Sunday, January 23, 2011
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
This in the NYTimes:
Read some, then take a test. Read some more and take another test.
This is the method that I used to relearn the motor vehicle code for my recent driver's test.
The DMV provides sample tests on line and also a programmed instruction QandA that teaches as you the material.
If you are right or wrong with your answer, a slide shows up to give you a brief correction, if wrong, or a short reinforcement if you are wrong.
Programmed instruction was a huge craze when I joined the management training industry. Xerox Learning Systems had paid lots of money to get it off the ground as a mass teaching vehicle.
It was all very scientific, based on the work of B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning.
They had invented books that did much the same thing as machines.
Some of it was cumbersome. You really needed a teaching machine. The books were to limited in what they could handle.
A good revenue stream but difficult to manage.
Now they are reinventing it. Another cycle. Computers make it quite feasible to do the job.
For me, rote learning is not possible. I need action. It is my learning style. I do not / will not memorize. But I can integrate learning with my experience.
Labels: training
