“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” These are the words of 20th century philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. When we think of learning opportunities, our first thoughts are often of books, lectures, conferences and peer review groups. But most of us can relate to the Winston Churchill quote, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
Unintentional learning
Our learning opportunities go well beyond formal, structured activities. We can learn through conversations, by observing role models and through our general everyday experiences. A great deal of what we learn is unintentional. We’re not working with defined objectives, assessments, or deadlines. We just absorb things as we go along. Then, when we look back, we find that we are much more capable than we were at some given point in the past. So this incidental learning is extremely valuable.
You may even prefer it over scheduled activities which can seem like a chore. The requirement to collect CPD points for progress reviews and appraisals can easily become a box ticking exercise. We can be tempted to think we don’t need courses – particularly for behavioural skills. “I learn by experience. So let’s me get on with doing the job and my skills will develop.”
The problem
But learning is never guaranteed. Our attention can easily drift during formal learning sessions. We might find it difficult to relate abstract concepts and models to real life. In addition, the priority of our focus is often on our learning curve with little attention or not attention paid to our forgetting curve. We might not remember much of what was covered by this time tomorrow never mind this time next week or beyond. So, what’s the point?
Leaving things to chance can mean we are not exposed to a challenge. If we do face the challenge then we may achieve success through luck rather than good judgement. In fact we may simply believe we’ve achieved success but, in reality, were oblivious to what we’ve missed. So, the problem with unstructured learning is the probability that it leaves significant gaps. These gaps could well be in the blindspots that we all have.
We are all unconsciously-incompetent in some way or another. It can be down to either our lack of experience or that we’ve mislearned, forgotten or allowed bad habits creep in. Intentional, planned learning activities are therefore essential for avoiding this – and that includes, from time to time, revisiting subjects where you have confidence in your performance.
Finding the balance
When we are designing our courses, we strive to balance input, discussion and experience. Though we create structure, our focus is always on interaction – even for our online courses where you work through materials at your own pace. We recognise the importance of letting things happen and embracing them when they do. While the structure provides the framework to cover the intended breadth of subject matter, the interaction provides the richness and depth.
Creating a reflective learning statement is a well-recognised, valuable “end-point” to the formal stage of any structured CPD activity. It’s our opportunity to externalise the most important points and translate them into intended actions. In many ways, this “end-point” is better considered as being our starting point for moving forward. Equally, good reflective practice is a valuable approach for consolidating our unintentional learning. What experiences have we had and what can we learn from them? In many ways, we can gain a lot from applying intentional learning practices to our unintentional learning experiences!
What steps are you taking to make your learning intentional?
Stephen McGuire – Managing Director
