz me on Unit 3 every weekday at 7". Lykke sets it up once you reply yes.

What stays up to you

Lykke can't write to your Google Calendar — a study block goes on it when you save it there — and it never turns anything in for you. Everything it did is in your activity log.