Assessment of Learning LO16550

J.C. Lelie (janlelie@wxs.nl)
Thu, 15 Jan 1998 13:13:28 -0800

Replying to LO16546 --

Rick,

Thank you for posing these questions. I feel happy to help you.

For starters:

Years ago i attended a first-year student class on Biophysics (you might
want to skip this: ... i graduated in Biophysics, noteably photosynthesis
(the reaction that turns CO2 and H2O (water) and sunlight into O2 (oxygen)
and C6H12O6 (sugar), the basis of most animal life on this planet),
because i believe, still, that the solution to any energy and
environmental problem we have has been solved by photosynthesis; by the
way, the "waste" product of photosynthesis is oxygen, we kind of depend on
plant-shit, plant-dung, discarded molecules, some
dump-it-in-the-environment-by-by-product; if there had been a committee
during the early stages of evolution, photosynthesis wouldn't stand a
change: consider the consequences: surplus of oxygen, leading to (O3)
ozone, creating an effective UV-shield, making possible living on the
surface of the earth ... back treality) and a friend of me asked:
"Professor, what is the efficiency of photosynthesis?". Now, our
professor was kind of nervous with groups, continuously smoking (it was
allowed then, so we're talking stone-age here) during college, from
cigarettes ditributed unevenly across his desk. These cigarettes shared
the desk with white chalks, used in a primitive version of e-mail: writing
on black boards on the wall. He got really nervous now and started to look
for another cigarette, got hold of a chalk and started to look for fire
(... you probably noted the nice analogy here with photosynthesis: here
are dead leaves, in cigarettes, being burned in the fire made possible by
the same processes; the chalk is bounded CO2, created by miniature life
forms, depending on photosynthesis and required for a surplus of oxygen;
being asked what its effiency is: if they were self-consious, the
cigarette and the chalk would have exploded. NB: This is a true story, i
did not invent this story ...) and as he responded with a question:
"Eh..How do you mean, in the springtime or during the fall?".

I think it is the same with learning results: "How do you mean, during
chilhood or in old-age?".

Richard Karash wrote:

> I'll start by asking, "What are the grand questions that frame this area?"

For me, learning is justifiable by itself; part of it can be measured in
terms of improved - depending on your position - peronal gains (ablities,
number of tasks able to perform), organisational gains (Return On
Investement, Number of recently introduced products and services, Market
Share (or not)), national gains (per capita income, infrastructural wealth
per capita) and universal gains (average life-expectancy, percentage of
homes connected to WWW), most of it will seem spilled, and part of it will
later turn out to have contributed to quality-of-life.

In a business environment, i like to ask the people themselves to make a
choice in what they want to learn and measure it in improved
Turn-Over-Ratio (inventories, sales, not people leaving the company),
because that is why we invented businesses. Sometimes, we looked at
productivity per person and illness-rates. You can also ask people
themselves how they would measure learning results. In my opinion people
do not mind measuring, they resist being measured. These improvements we
compared with the expenses (direct and indirect) made for learning.

Kind regards,

Jan Lelie

-- 
Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan)
janlelie@wxs.nl       
LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development  -  
+ (31) 70 3243475 Fax: idem GSM: + (31) 654685114

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