The Learning Curve

Here's something I have always wondered about - a description of learning. I found this HERE. Basically it goes something like this, as told by Tim Ferris;

“Whenever someone first begins learning a new subject or skill, there will be a period of accelerated learning that brings a very satisfied feeling of learning in a very short amount of time. This part of the learning is related to the concept discussed in my previous post about the 80/20 rule, in which 80% of the material can be learned in 20% of the time, which explains why so much is learned so quickly in the beginning, making the learner feel very confident.

Shortly after learning the basics of a new language, skill, or subject, comes a point where a person begins to realize how difficult a new skill actually is, and has run out of the “beginner” material that is simple concepts and memorization. Additionally, at this point, the person realizes that they are no longer learning as quickly as they were before, dropping their confidence and morale a little bit. Regarding languages, this is the point where the person begins creating their own sentences and thoughts in the new language instead of using simple canned responses.

At some point later, the person’s learning confidence hits rock bottom, and the brain begins neurally adapting whatever it is they are learning, pulling it deeper than simple surface level memorization, working to allow the brain to do less thinking to accomplish the same tasks. It may be muscle memory or habit formation.

The graph then plateaus out to a place where the person is still using effort to learn, but it feels like they are not learning as quickly as they did in the beginning.

Then eventually, the person reaches the inflection point, which is casually referred to as the “click”, and the learning becomes easy and accelerates the person to fluency, or proficiency.”

I come across this manifestation quite often not only in the classroom but in training staff with various approaches with software such as our Learning Management System. They may understand it’s a good idea to use it but coming to terms with it’s complex structure puts them off and often they give up (Just email me the work!) I wonder where the breakeven point is where the desire to know something overcomes the issues of actually learning it. Obviously this is not a problem for Mitra’s learners, or maybe we never hear of the failures because they just drift away.

Fullen in his paper says that technology should be easy to use and intuitive, irresistibly engaging and elegantly efficient and incorporate latest design principles for user experience. In the best innovations, digital tools are participatory, engaging, co–creative, and collaborative. It should not, on the other hand, lack engagement for the learner. The user experience and design elements should not feel heavily dated. I essentially agree with him but it’s not always that simple and no amount of careful scaffolding appears to help.

I remember a story of a young boy who had found a moth cocoon. He had placed it on a table and was intently observing it. The moth had started to emerge from its cocoon. The process was labouring and the moth struggled. The hole it had made for itself seemed too small and it couldn't get out. The boy felt sympathy for the moth in its struggle to emerge. He suddenly had a thought. He grabbed his pocket knife a slit the opening of the cocoon where by the moth easily gained an exit. But something was wrong. The moth could not use its wings. The reason for the struggle was to push blood through the its wings to make them functional.

The connection I’m trying to make in all of this is that learning can be hard but perseverance is an admirable quality, we should not be put off by difficulty. We need to build resilience in our learners. Failure is an option.