“LEARNING IN THE PRESENT CONTEXT.”

In one of my several jobs, way back in 1961, I was recruiting machine- operators, for our well-established machine shop. I noticed a couple of unusual things.
First, it was an uphill task, in a country, where unemployment is galore. My employer was a Swedish venture establishing shop, in Pune, and was hoping that there will be no dearth of qualified, trained, employees, given the City’s reputation as a seat of learning,
The second was a greater shock, in response to an advertisement for operators; there were a large number, who were trained in, what was termed as, GAON-KHATA. This was a term used to convey that neither had they learnt their skills from a formal Institute, nor had they worked for any organized sector. They were informed about the center lathes, and milling, drilling, grinding machines etc. Almost to the same degree as, the formally trained ones, who were an insignificant number, then?

SOCIAL LEARNING

Learning is a near permanent change in mental associations, due to experience. The skills that the informally trained craftsmen, had obtained, were by observation and emulation of someone they had worked closely with. For example the bricklayers, carpenters, masons etc learn their respective skills by closely working with some master craftsman. A typical operator who is used to working on a Batala lathe will get confused if he is made to work on a sophisticated HMT Center lathe of a higher grade.
The acquisition is merely through a process of induction. There is hardly any intentional learning involved. The chokra boy picks up the threads, on his own, by happenstance. He will focus on the episodes of such learning and derive some basic concepts but no abstract or theoretical knowledge. He cannot be weaned away from the concrete realities from which he has learnt.
Any new problem that he encounters; a little different from the routine he is used to; will confound him. He may mentally construct some rudimentary form of ideas, to solve it but may require a lot of tutoring too. This is a matter of chain learning. One learns from the older generation. Hence it is termed SOCIAL LEARNING. It goes on and on, for centuries together.
Masonry skills have not changed for years. As a lot their learning is relating to what they have observed, and that is the limit of their thinking.
There are a few exceptionally gifted ones, who may apply the learning to new situations, by a little cerebration. They are few and far between.

BEHAVIOURAL LEARNING

A few years down the line, our company’s machine shop was upgraded with “automats”. These required personnel who were necessarily formally trained. We resorted to ITI / NCVT trained youngsters.
Here the learning is imparted through basic elementary theories, which are abstract, and the application is taught, through a stimulus and response method. The stimulus is to pass the exam and there is some instructor who consciously imparts learning to the student, who has some conceptual background. This can be termed as a BEHAVIORAL LEARNING. A conditioned behavior is aimed at. There is an intentional learning here. From the concrete realities they do have the grasp of the underlying concepts. The student is equipped to apply the knowledge to new situations that he has not been taught, by resorting to some applied thinking...


COGNITIVE LEARNING

When the company bought Numerically controlled machines, CNCs etc. the need for operators changed to a higher grade of employees. Ones who could do their own programming, machine-settings etc.
The engineer who masters the concepts and underlying
Principles. The practical training is taking the back seat, but the conceptual learning is given prime importance. The super ordinate concept of mechanical engineering is taught then the coordinates of applied mechanics and the subordinate concepts of machine shop, speeds, feeds of machines etc is conveyed. The emphasis is more on the abstraction of the concepts, without having to resort to the concrete realities, of the actual lathe.
A cluster of learning develops in his mental frame. A proficiency of language is necessary for such learning. The concepts can be comprehended best with associated words, having a commonality of meaning. This is termed as COGNITIVE LEARNING, as a lot of cerebration is required, to master the theoretical aspects.

The cognitive learning is the higher order of learning. In fact one learns from all the three types of learnings. All are contributing to the process of acquisition of knowledge and skills. However in the present context cognitive learning is needed in abundance e.g. soft ware professionals, who study and grasp the basic concepts .Thereafter they learn on their own, about the advances, in the field since the route is conceptual learning.

THE FUTURE

As a Human resource consultant, the same Swedish company has now asked me to recruit for them creative, innovative individuals who can transcend the formal learning and conjure up novel designs for their new products. Let me explain how this idea works.
When you think of a chair; an image pops up of a piece of furniture with four legs, a seat and the backrest. As many times as you think of a chair you will have the same icon, answering to the word CHAIR.
The innovator who designs a new type of a chair concentrates only on the "chair-ness “as an abstract concept, and not the known image. He holds the basic essential attributes of “chair-ness” in his mind’s eye. Then suddenly he conceptualizes a novel design. The pure abstraction takes a new concrete form, which has neither been seen by anyone so far, nor by him, too. He thinks of a chair, which is a semicircular “C "shaped one. It rocks; no legs, no separate backrest or seat; both are merged, in one arc.
This is what the final state of learning is, leave the concrete form, and concentrate only on the “abstraction”.
When you think of an office you imagine the table, chair, and all that you have seen as an office. Can you think of an office without any of these? A "virtual office ", which transcends time and space? No chairs, tables, office space, receptionists, operators etc?
You do?

Good! You have graduated to the next level and are admitted to the technologically savvy GEN-NEXT, GROUP.

M. S. RANADE
mranade@vsnl.com
PUBLISHED IN INDIAN EXPRESS PUNE ON THURSDAY 3RD JULY 2003.