Enhancing learning should be a lifelong process<\/p>\n
By Iwan Pranoto<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): The word learning is almost always used in
\nreference to activities in formal education, from kindergarten to
\nuniversity level. Rarely is it related with something people
\noutside school or universities do. Even in classrooms, until 30
\nyears to 40 years after World War II, teachers were only equipped
\nwith the theory of teaching, instead of theory of learning.<\/p>\n
But this is changing now. Some members of the middle class
\nhave now developed hobbies relating to learning, and it has
\nbecome a valued activity of leisure for young and old. For
\nexample, some study seriously about flowers, aerodynamics of
\nmodel aircraft and even learn aspects very remote from their day-
\nto-day professions. Learning has become a part of recreation, and
\npeople are willing to spend money on its pursuit.<\/p>\n
In this modern society, mature people are viewed as human
\nbeings who need to learn continuously to be able to develop
\nthemselves. For instance, a manager of the quality assurance
\ndepartment of a high-tech industry wants to learn new statistics'
\ntechniques. He or she may feel that what they have learned in
\ntheir final education is not enough to propel their career
\nhigher. It is one of the reasons some education experts argue
\nthat tertiary education should graduate lifetime learners, not
\nready-to-use graduates.<\/p>\n
Every person has already had three main aspects of learning:
\nability, opportunity and motivation to learn. The only difference
\nis the level one has but, through education, we improve these
\naspects. The first two can be improved by just doing the
\nexercises presented to us. While improving the first two aspects
\nis quite simplistic, it is not clear how to enhance motivation.<\/p>\n
We know this aspect is critical in the learning improvement of
\nmature people. Without it, we are unlikely to improve learning
\ncapability.<\/p>\n
We can experiment with this learning aspect in mature people
\naround us, e.g. our spouses or friends. For example, first,
\nprovide them with a novel each. It is better if the novel is not
\ninteresting to the person we evaluate. For instance, for someone
\nwho does not enjoy reading science fiction novels, give him or
\nher a Michael Crichton work.<\/p>\n
Then, instruct all of them simply to study their books. Do not
\nsay anything else. Observe how they use their time. After five
\nminutes, ask them to close the books. And then ask each one of
\nthem to tell you the first word in the novel he or she studied.<\/p>\n
Or you can ask where the corresponding stories in the novel
\ntook place. It is very likely they will not be able to answer the
\nquestions correctly.<\/p>\n
Why? Can't the mature people answer the questions? After all,
\nthey do have both the ability and opportunity to learn. If we
\nagain ask them to study the novels, and then ask them the same
\nquestions as above, every one of them will almost certainly be
\nable to answer them easily. Why? Why could those mature people
\ncomplete the tasks on the second chance?<\/p>\n
The answer is simply in the moment of learning. Those people
\ndid not reach the right moment of learning on the first chance.
\nIn contrast, on the second chance, the people did reach their
\nmoment of learning.<\/p>\n
I observe that there are at least three components that may
\ncontribute to the reachability of their moment of learning. And,
\nin reaching the moment, mature people and adolescents have
\ntotally different aspects.<\/p>\n
First, adolescents only need to know that they must learn what
\ntheir teachers say if they want to pass. In contrast, mature
\npeople need to know the goals why they need to learn before
\nstudying the subjects. In the experiment above, we observed that
\nthe mature people learned on the second instance because they
\nknew the goals already.<\/p>\n
Second, adolescents have dominant external motivators, e.g.
\nvalues, teachers, parental pressure and others. They learn new
\nsubjects, because their teachers motivate them to do so. However,
\nmature people are more driven by internal motivators, that is
\nself-esteem, quality of life and improvement of job satisfaction.
\nThey learn something because they want to improve their career
\nand they realize that they can do it if only they learn.<\/p>\n
Third, adolescents are assumed to depend on their teachers.
\nPrimarily, they rely on their opportunity and ability to learn
\nfrom their teachers. In contrast, mature people have a self-
\nconcept of being responsible for their own decisions. They are
\nresponsible for their own opportunity and ability to learn. They
\nhave to improve on their own.<\/p>\n
Thus, we can see that mature people have totally different
\ncomponents affecting their moments of learning. One big problem
\nof our tertiary education in the meantime is that we neglect
\nthese differences and see university students as adolescents, not
\nmature people. We even very often view them as kids. We do not
\nhave confidence to let them learn by themselves. We are so afraid
\nto see them fail.<\/p>\n
We want everything to be so perfect that we could not provide
\nthem with permission to fail. If this situation goes on, our
\nstudents cannot optimally improve their learning capability and
\nour society will only consist of submissive listeners. The idea
\nto have a generation of active and lifetime learners would be an
\nillusion. If we are smart and able to learn from the mistakes of
\nour previous era, we should begin to view our students as mature
\npeople.<\/p>\n
The writer is a math lecturer at the Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology.<\/p>",
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