Active Learning

A lot of stupid people are masquerading as "pundits" on national TV and op-ed pages. But one of my favorite real pundits is the gnome of Times Square, Malcolm Gladwell. He is more than a journalist or commentator; he's also a seeker.

His recent essay entitled Late Bloomers is full of meaning for learning pros. He attempts to explain how otherwise ordinary people accomplish great things.

Everybody who designs education and training wants to answer this question. When we have it, we will know how to turn the soft clay that plops down in our classrooms into adamantine jewels that change companies, and maybe even the world.

Romantics believe that brilliance is innate: the gifted are born with genius, it gushes from them as soon as they attain their majority. They rise quickly to the top of their profession and die young; or become crusty relics of their glorious youth.

Really? Gladwell demonstrates that some high achievers are like that. They do great things on the first try, without much training or guidance or self awareness. He doesn't mention John Keats or James Dean, but that's the idea. Nobody can teach wunderkind to perform their feats. It just happens.

Really? Gladwell further argues that most great accomplishments don't happen that way at all. They're not the products of genius, but rather of trial and error. As in, practice over and over and over again until you get it right. This process tends to start early and take a long time; hence "late bloomers."

Gladwell's hunch was more substantially explained last year by Anders Ericsson in an article entitled The Making of an Expert. Research showed that greatness in all fields, cultures and eras has one thing in common: practice. When we practice something over and over and over again, we learn how to do it well.

Ericsson further explained (and this is key) that practice is not about doing what you've been told and already know how to do. "Deliberate" practice is specifically about reaching stretch goals: doing things that are beyond your knowledge and ability, and learning from the experience. Practice is about discovery rather than repetition. Remember that the next time you design a tutorial.

Now you know why your piano teacher was so demanding. Practice two hours a day minimum, or don't bother to compete. After a youth spent in awe of the Beatles, I was startled when I watched Anthology and realized that they really were just four lads from Liverpool who practiced until they nailed it. If only I had kept practicing my guitar!

It's one thing to acknowledge that practice makes perfect, it's another to build it into our instructional systems. We leave no time for practice! In most cases we stuff people with data, call it rapid learning, and send them back to the street to do the real thing on their own.

But education and training are the real thing. With very high levels of interactivity, deeply layered content, and collegial interaction in place of droning narrative, we can teach people how to learn and empower them to spend a lifetime pursuing great accomplishments.

Comments

[rc helicopter]

Impressive blog! -Arron

[Peter Fadde]

Great to see theories of Expertise and Expert Performance coming into corporate training. The unaddressed question is how to introduce Deliberate Practice into professional development. How can trainers get involved in training of expertise through systematic instructional design? That's a real 21st century ID challenge.

Peter Fadde, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof., Instructional Technology & Design
Southern Illinois University