Enquire Within^®

A Little on Effective Learning

Here we list the factors essential for learning (no surprises here) and go on to give examples of how repertory grid with Enquire Within^® makes its contribution, which is often unique or difficult to obtain by other means

Four Different Ways People Learn

I find this diagram helpful in discussing four different ways in which people learn:

	Teacher:	Learner:
Planned:	‘Have I a lesson plan for you ’	‘I’ve signed up for a course at the local tech ...’
Reflective:	‘Some time you’ll be reminded of what we’ve been exploring ...’	‘Looking back, there’s a pattern here if only I can find it ...’

Effective learning requires: information (in its broadest sense); motivation and purpose; the right conditions (which can be environmental or the conditions addressed in ‘learning styles’ questionnaires); feedback (sought or given) and introspection. The diagram helps in deciding or diagnosing the right kind of mix for a given learning situation.

Each of these factors is vulnerable. That has always been true, but their vulnerability is becoming more important and dangerous now and in the future because:

we live in the age of the ‘knowledge worker.’ Education, education, education - yes, but what can we do about it?
the usefulness of any given skill set will change several times over people’s lifetimes. Therefore, the skills of ‘learning to learn’ are vital throughout an adult’s lifetime
the information explosion means that there is much more ‘information’ easily available, but little or no guidance in how to tell the good from the bad
the information explosion also means that ‘information’ need not be processed if it serves only a temporary purpose, e.g. downloading an essay for an exam

Other factors are also at work: for example, the increasing use of multi-choice examinations to remove the supposed ‘subjectivity’ of marking essays. In my own field – psychology – you can use an ‘expert system’ to produce a computer-generated report from a person’s test data and there may be no interaction with the person at all, nor will the results be inspected by any human beings during the process. (This is unethical, but it happens all the time).

In short, cognitive overload is driving out cognitive complexity. The Jorge Luis Borges story about the Library of Babel is becoming a metaphor for what is happening. (In the story, he describes a large complex of buildings in which there are books containing all the letters of the alphabet, the full stop, the space, and the comma – in every possible combination. Then he teases you, just enough, about the implications). We could go down that road if we’re not careful.

Here at Factors Essential for Effective Learning we show how Enquire Within could make a significant contribution to eliminating these dangers; and make a qualitative difference in learning for those who already want to learn or are capable of being ‘switched on’ by a process that makes it exciting and fun.

Learning Related Resources

An example of using Enquire Within to evaluate a management development course which happened some time ago.
Training Programme Evaluation (Getting Value for Money) Using Repertory Grid
Analysis of Training Needs and Performance Counselling
An example of an analysis of a training evaluation session.
Aine Fitzpatrick, Young offenders perceptions of education.

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A Little on Effective Learning

Four Different Ways People Learn

Learning Related Resources

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