The phases of learning during formal training

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Formal Training

What happens during learning? Phases of learning (during formal training) Gagne researched what happened during formal training and identified 9 necessary components:

Motivation - willingness to learn and turn your attention to learn
Objectives - trainer and learners needto agree on what is to be learnt
Prerequisites - the learners need to recall any necessary skills and knowledge they have already learned
Presentation of material - learners need to consciously think about the material to be learned
Encoding - When we store facts and knowledge away in our long term memories, we organise it - choosing an encoding scheme appropriate to the discipline or the material involved. Recent research has shown that this process actually causes physical changes in the brain: rewiring it. - material needs to be encoded into the learner’s long-term memory. Trainers should give guidance as to the appropriate encoding method
Practise - learners need to use the skills and knowledge to be learned (with any necessary assistance from the trainer, other learners, notes etc.)
Feedback - learners need to discover (or be told) whether they performed correctly or incorrectly and where they went wrong.
Assessment - learners use the skills and knowledge without assistance and their performance is evaluated (by the trainer, learner or both.)
Generalisation - the skills and knowledge are used in contexts and situations different to the ones in which they were originally taught.

These phases need not occur sequentially: motivation, for example, needs to be present throughout. However, omitting any phas reduces the amount of learning that can take place.

Developing expertise, creativity
and higher-order thinking

To become an expert you need to learn an enormous amount: not just facts and simple rules, but more complex strategies. You need to learn the circumstances under which each strategy is applicable and what happens if you combine them. What is the best way to do this?

You learn expert strategies and higher order thinking the way doctors do: by watching experts at work, talking to them and questioning them, then trying it yourself, under expert coaching;
the way lawyers do: by studying many case studies of expertise in action; the way the first experts did it: spending years of trial-and-error and hard thinking to work it out for yourself.

It seems to be important, too, not to approach learning with too narrow a focus. If your objective is too specific, you are likely to act like a novice and miss many of the important ideas necessary to develop expertise.

A road map to expertise

Gagne looked at learning from the trainer’s perspective. The following steps view learning from the mature adult’s perspective.
1. Get motivated to learn 2. Sort out your objectives 3. Check that you understand the prerequisites well enough (you’ll need to test yourself and get feedback - then brush up on any weak spots) 4. Study worked descriptions or examples of problem solutions, in a context familiar to you. 5. Organise and encode the material. Pay particular attention to
a. Associations and relationships
b. Patterns, sequences, time series
and any underlying structure
c. Any underlying principles
d. The conditions under which this solution is applicable e. Any underlying assumptions 6. Use instructional materials to test yourself for misconceptions (a good trainer should have developed a set of questions to test for each likely misconception)
7. Correct any misconceptions 8. Assess yourself by working through a very similar problem in a similar context but without props like notes. If you don’t succeed, use your props to work it out or get a worked solution to the problem you couldn’t solve and use it to repeat steps 5 to 8
9. Repeat steps 4 to 8 with a similar problem in a new context, or a different type of problem in a familiar context.

References

Gagne, R. & Driscoll, M. (1988). Essentials of Learning for Instruction (2nd Ed.). Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Gagne, R., Briggs, L. & Wa ger, W. (1992). Principles of Instructional Design (4th Ed.). Fort Worth, TX: HBJ College Publishers.

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What is Learning? Constructivism Types of Learning Expertise and Creativity Formal Training Short-term memory Associative memory, Repetition & Encoding Associative memory and the Zebra Accountability and Assessment Validity and reliability More Validity Testing and the IQ test The Adult Learner Back to Gryphon Home	Formal Training What happens during learning? Phases of learning (during formal training) Gagne researched what happened during formal training and identified 9 necessary components: Motivation - willingness to learn and turn your attention to learn Objectives - trainer and learners needto agree on what is to be learnt Prerequisites - the learners need to recall any necessary skills and knowledge they have already learned Presentation of material - learners need to consciously think about the material to be learned Encoding - When we store facts and knowledge away in our long term memories, we organise it - choosing an encoding scheme appropriate to the discipline or the material involved. Recent research has shown that this process actually causes physical changes in the brain: rewiring it. - material needs to be encoded into the learner’s long-term memory. Trainers should give guidance as to the appropriate encoding method Practise - learners need to use the skills and knowledge to be learned (with any necessary assistance from the trainer, other learners, notes etc.) Feedback - learners need to discover (or be told) whether they performed correctly or incorrectly and where they went wrong. Assessment - learners use the skills and knowledge without assistance and their performance is evaluated (by the trainer, learner or both.) Generalisation - the skills and knowledge are used in contexts and situations different to the ones in which they were originally taught. These phases need not occur sequentially: motivation, for example, needs to be present throughout. However, omitting any phas reduces the amount of learning that can take place. Developing expertise, creativity and higher-order thinking To become an expert you need to learn an enormous amount: not just facts and simple rules, but more complex strategies. You need to learn the circumstances under which each strategy is applicable and what happens if you combine them. What is the best way to do this? You learn expert strategies and higher order thinking the way doctors do: by watching experts at work, talking to them and questioning them, then trying it yourself, under expert coaching; the way lawyers do: by studying many case studies of expertise in action; the way the first experts did it: spending years of trial-and-error and hard thinking to work it out for yourself. It seems to be important, too, not to approach learning with too narrow a focus. If your objective is too specific, you are likely to act like a novice and miss many of the important ideas necessary to develop expertise. A road map to expertise Gagne looked at learning from the trainer’s perspective. The following steps view learning from the mature adult’s perspective. 1. Get motivated to learn 2. Sort out your objectives 3. Check that you understand the prerequisites well enough (you’ll need to test yourself and get feedback - then brush up on any weak spots) 4. Study worked descriptions or examples of problem solutions, in a context familiar to you. 5. Organise and encode the material. Pay particular attention to a. Associations and relationships b. Patterns, sequences, time series and any underlying structure c. Any underlying principles d. The conditions under which this solution is applicable e. Any underlying assumptions 6. Use instructional materials to test yourself for misconceptions (a good trainer should have developed a set of questions to test for each likely misconception) 7. Correct any misconceptions 8. Assess yourself by working through a very similar problem in a similar context but without props like notes. If you don’t succeed, use your props to work it out or get a worked solution to the problem you couldn’t solve and use it to repeat steps 5 to 8 9. Repeat steps 4 to 8 with a similar problem in a new context, or a different type of problem in a familiar context. References Gagne, R. & Driscoll, M. (1988). Essentials of Learning for Instruction (2nd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Gagne, R., Briggs, L. & Wa ger, W. (1992). Principles of Instructional Design (4th Ed.). Fort Worth, TX: HBJ College Publishers.

Formal Training

Quick Links >>>

Formal Training

These phases need not occur sequentially: motivation, for example, needs to be present throughout. However, omitting any phas reduces the amount of learning that can take place.

Developing expertise, creativity and higher-order thinking

A road map to expertise

References

Developing expertise, creativity
and higher-order thinking