ESTEBAN TREVI�O MUGUERZA wrote:
> Hit a cord... both ideas together provide the whole picture.
>
> "All learning (to me) occurs because a learner decided to learn..."
> whatever you call it those around can only direct, plan, enable the
> stimulus that arouses the learner desires, the "...responsibility for
> positive outcomes" is the result of efforts of both the learner and
> the
> enabler. It takes two to tango.
>
> "If we have have people in positions of visible authority who are
> unwilling
> or can't undertake responsibility
> for positive outcomes with the relatively helpless..." notion that
> their
> control rests upon the free independent actions of others then we may
> never
> progress into understanding the dynamic that entice the involvement of
>
> others to produce a desired outcome believing that coercion alone is
> sufficient.
>
> Saludos Esteban
>
Now we are getting somewhere! I feel like I am on Mr. Roger's
Neighborhood, and he has just asked, "Can you say 'System'?"
'Teaching' and 'learning' take place in the space 'between the toes.'
There is no knob on the side of a head that is marked 'motivation,' or
'learning.' You can't turn that knob - there is no knob! But there are
factors (in social/medical science, explanatory variables) which
influence these things. The manager/teacher must determine the nature
of those 'things,' and how they change motivations and learning. Then
tweak the factors, see if the results are close to prediction.
"Would you like a raise?" Will it make you work longer hours? Maybe.
The other day I was talking with 2 people, just laid off from a factory,
and returning for some training at a community college. They had to
remind me again that not everyone wants the money. For them, a raise
tied to longer hours would not help.
If I offer you an A, will you do an extra credit report? Not everyone
will - some feel an A is what they get for showing up, since they are so
good. Yet I straightened out one student by reducing his lab grade from
20 to 16 (out of 20 for a yeoman task, out of 600 for the course). I
told him, I thought that would let him know that substandard work got
lesser grades, and he knew how to do better.
We start by assuming that there are factors (inputs), which influence
outputs (responses). For everything. Then the question is, what output
do you want, and what are the factors (and the sign & magnitude of
coefficients) that influence /control the output? With machines, we can
assert these are fairly stable. With groups of people we can often aim
for an average, and hit it. With specific individuals it's a lot
harder.
Given this core assumption, we are discussing a system of inputs and
outputs, some of which reflect back on the input coefficients, so we
know the whole thing is frightfully non-linear. Maybe not even
explicitly solvable. But the key word is, system.
Those who refuse responsibility, are asserting that the coefficients
equal 0, or are frightened by the possibility that the coefficients are
not 0, and their subsequent responsibility. Those who grandstand their
single 'answer' usually mean they see only one significant factor. Most
systems have many, with multiple significant ones. Those who say 'it
all depends...' mean that the coefficients change under different
circumstances. Yup. Those are the toughest issues, mathematically
amenable only to simulation. But are we allowed to give up? Do you
like to fire people, shut down plants? Do you like to flunk 20% of the
freshman class? Would you like more Littletons? Retorical questions,
all.
Thank you, Esteban, for saying it all so succinctly. I apologize for my
soapbox.
Jay
--
Jay Warner
Principal Scientist
Warner Consulting, Inc.
4444 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI 53404-1216
USA
Ph: (414) 634-9100
FAX: (414) 681-1133
email:
quality@a2q.com
web:
http://www.a2q.com
Power to the data!