Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2429] Re: Training and Education --- Edutainment
From: Alan Cooper (acooper@langara.bc.ca)
Date: Tue 23 Oct 2001 - 19:47:41 MEST
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 10:47:41 -0700 From: Alan Cooper <acooper@langara.bc.ca> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2429] Re: Training and Education --- Edutainment
In a rich language a variety of terms allows for subtle distinctions of meaning
and/or of emphasis. Some such distinctions can be applied invidiously and such
application needs to be corrected. But doing so by eliminating the distinctions
outright would be an impoverishment of the language which is not useful.
It may be that some interpretations and loadings of the words 'education' and
'training' need to be challenged, but to do so by denying the distinction (except
as a goad) is a waste of time. So I'll assume that Marc's intent has indeed been
just to stimulate discussion and throw in my own couple of cents' worth into the
pot.
The comments that struck me as most valuable were made by Chris O'Hagan - in
particular, regarding terminology, "you might say that training should produce
'convergence' on a particular result, whereas education is intended to diversify
the possible results - divergence."
One way I might expand on this is to say that one is always trained to *do*
something whereas one can be educated without any purpose and without acquiring
any skill in the process. And such education is not even necessarily "bad
education". It includes the model of a horse being led out from a stable into a
field, with a world to see and discover, but without any particular direction as
to what might actually be discovered and no expectation of productive activity as
a result. Of course we all need both, and some education can include training
while some training can include education, but neither is a necessary component
of every instance of the other.
With regard to the way we value the two, it is a rare horse that prefers the
reins to the field, and even when training is to a self-imposed purpose with
great expected rewards it rarely provides immediate gratification. While this
makes it likely that people will have a less positive attitude towards "training"
than "education" it is no reason to hide from the former term. It is just a fact
of life that we must live with, and in fact it suggests that effective training
may require greater skill and support than mere education.
Thus while edutainement may on occasion be the apple needed to coax a timid
animal from the stall to the door it serves little purpose once he can smell the
grass, but it may have a much more essential role as the carrot on the stick that
draws the workhorse up the hill. Or on a more positive note, as whatever I use to
keep me doing squats to get my quads ready for the ski season.
With regard to the relative importance of the various participants in a
development project, I think it depends to a great extent on the purpose of the
activity being developed. When the behavioural objective of a training exercise
has been completely specified I can see the point of those who find the
interference of the sme as an impediment to the development of effective
software. But as an educator/sme I've been around the farm for a while and,
knowing the location of the apple tree behind the field with the noisy tractor, I
want to provide a hint of the scent which leads to that reward rather than the
oranges which the developer of the horse-leading-out-machine would have it
dispense for encouragement.
--Alan
Postscript: After firing the sme, the developers of the horse-leading-out-machine
discovered a clever algorithm for peeling the oranges; but making the machine
mobile proved too difficult, so that feature was abandoned and it was installed
(literally) in the barn. Now the horses are said to be very happy in their stalls
and none of them kicks up their heels or misses the feel of the air in their
manes....
...and the apples rot on the ground as the wind blows bright leaves across an
empty meadow.
======================================================================
Alan Cooper (acooper@langara.bc.ca , http://www.langara.bc.ca/~acooper)
Dep't of Mathematics and Statistics (http://www.langara.bc.ca/mathstats)
Langara College (http://www.langara.bc.ca )
100 W 49th Ave. Vancouver BC
Canada V5Y2Z6 Tel(604)323-5676,Fax(604)323-5555
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