Learning-in-Practice

“Learning is a process by which a person internalizes knowledge, whether discovered, transmitted from others, or experienced in interaction with other (Lave & Wenger 1991).” Acquiring knowledge is a thirst of every good learner.

Recently a new intern joined our department. He tried working with different places, trying different professions. He did not know much about computer networks or support. Our place was very new environment for him. Therefore, when he joined us, we all were orienting him in our field of expertise.

One of my colleagues asked him to join with his project. He was configuring wireless access points (WAP)*. My colleague gave the intern a walk-through to do the configuration process. Also explains the steps he need to remember to configure the device.

At the end of the training session, both my friend and the intern were confident. Intern was ready to do the configuration process.

The next day my colleague asked the intern to configure few WAPs*. However, this time alone. He found the work difficult in the beginning. He clarified the procedures every now and then with my colleague. However, when configured the third or fourth one, he became independent. He learned a new skill by practicing it.

The intern learned the concept and the procedure from my colleague. He never had a chance to practice it. That was the reason for his failure when he tried to configure the device alone.

In the second part of the incident, the next day my colleague gave him another set of wireless access points*. Those were different types from the previous ones. He was trying to find the procedure from the new manual he got. However, he failed to do it. “When an appropriate schema fails to be activated, learners have trouble in making sense of the learning materials.”

“In a learning setting if the appropriate schema fails to activated, the learner usually forced to memorize or otherwise learn by rote. In addition, when the context changes from learning to application or practice, learner often fail to transfer the knowledge they acquired in one context to the other related context.”

To acquire a new knowledge, we need some prior-knowledge in the subject. The intern got the trained from my colleague. However, his pre-knowledge was so weak. That is why he came back repeatedly to clarify the procedures.
Before doing anything the intern need to get a pre-learning session or special supplementary learning events to gain the perquisite knowledge and skills.

*Wireless access point (WAP) is a device used to connect wireless communication devices in a wireless network.

Reference: Driscoll, M (2005). Psychology of Learning For Instruction. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.