The Benefits of Experience
Knowledge Alone is Not Learning
October 1, 2009
The effectiveness of any learning depends primarily on what the learner's manager does before the learning intervention, such as stating what is expected of the learner and how the learner will be measured.
The next most important factor is what the tutor or instructional designer does before the learning takes place, and the third key factor is what the manager does after the learning has taken place.
Giving people new knowledge and skills is way down the list.
That finding comes from research revealed at a recent eLearning Network meeting [PDF] in London by Charles Jennings, recently retired as chief learning officer at Thomson Reuters and now heading up the Duntroon consultancy.
Quoting Columbia University's Eric Kandel, Jennings said, "Real learning is the ability to acquire new ideas from experience and retain them as memories. Acquiring knowledge is not real learning. It's just the first easy step in the process. Formal learning can only give us 10 percent of our learning and feedback. Coaching and sharing—learning from others—can only give us 20 percent. The other 70 percent comes from experience."
Jennings went on to outline eight factors which, he believes, underpin any effective learning strategy. "Real 'adult learning' is a product of experiences, practice, conversations and reflection," he said.
"Learning strategy must align with business strategy in that it must be business driven, scaleable, innovative, effective and efficient, and cost-constrained. It must be based on 'new world' thinking and practice—moving from the world of 'push'-mandated learning models to 'pull': personalized, collaborative, user-generated, flexible, new media-delivered forms of learning.
"You have to take 'generational thinking' into account, realizing that the [Baby] Boomer Generation's consumer, teacher/lecture-based, autocratic approach to learning is being replaced by Generation Y's belief in learning that is co-created, self-directed, online 24x7, interactive and collaborative," he added.
"Moreover, volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) impacts all we do. And there is increasing VUCA in the world," he said. "In addition, workplace dynamics are changing, in terms of working routines, resources, and behaviors.
"Knowledge retention is no longer a key differentiator for knowledge workers. Indeed, 'unlearning' useless and outdated skills could be a key skill in the 21st century.
Access to knowledge, especially at the point of need, is now a key differentiator for knowledge workers because it provides them with a competitive edge," Jennings concluded.
Jennings' perceptive insights are, of course, based on many years of experience, which, after all, seems to be the key to real learning, if not wisdom.
About the Author
For more than 20 years, Bob Little has specialized in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning—especially e-learning—and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the U.K., Europe, the U.S., and Australia. Contact him at bob.little@boblittlepr.com.
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