ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what is meant by learning. One characteristic is that there is a change in knowledge, skills and/or attitudes after a learning experience such as training or guided instruction. A second characteristic is that the changes observed must be relatively permanent to be called learning. A third characteristic is that learning is inferred when we observe changes in the learner. The chapter then discusses typologies that identify types of knowledge (declarative, conceptual, procedural, strategic), skill (initial acquisition, skill integration or compilation, skill automaticity), and attitudes (receiving, responding, valuing, organizing, identifying). Changes in the learner across five developmental stages: novice, advanced beginner (or apprentice), competent, proficient, and expert are described. The move from novice to expert requires substantial changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes that is seen in what the learner is able to do as well as how they approach a task. One qualitative difference over time concerns the depth of knowledge, skill, and affect that is gained. A second difference involves the development of self-regulatory skills that include the ability to know what the appropriate strategies are to facilitate further knowledge acquisition. Third, as the learner gains more experience and practice, the learner makes more and tighter connections and associations in memory. For example, an expert is characterized by the ability to create and invest new ideas and solutions to problems, accurately evaluate if ideas and solutions are good ones, and implements them effectively. The last section of the chapter addresses how long it takes to become an expert in a job and the importance of deliberate practice in becoming an expert. The problematic nature of simple rules such as it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert is also examined.
