The Ideal Learning Model

I had in mind to write about something else, but in my research, I came across a concept that threw me off balance and I thought it is best I share it.

In my spare time, I was reflecting on Jane Lave and Etienne Wenger’s concept of Situated Learning. Situated Learning is a style of learning that has to do with some form of apprenticeship where one has to be a part of a community and learn the norms, methods and practices. This reflects learning in the way it will be used and applied in real-life. It is similar to discipleship. In my reflection, I found myself thinking of this learning model as the main strategy used by great businessmen and leaders to mentor their successors. The Igbo people in Eastern Nigeria are known to be great merchants. Unconsciously, the use this model to train their apprentice. An observation of the process reveals the trainee watching his mentor take decisions that has have far reaching business implications. Some of those decisions follow no particular logic. After a time, the trainee is matured enough to take his own decisions without the direct guidance of the boss. He knows the price of every item in his store by heart and has an idea of best profit margin. Even when new goods arrive, he knows the best price to sell to a particular client.

Cognitive learning from what I gathered is a learning style that is not necessarily tutor-led. It permits the learner to understand the subject being learned through personal experience, that of others, real-life application, social context, and so on. It is beautiful to observe that this model could introduce students to a seemingly abstract subject of Mathematics and participants can relate their knowledge of calculus for instance to measuring meals in a dieting program. It means that I can learn architecture by observing the masters draw and design an architectural masterpiece, by working with a group of experts, I can learn how business decisions are made without ever spending a day in the MBA class. In my words, this concept is liberating. It is a learning strategy I really would love to use. Frank Smith views prior knowledge that could be relevant and strategies that will be useful as essential in approaching a new text instead of reading from the first line and sequentially to the end.

From the US school system, I observe that about 30% of a subject is taught using a cognitive learning style. Ample time is spent going on field trips, industrial visits, hands-on and term project activities, using models and some other instructional materials that promote learning. At the end of a class, the average student is equipped with enough knowledge for real-world application of such knowledge. Recall and reconstruction is the best way to describe the test and exams administered during the course study period. Students merely express what they know and not just reproduce what they have read verbatim. Unfortunately, my formal education was in a developing country. In retrospect, I guess I will be correct to say I was taught how to read, memorize and pass my term exams. My academic performance was at best a reflection of how well I could memorize and not in-depth understand of the subject at hand. Did I learn Fluid Mechanics in my Mechanical Engineering class in the University? Yes, I passed the exam in one sitting. Would I have been able to apply the knowledge in the workplace? My answer is a sure NO. Today, a good percentage of my classmates work in the banking and the ICT sectors. Very few work in mechanical engineering designations and one or two went back to become academics. Did we deviate because we couldn’t get mechanical engineering jobs? I am certain that most of us deviated because in our hearts of hearts, we were sure that we have not been sufficiently equipped to work in mechanical engineering concerns. It is sad that we spent that period of our lives memorizing archaic mathematical theorems and proving formulae that we lost in the ancient in transit to China. Aside of student unrest and strike periods which afforded me to learn from a roadside workshop, I remember spending the remaining part of my undergraduate days in class, labs, workshops and at other recreational activities. Site visits were luxuries the university education could not afford. Six to seven months is set-aside for the pen-ultimate engineering student. This Industrial Training period is totally irrelevant to the educational institution as students are left alone to get their own placement. With the state of the economy and rate of unemployment, industries and other organizations are most reluctant to take up “unskilled workers disguised as students”. Undergraduates who are lucky may not get the exposure they need. At the end of the period, I wonder if up to 10% of such students attain the aim of the program.

I look back at those days and now I really wish I had learnt using this model by the cognitive model. Now, I have a strong commitment to use this model in my training classes. This model does not only promote learning, but most importantly, helps organization to quickly achieve their set objectives and reduce time spent training new employees. It helps reduce rework, cycle time and increase waste saving processes. There is no gainsaying that, waste is undesirable and cognitive learning on the long run helps to achieve this main objective.