ABSTRACT
In this section, we briey present some new ideas on the self-regulation theory of learning and training that have been developed in the systemic-structural activity theory (SSAT) framework (Bedny and Karwowski, 2007; Bedny and Meister, 1997) and consider examples of application of this theory to the study of human performance. Learning and training are important areas of work psychology and ergonomics (Patrick, 1992; Seel, 2012). Learning can be dened as relatively permanent changes in external behavior and cognitive processes due to experience. In the area that studies human work, learning and training are two interdependent concepts. Training is a process of acquiring skills, concepts, and attitudes that are necessary for job performance. Training is more specic than learning. It is needed to improve the performance of specic tasks. Learning sometimes is not sufcient for acquiring a required level of task performance. For example, a subject can perform a task with a satisfactory quality but he or she might need much more time than professionally acceptable. Therefore, training is needed to achieve a required pace of performance. Transition to a higher level of performance pace cannot be reduced to increasing the speed of execution. Our research discovered (Bedny, 1987) that transition to a higher pace of performance requires reconstructions of skills that are involved in task performance. During such training, a worker moves from one strategy of performance to another. A strategy is a dynamic and adaptive plan made by a subject for goal achievement that is enabling changes in the approach to a goal attainment. Such dynamic plan is a function of external conditions and internal state of a subject. It includes not only behavioral but also cognitive components such as strategies of attention, etc. In some cases, a specially organized training process can accelerate transition from a less effective strategy of execution to a more efcient one. Hence, learning is a necessary but not the only condition for professional skill acquisition. Learning has a broader purpose than training because it is a prerequisite to training. When we consider declarative knowledge, learning is the basis for the teaching process,
and when we consider procedural knowledge, hands-on training is necessary. Usually declarative knowledge in vocational schools is given at a higher level than hands-on training, which gives trainees an opportunity for future growth. Learning principles are bases for training processes. According to SSAT, some basic principles of learning are unity of cognition, behavior, and motivation in learner activity; consideration of learning as a complex goaldirected self-regulative process that integrates conscious and unconscious levels of self-regulation; description of the learning process as a transition from a less efcient to a more efcient strategy of activity performance; and the ability of a learner to achieve the same goal by various strategies. According to SSAT, the basic units of analysis in the learning process are cognitive and behavioral actions and functional mechanisms or function blocks. SSAT utilizes the principle of systemic analysis of knowledge and skill acquisition processes.
