- What situations could viewing "learning as a product" be appropriate?
- Why do some people describe learning as a process?
- Which orientation to learning do you identify with the most?
It could be good to view learning as a product if you were trying to memorize a lot of trivia, like if you were going on a game show. For that purpose, you would be trying to acquire a lot of knowledge, possibly in a short amount of time. It would be like "shopping for knowledge," like the article said. It could also be good to view it this way if you were trying to memorize or learn some simple steps to do something, like how to set up a computer or how to do something at your job. In this case, the end product of the learning is very important, so it is good to view learning as a product. It is very important that there is a change in behavior in the end.
Some people describe learning as a process because sometimes learning is slow and takes time. Sometimes a lesson or piece of knowledge is not gained all at once, like by reading an instruction manual, but slowly, over time, through experience. The article cited the example of parenting as a learning process. People do not immediately learn how to be good parents. They learn parenting over time, through trial and error and lots of experience.
I think I agree most with behaviorist perspective. I believe that people change because of the feedback, reward or punishment they receive from others, and perhaps also from themselves, in the form of feelings. I think that people behave in a certain way to get a certain response from other people or to feel a certain way. If this behavior does not illicit that response, then they will change. If it does, then they will keep behaving that way. This behavior can be something simple. For example, a boy might stop picking his nose after being ridiculed by his peers. Or it could be for an extremely complex, lifelong behavior. For example, a woman might decide to become a doctor because she receives a positive response from others when she helps them, or because she wants to receive the reward of a paycheck.
