Learning and competence development

The question "What is learning?" has been approached from many sides, with, at the moment, a prominent place for the findings from neuroscience and the views on situated learning. Relevant findings of neuroscience are listed by Marchese (1997) as follows:

ƒ Body, mind, and brain exist in dynamic unity.

ƒ Our brain is a social brain; the search for meaning is innate. Learning to-do is part of learning to become and to belong. (OECD 2000).

ƒ The brain establishes meaning through patterning. It is not that the patterns are stored in the mind, rather they are in the environment and our brain interacts with the environment to produce the appropriate pattern, that is, to act

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intelligently (Gonczi, 2001). It is a mind which does not contain knowledge but is knowledgeable (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1996), that is knows how to create and to use knowledge when and where needed. Bransford et al. (2000) state that cognitive changes do not result from mere accretion of information, but are due to processes involved in conceptual reorganisation.

ƒ Emotions are crucial to patterning (cf. Gonczi, 2001). In other words, thinking has social-emotional origins.

ƒ Learning involves conscious and unconscious processes.

ƒ Complex learning is enhanced by challenge, inhibited by threat.

ƒ Every brain is uniquely organised, with resulting differences of talent and preference.

Marchese (1997) argues that, from evolutionary studies, we know that 'apprenticeship' is the most natural way of learning. In other words, the most important learning is always situated in practice. Gonczi (2001) states:

"Essentially I believe that we should be coming to the recognition that the best way to prepare people for professional practice is through some form of apprenticeship - an educational process in which the exercise of judgement and the ability to act in the (professional) world emerge out of the complex of interactions to be found a community of practice. The interactions combine cognitive, emotional and bodily processes in the social and cultural setting of the workplace. That is, real understanding is essentially a result of social rather than individual activities" (p. 2).

Boreham and Samurçay (1999) discuss various cognitive approaches to competence, or what drives competent performance. They mention information processing, 'productive systems' theory and connectionist models (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986) but claim that these models lack (still) the ability to capture the dynamics of transformed and complex work situations. The situated learning approach of Lave and Wenger (1991) defines learning as increasing levels of participation in a community of practice. For the conceptualisation of competence this theory looks promising. Situated cognition is a powerful metaphor for human learning that incorporates elements of everyday cognition, informal learning, authentic learning experiences, and cultural influences (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). The most important knowledge for performance is tacit (informal, implicit) and resides within. Knowledge is created in a relevant "community of practice," and newcomers become contributing practitioners through rites of entry termed "legitimate peripheral participation" (Marchese, 1997), which can be described as active and gradually increasing participation in communities of practice, which results in learning. However, the situated cognition paradigm has been criticised as

well, because not each encountered situation produces spontaneously structured knowledge (Boreham & Samurçay, 1999; Gonczi, 2001).

Novel conceptions of learning, constructivist philosophies and new technologies have led to the emergence of new learning environments "which are based on constructivist psychological and philosophical principles, team-based, often interdisciplinary, oriented towards the solution of complex, real-life problems, and utilising a variety of technological means" (Salomon, 1998, p. 3). Salomon also mentions the 'situatedness' of knowledge and distinguishes between situated constructivism, where socially shared knowledge is constructed and the more 'cognitive-developmental' constructivism where individual attainments can be carried away and utilised in new situations as partly abstracted, decontextualised knowledge and skill. The construction of knowledge is a process that sometimes occurs individually, and sometimes together with others. The meaning of knowledge has changed. It is not so much acquired for its own sake, but rather accessed and constructed when needed to solve a problem or design something useful. However, this does not exclude the building of generalisable knowledge ('cognitive residue' in the words of Salomon, 1998). Knowledge is, therefore, a social construction in the dual sense of being a verb denoting a process as well as being a noun denoting an object the learner comes to possess.

The ideas of situated cognition led Brown et al. (1989) to propose an epistemology of knowledge that puts activity and perception before conceptual representation - not the other way around, as it is in classrooms. This does not mean that we do away completely with propositional, codified knowledge but rather that we must rethink its connection to the world of practice and the tacit knowledge which develops through acting in and on the world (Boreham & Samurçay, 1999; Gonczi, 2001). This stance, applied to CBE, also answers the criticism on CBE that there is an 'inattention to thinking' (Stone, 1996), and that factual, abstract, and decontextualised knowledge is a useful tool in solving real-world problems.

Promising 'pedagogies' that promote situated learning and that are in accordance with the recent findings in the cognitive sciences (Marchese,1997), are similar to those mentioned already for the acquisition and development of generic competencies and, in general, those for competence-based education (see section 3.7).

Gonczi (2001) formulates the consequences of the 'new' thinking about learning and the consequences of the results in neuroscience and the cognitive sciences for 'professional education' (see also Box 3.10):

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1. The knowledge content of the traditional disciplines is not broad enough and does not lead to sufficient capacity for professional performance.

2. Problem-based learning in which the student is gradually exposed to more ill- defined, complex problems, is an excellent way in professional education to prepare for the world of work. There is no place for a transmission approach to learning. This does not mean that traditional disciplinary knowledge cannot be introduced but that it should be taught in such a way that it can be applied. 3. A new professional education views experience of professional practice as

essential for the acquisition of some of the knowledge and performance capacity required for professional practice.

4. A new professional education emphasises the acquisition by learners of diverse generic competencies. This can be done best through the knowledge building undertaken during work in the community of practice.

Bransford et al. (2000), in their book on how people learn, mention in their conclusion eight factors that affect the development of expertise and competent performance . Box 3.10 gives these eight factors.

Box 3.10. Factors affecting the development of expertise and competent performance 1. Relevant knowledge.

2. Experts relate the knowledge they possess to new tasks (useable knowledge).

3. Relevant knowledge brings people to go beyond information and think in terms of problem representations and to relate various kinds of information.

4. Knowledge influences the ways in which people represent problems. Multiple representations may make the solving easier or more difficult.

5. Experts have well-organised knowledge structures. they know what knowledge is needed and where to get it.

6. Different knowledge domains have different structures. Thus an in-depth grasp of the area is needed.

7. Competent learners and problem solvers monitor and regulate their own processing and change their strategies as necessary.

8. The study of ordinary people under everyday cognition provides valuable information about competent cognitive performances in routine settings.

Source: Bransford et al. (2000), p. 237-238.

Motschnig-Pitrik and Holzinger (2002) advocate a 'Rogerian' approach, that is based on the hypothesis that students who are given the freedom to explore areas based on their personal interests, and who are accompanied in their striving for solutions by a supportive, understanding facilitator not only achieve higher academic results but also experience an increase in personal values, such as flexibility, self-confidence and social skills (Rogers, 1983). This approach fits best under the constructivist paradigm, that they compare with the behaviourist and

cognitive paradigms. They summarise the differences in a succinct way: "In brief, the main goal of constructivism is competence, not knowledge as in cognitivism or achievement as in behaviourism" (Motschnig-Pitrik & Holzinger, 2002, p. 163).