A recent report funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, authored by the American Institutes for Research, has delivered surprising results about U.S. college students. The press release discussing this study outlines that, "Twenty percent of U.S. college students completing 4-year degrees - and 30 percent of students earning 2-year degrees - have only basic quantitative literacy skills, meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies...." http://www.air.org/news/documents/Release200601pew.htm
What this brings to mind for me is whether or not we are effective at linking meaning with our learning. This is no less important during the "formal learning" phases of our lives and the "on the job learning" phases as we enter the workforce. Just as we do better at work when we have a clear understanding around how our efforts contribute towards the success of our organizations, all our learning is furthered if we understand how newly learned information can be put to practical use. I am sure many of us can recall conversations during our school years about why we had to learn certain facts or skills if "we were never going to use them."
In a recent Thought Leader interview on HR.com with Judith E. Glaser on the topic of "Creating We - How to Build a Healthy Thriving Organization," Judith Glaser discussed findings related to the use of children´s own stories when learning to read and write. The findings discussed showed that those children who used their own stories when learning to read and write, were more successful as adults, and even had higher IQ´s. This again to me points to the importance of linking learning to current thoughts, values and abilities and interests. The importance of this linkage being that it creates value. Just as we try to link our performance goals and objectives to an organization´s strategic objectives, we must also link our learning activities accordingly. Selecting job placements that link well with our own personal skills, objectives and values creates an even tighter link, and, as research is showing, enhances success.
Linking performance expectations and outcomes with learning and development activities is the topic for this week´s educational webcast. I look forward to exploring the topic of the importance of linking performance management processes with learning and development activities in further depth.
On the other side of the coin, I wonder if we are taking the time to learn practical skills that can be applied to a variety of situations. For example, are we taking the time to practice and expand our problem solving skills, leadership skills, and interpersonal skills? As with the basic skills related to performance management (coaching, giving and receiving feedback) these remain crucial to our success. I am aware of some programs that teach school age children the steps to problem solving - not just for math equations - but structured steps to use when a social problem arises. This learning is invaluable, but not widespread enough.
