Comments on: How Learning Happens at Work http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/ One Stop Resource for Instructional Design Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:28:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Viplav Baxi http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1145 Viplav Baxi Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:04:20 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1145 Great post, Rupa! You have hit upon so many of the issues we all understand and grapple with in our workplaces. It is a chaotic constellation of personalities, techniques/tools and processes that we deal with. Learning is probabilistic today and shall remain so because of the number of variables involved. It would be great to try and apply chaos theories and see if we can discover learning patterns that are generally applicable in the workplace. Great post, Rupa! You have hit upon so many of the issues we all understand and grapple with in our workplaces. It is a chaotic constellation of personalities, techniques/tools and processes that we deal with. Learning is probabilistic today and shall remain so because of the number of variables involved. It would be great to try and apply chaos theories and see if we can discover learning patterns that are generally applicable in the workplace.

]]> By: Chaitanya http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1144 Chaitanya Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:20:45 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1144 Hi Rupa, It was really very interesting to know how learning happens at work place. Though there are people who learn by experimenting and by their own mistakes, an instructor led training has its own role. One major benefit of classroom learning is that you can learn from others questions to the instructor and classroom participation. Thanks, Chaitanya. Hi Rupa,

It was really very interesting to know how learning happens at work place. Though there are people who learn by experimenting and by their own mistakes, an instructor led training has its own role. One major benefit of classroom learning is that you can learn from others questions to the instructor and classroom participation.

Thanks,

Chaitanya.

]]> By: Rupa http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1143 Rupa Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:37:59 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1143 Hi Bowman, Thanks for your comment here :) Hi Bowman,

Thanks for your comment here :)

]]> By: C. Bowman http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1149 C. Bowman Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:57:22 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1149 I thoroughly agree! There is a place for the traditional instructor-led classroom, but that particular mode of delivery has never been one-size-fits-all. I thoroughly agree! There is a place for the traditional instructor-led classroom, but that particular mode of delivery has never been one-size-fits-all.

]]> By: Rupa http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1148 Rupa Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:25:57 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1148 Thanks for all the comments here :) Thanks for all the comments here :)

]]> By: Sonali Malik http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1150 Sonali Malik Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:54:19 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1150 Hi Rupa, It was quite an interesting read. I enjoyed reading about your views on how learning at work should happen! Hi Rupa, It was quite an interesting read. I enjoyed reading about your views on how learning at work should happen!

]]> By: Janet Clarey http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1151 Janet Clarey Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:13:18 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1151 Hi Rupa- I think you've hit on a lot of key themes for successful learning at work...personal preferences, freedom, trust, culture, and variety. Some of these seem so common sense yet we still struggle with implementing new things. I like how you've mentioned generational issues but haven't made any clear distinctions. Glad to have been introduced to your blog through the carnival. Hi Rupa-
I think you’ve hit on a lot of key themes for successful learning at work…personal preferences, freedom, trust, culture, and variety. Some of these seem so common sense yet we still struggle with implementing new things. I like how you’ve mentioned generational issues but haven’t made any clear distinctions.

Glad to have been introduced to your blog through the carnival.

]]> By: Dave Ferguson http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1147 Dave Ferguson Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:03:08 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1147 To reinforce Tom's comments, I'll quote G. K. Chesterton: there is a great difference between a man who wants to read a book, and a man who wants a book to read. Talking isn't teaching, and listening isn't learning. Sometimes, people who are already skilled in an area prefer highly structured, lecture-y classroom sessions. In part, these people believe that's where learning happens. And in a way they've been conditioned to see a firehose of information as good. They can often remember and apply a good deal of this information, but I suspect it's because what they remember already connects so closely to what they know, it's not really learning something new; it's a minor adaptation. More and more I also think that lower-level, more declarative knowledge -- facts and figures -- can be acquired more easily in a classroom setting, but higher-level, more integrated knowledge requires you to work with it and apply it. So I can learn, say, HTML and CSS and use these in an XHTML-compliant way, but that does nothing to make me a skillful developer in terms of a web site's usefulness to my client. To reinforce Tom’s comments, I’ll quote G. K. Chesterton: there is a great difference between a man who wants to read a book, and a man who wants a book to read.

Talking isn’t teaching, and listening isn’t learning. Sometimes, people who are already skilled in an area prefer highly structured, lecture-y classroom sessions. In part, these people believe that’s where learning happens. And in a way they’ve been conditioned to see a firehose of information as good.

They can often remember and apply a good deal of this information, but I suspect it’s because what they remember already connects so closely to what they know, it’s not really learning something new; it’s a minor adaptation.

More and more I also think that lower-level, more declarative knowledge — facts and figures — can be acquired more easily in a classroom setting, but higher-level, more integrated knowledge requires you to work with it and apply it. So I can learn, say, HTML and CSS and use these in an XHTML-compliant way, but that does nothing to make me a skillful developer in terms of a web site’s usefulness to my client.

]]> By: Rupa http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1146 Rupa Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:05:35 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1146 Great thoughts Tom :) Great thoughts Tom :)

]]> By: Tom Kuhlmann http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/04/14/how-learning-happens-at-work/comment-page-1/#comment-1152 Tom Kuhlmann Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:53:05 +0000 http://writersgateway.wordpress.com/?p=447#comment-1152 Good thoughts. I think relevance is the key to real learning at work. Something that we don't talk a lot about is the reality that a lot of "courses" are not geared towards learning. There's a difference between a course that someone has to take and how people learn. The assumption is that because they take courses, they're learning or inclined to learn from that course. That's not usually the case. So we end up spending a lot of time and effort to create this costume of engaging elearning. If the course content is relevant, we don't need to spend and much time and effort in making it engaging. I hear few complaints that google searching is boring. The reason is that people are in the mode of learning and looking for relevant data to support their needs. We need to consider that when we build our courses. Good thoughts. I think relevance is the key to real learning at work.

Something that we don’t talk a lot about is the reality that a lot of “courses” are not geared towards learning. There’s a difference between a course that someone has to take and how people learn.

The assumption is that because they take courses, they’re learning or inclined to learn from that course. That’s not usually the case. So we end up spending a lot of time and effort to create this costume of engaging elearning. If the course content is relevant, we don’t need to spend and much time and effort in making it engaging. I hear few complaints that google searching is boring. The reason is that people are in the mode of learning and looking for relevant data to support their needs.

We need to consider that when we build our courses.

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