Learning and development Essay

Learning can be treated as either a product or as a process, with the latter giving rise to numerous competing learning theories about how it may take place. On the other hand, when learning is treated as a product, it is approached as an outcome or an end product of a process, which can be seen or recognised. This approach highlights a critical aspect of learning, which is change (Bruner, 1977). Many questions have arisen as regards the product theoretical model of learning. Some have questioned if it is really necessary to perform for learning to have taken place. Furthermore, others have wondered if there are other factors that may lead to behaviour change other than the product approach to learning, with more wondering if the change talked about also includes the potential for change. Questions like those driven us to qualification, with some looking to identify relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experiences. Conversely, not all behaviour change due to experiences involves learning since conditioning may also achieve similar results, although that from experience could generate some new knowledge. It is no wonder therefore that many theorists have not concerned themselves with overt behaviour, but rather with changes in how people conceptualise, experience and understand the world around them. To them the focus is about attainment of ability or knowledge using experience. For instance, a man who knows nothing about medicine cannot be a good surgeon, even though being good in surgery is not the same as having knowledge in medicine. Even though the surgeon learns from instructions, observations or his own inductions, he also learns by practicing numerous other aptitudes. Improving or learning an ability is different from acquiring information in that facts can be imparted unlike procedures which can only be inculcated. Moreover, while imparting knowledge is fairly abrupt, inculcation is a slow and continuing process. The difference between the two learning models is that one focuses on ‘knowing that’ while the other on ‘knowing how,’ according to Gilbert Ryle (1949). Learning as a process In this approach, one is usually concerned with whatever happens after learning has taken place. Learning is considered as a process by which behaviour changes due to experiences. One of the most important questions arising is the extent to which those involved are aware of what is happening. More questions have also been asked as to whether the learners know that they are engaged in learning, and if so, what significance it has to them. Questions such as these have featured in numerous guises for a long time, especially in debates around the controversial informal education notion. A useful way of approaching this area was put together by Allan Rogers (2003), mainly drawing on what was earlier done by those studying the learning of language. Rodgers contributed by setting out two divergent approaches namely formalized learning; also known as the learning-conscious approach, and the acquisition learning approach; also known as task-conscious learning. Acquisition learning or task-conscious approach This type of learning is considered as on-going all the time and does not concern itself with general principles, but is rather restricted to a specific activity, is immediate and concrete (Rodgers, 2003). Examples of this type of learning include that employed in parenting or running a home, with some referring to it as implicit or unconscious learning. Nevertheless, Rogers (2003) is of the suggestion that it may be better to consider this kind of learning as containing a consciousness of the task as opposed to lacking consciousness. He argues that even though the learner is not usually conscious of the learning, he or she is usually fully conscious of the particular undertaking at hand. Formalised or learning-conscious learning This kind of learning is as a result of learning of a facilitation process, and is commonly known as educative learning as opposed to accumulation of experience. Here, the learners are fully aware that they are engaged in the task of learning, and therefore strive to enhance it. It engages the use of channelled learning chapters with a specified scope and depth of coverage. The two models are considered as supplementing each other rather than contrasting. These dissimilar learning models are can be observed in both families and schools. At one end is an unintentional and normally accidental learning occurring as one walks through life. The other end has an incidental type of learning, which is usually unconscious and takes place during the performance of some other activity. Then there are numerous experimental activities resulting from instantaneous concerns of life, although the focus remains on the responsibility at hand. There are also more dedicated activities where one is out to learn more systematically, making use of whatever is available to achieve this objective, but quite often ignoring involvement of teachers and official learning establishments. Further along the line are self-directed learning ventures with so much literature about them. There is also distance learning and open learning programs that are more generalised, where some aspects of acquisition learning are usually transformed into the designed education program. As one approaches towards a the extreme, he encounters a more formal education programme of extremely de-contextualized learning that uses materials universal to all students, disregarding their personal preferences, needs or agendas. It is important to note that there are no distinct boundaries separating these categories (Roger, 2003). Learning theories By treating learning as a process, we encounter various learning theories about how or why change takes place. These theories try to explain various orientations to learning and include the behaviourist, the cognitive, the humanistic, and the social or situational orientations to learning. Just like any categorisation, these orientations are somewhat arbitrary since there may be some more additions and subdivisions, and these categories could also overlap. Behaviourist orientation to learning This approach to learning is based on three key assumptions that distinctly characterize it. They include manifestation of learning by a change in behaviour; an observable behaviour as opposed to an internal thought process, the view that the environment helps in shaping one’s behaviour and their principles of contiguity and reinforcement are important for one to explain a learning process (Merriam and Caffarella, 1991). According to this orientation, the responses can either be weakened or strengthened by the outcomes of behaviour. This notion is better referred to as operant conditioning because it reinforces what one wants people to do repeatedly and ignores or punishes what one does not want people to do. With regard to learning, James Hartley (1998) identified four important principles coming to the forefront. These principles include a stressing on the importance of activity; learning improves when the learner is active, the importance of generalisation, repetition and discrimination; skills can only be acquired through practising frequently, the importance of clear objectives in learning, and use of motivators to reinforce learning.