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2009-11-11 00:26:35
Self-directed learning: the quiet revolution in corporate training and development by Paul J. Guglielmino , Robert G. Murdick When we consider that U.S. businesses budget over $59.8 billion a year to provide over 49.6 million employees with formal training and development courses, it is worthwhile to search for better ways to develop the learning organization (Training, October, 1996). The development of self-directed learning (SDL) has been increasingly applied to this problem by leading U.S. companies and has achieved savings of 20-50%. If business is expected to share in the education of the workforce, it is vital that its responsibilities be defined and that it achieves its objectives at the lowest cost possible. Today's rapidly changing world generates a constant flow of new knowledge. Workers are having difficulty adjusting to the information age. It is now expected that most workers' jobs will change dramatically over every five-year period. As a consequence, the task and the skills needed to perform them must change as the new work and work environment evolve. As these changes occur, the expanded educational needs of the workforce must be met to maintain personal and corporate competence. Self-Directed Learning (SDL) Builds the Learning Organization There has been a "quiet revolution" going on in the training departments of some of corporate America's most prestigious companies. For example, a series of national seminars were conducted by the International Quality & Productivity Center on Self-Directed Learning during the past three years. Companies such as Motorola, Disney, Aetna, Xerox, U.S. West, Levi Strauss, Owens-Coming, and American Airlines have all been implementing SDL in their long-term training and development strategies. These companies have discovered an educational practice that has its roots in the Socratic method. It is called self-directed learning. Organizational and technological changes have forced companies to re-examine the way employees learn and what they learn. The storage time of an individual's knowledge from acquisition to use has shrank because employees must use the latest knowledge available to keep companies at the edge of the competition. In essence, we have entered the age of "just-in-time learning." This type of learning has been discovered to be self-directed learning. It is the only approach possible for keeping learning in sync with the rapidly changing environment. The nature and advantages of this method of learning as well as successful applications will be presented in the following sections. Self-directed Learning: What Is It? Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the development of teaching of adults, defines self-directed learning as a process in which "individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies and evaluating learning outcomes" (Knowles, 1990). Self-directed learning refers to the degree to which a person prefers to be independent and direct his or her own learning activities. The degree of independence in any given learning situation will vary from teacher-directed classroom settings to self-planned and self-conducted learning projects. It is the desire, attitudes, values, and abilities that will ultimately determine the degree of self learning that will take place. A person who prefers a self-directed approach tends to choose the learning objectives, activities, resources, priorities, and level of energy expended more than someone who is other-directed and prefers teachers and trainers. Adults bring to any learning situation a system of reference which gives them a platform for adding to their knowledge. However, each system of reference is different for each person. Therefore, formal standardized courses may overlap or omit knowledge, to a great extent, for every individual sitting in a classroom. Training or development achieved through SDL is more efficient and effective for a number of reasons (Durr, 1992; Knowles, 1990; Merriam, 1993; Piskurich, 1993): 1. SDL will have greater relevance to the particular needs of each individual learner. 2. Greater flexibility in the schedule of learning is available. 3. SDL encourages the development of patterns for each individual in approaching and solving problems. 4. More frequent and timely updating of skills and knowledge is easily possible. 5. Skills and attitudes for future personnel as well as current work-related needs are possible. 6. In highly specialized fields, SDL can provide more focused learning. 7. The learning dollars may be distributed among all employees at reasonable costs. At present, two thirds of corporate training dollars go to college-educated men and women (Stone, 1991).8. Finally, as a result of the foregoing, company experience shows that the cost of training can be greatly ... |
