Assignment 83

Delp10

Ch9.pptx

Home >Nursing homework help >Assignment 83

9: Learning and Development

Dr. Mirna Safi

Getty Images/iStockphoto/monkeybusinessimages

Introduction

Learning and development processes help individuals to stay abreast of changes occurring in the work environment and to adapt to evolving regulatory requirements and new technological practices.

They can boost an individual’s confidence in their ability to perform the job effectively and can prepare individuals to work competently in groups and teams.

Learning and development activities are focused on maximizing human potential at the individual, organizational, community and societal levels.

Training: The process of acquiring the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a role effectively.

Education: The acquisition of knowledge, skills and experience through a period of sustained study often leading to a qualification.

Learning: A range of formal, informal or incidental activities leading to a (semi) permanent change in behaviour which can contribute to individual, team, organizational and societal effectiveness.

Development: A range of activities leading to the gradual unfolding or growth of an individual and the enhancement of knowledge, skills and experiences over the long term.

Key concepts in learning and development

How do people learn?

The process of individual learning lies at the heart of learning and development.

Motivation is central to the learning process.

People are motivated to learn by the desire to learn something new, to perform a task or role more effectively, and to avail themselves of incentives or rewards.

The common schools of learning include cognitivism, behaviourism and experiential learning.

Cognitivism

Cognitivism focuses on the mind and the process of how learning is absorbed, stored and retrieved in the brain.

Learning is initially absorbed through the senses and individuals create a mental schema involving actions, events and perspectives.

Mental schemas represent internal structures which accommodate new knowledge and information.

These structures represent an efficient storage mechanism which helps the recall and retrieval of knowledge.

Behaviourism

Behaviourism examines the rewards and punishments associated with learning and how learning affects changes in behaviour.

It recognizes that learners respond to stimuli in the external environment and are conditioned to behave in particular ways due to feedback received in relation to responses to stimuli.

Reward reinforcements will strengthen particular behaviours and increase the likelihood of their reoccurrence.

Punishment reinforcements will weaken specific behaviours and decrease the likelihood of their reoccurrence.

Experiential learning

Kolb (1984) proposes four key stages in a learning cycle.

Learning styles

Different learners have a preference for different ways of learning.

Honey and Mumford (1992) and Kolb (1984) suggest that there are four learning styles that link with the four stages of the learning cycle:

Activists: They like to get fully involved in the action

Reflectors: They like to stand back and observe experiences from different perspectives

Theorists: They continually focus on analysis and the development of theories based on multiple observations

Pragmatists: They are focused on trying out new ideas, theories and techniques to see how they will work in practice

Analysis of learning and developing needs

The analysis of learning and development needs represents the first important step in ensuring effective alignment with organizational goals.

Harrison (2009) suggested that the needs identification process consists of three key stages:

Data collection: finding out the nature of the need and whether it is an individual, team or organizational need.

Identification of the capability/performance gap: determine the nature and extent of the performance/capability gap and assess if the gap can be addressed with learning and development .

Recommendations and prioritization of learning needs: recommendations that are relevant to the context, feasible within organizational and budgetary constraints, and are capable of being delivered within the capabilities of the L&D function.

Designing learning and development

Involves using the information collected during the analysis stage to build a course or programme that meets the learners’ needs.

A number of important decisions need to be made by the learning and development specialist at this stage including:

Formulation of learning objectives or outcomes

Planning of the assessment strategy

Determining of the levels, types and difficulty of the activities within the module or course

Selection of the delivery method for learning.

Implementation of learning and development

The effective implementation of learning and development activities requires that trainers are aware of:

Different ways in which people learn

Needs of adult learners, giving them significant control over how and when they learn

Motivation of learners

Environment in which the learning will take place.

Trainers need to provide:

Opportunities for learners to learn by utilising practice, trial and error

Feedback to learners during the learning process

Opportunity for learners to make sense of what they have learned.

Implementation of learning and development

Evaluation takes place in order to meet four important purposes:

Prove that the learning investment added value to the organization and to understand whether the learning intervention worked and achieved what it was supposed to achieve.

Control learning and development activities to ensure they are of an appropriate standard, delivered within budget and fit in with organizational priorities.

Improve the quality of learning and development activities.

Reinforce the learning that took place during the learning intervention.

Thank you for listening!