Stephen Downes asks: Is it better to be results-oriented or process-oriented? What if it is very hard to guarantee results, due to change and complexity?
Hi Stephen, would it depend on what you (and your customer(s)) want? In learning, you want both, but the process may be more valuable to you, as the results can’t be guaranteed, due to complexity in learning. But in real professional life – work, the organisation wants results, our supervisor wants results, our customers, our stakeholders (including government, education authorities) want results, and they want us to ensure the process is “right” (follow policies and procedures) too! That is quality from a customer’s (our employer and stakeholders’) perspective!
So in learning, we could afford to make (minor) mistakes, so far if we could learn, and we could improve our learning through reflection on mistakes and taking corrective actions. At work, our organisation and supervisor would therefore like us to achieve the results. That is reality.
May be a few minor mistakes would still be tolerated in the learning process, but not a big one. And still one needs to learn from that to ensure the results are achieved at work.
John
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This could be a case of both/and, John. One needs to attend to the process to achieve results. One needs to envision a goal or a worthy purpose to attend to the process.
Some research on self-regulation and literacy suggests that teachers can be excellent models of strategies used within a discourse community, however if the learner is not able to set purposes for learning, ask questions, establish goals, make a plan, and follow through with it, the results may be disappointing. In other words, the learner may not devel0p the proficiency or acquire the strategies needed to perform proficiently within the discourse community.
In education, as in life, oops… the telephone is ringing… there’s complexity…. and there are people…
Yes. I agree. Without the process, achievement of results could be hard, unless by accident (one is lucky!). Sometimes the results may be disappointing, due to various factors, and so from a “quality” perspective (from Quality Management point – Control the Process, and not just the Product) control the process (like the PLE/PLN) and learning via some forms of guidance with the network (including the teacher) is important, though again there is the complexity issue, and accident could and do happen. Learning is a journey (a process of learning to be)…. How have you found the course/learning so far?