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Imminent Need for Nonlinear Learning


G. Balasubramanian,

G. Balasubramanian is a doyen of school education in India. He has held several positions of leadership at CBSE, including Director Academics. He was the brain behind the introduction of several innovations at CBSE, which included frontline curriculum, communicative approach to language teaching, Information Technology, alternatives to homework, etc. He is also an author, poet and a sought-after speaker at educational conferences world over. This article has been taken from G. Balasubramanian’s official website balaspeaks.in

 

The concept of ‘learning’ is grossly misunderstood by many presently, with reading a few books, acquiring the ability to respond to a few questions that are put forth, collecting some data, and acquiring some information for retention in the short-term memory to perform a task. The purpose and the objective of learning is far beyond, and the process of learning may or may not be relevant to or dependent on a prepositioned textual content. As such, the process of learning is linked to the days when homosapiens were hunters and shared their skills to live together as a community. 


Developmental biologists and cognitive scientists do claim that learning starts from the foetal level, and they are largely linked to the experiences of the organisms. They are fundamentally linear. 


For centuries, the development of human resources through science and technology have been basically through nonlinear learning experiences. The pursuit of alchemy to modern sciences with disciplines that deal with interconnected knowledge do show a meaningful relationship to the ability of human minds to examine the relationships which are everywhere, which are hidden and tangential, and to find a meaning between them.

Linear processes of delivering and capturing knowledge have been myopic and have always targeted a preconceived goal or a destination. “Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon,” said E. M. Forster. Despite a highly formalised model of educational system, the contribution of linear learning to developmental processes has always fallen short of informal learning methods that empower nonlinear learning. Though linear learning has facilitated consolidation of organised knowledge through specific directions targeted to goals, it has restrained the possibility of inclusive knowledge assimilated through diverse sources. In contrast, nonlinear learning has provided the much-needed flexibility in learning. 


The advantages of Non-linear Learning can be listed as below:


  1. It offers flexibility.

  2. It facilitates portability of knowledge and skills.

  3. It encourages interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary learning.

  4. It is stress-free learning and is driven by learner’s choices.

  5. It triggers critical thinking and problem solving.

  6. It empowers social intelligence.

  7. It encourages a growth mindset.

  8. It relieves learning from the boundaries of time, space and context.

  9. It facilitates experimentation and is open ended.

  10. It helps self-confidence, self-esteem and encourages lifelong learning.


In a world which has opened to seamless mobility of information, knowledge and skills, it is important that our learning systems also respond to the needs of the modern day. Reporting on the future work dynamics, the famous Forbes Magazine reports “According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, 1 in 6 people will be 60 years or over. By 2050, that number is expected to double. With individuals living longer, the traditional 40-year career will slowly become a thing of the past. Instead, the 60-year career is much more likely. But for people to remain in the workforce for that long, they will need to find satisfying roles, so they don't burn out. Very few people will want to stay in the same job for 60 years.” This would indeed mean that the future would need people who have the following traits:


1. Smart learners

2. Continuous learners

3. Pragmatic learners

4. Skilled workforce

5. Change managers.


Accepting change and having a good relationship with new methods of learning has become integral to growth and prospects. 


Why is nonlinear learning relevant for the future?


1. Cross-functional work culture

With the impact of technology, there would be preference for people who have capabilities that would facilitate cross-functional work. It means the learners must outgrow their structured modes of learning and adapt themselves to cross-functional learning to work in more diffused work cultures. As this calls for integrated and interdisciplinary thinking and skills, nonlinear learning would be immensely helpful.


2. Instability of knowledge and skills

The increasing irrelevance of knowledge and skills arising out of the speed of knowledge dynamics would force the learners to update themselves on a continuous basis. The emerging knowledge and skills based on technology would span over a wide spectrum of knowledge and interdependent skills. Learning new knowledge would be entirely a new and demanding exercise calling for application of knowledge and skills, rather than the bedrock of the previous knowledge. Such exercises would essentially be nonlinear whether one wishes or not.


3. Need for continuous self-learning.

The need for continuous learning would put more thrust on self-learning and acquisition of knowledge from diverse sources at convenient time, space and in convenient learning packages. With few formal doors of delivery open for providing such exercises, the focus will be a self-driven model. Continuous self-learning would force the learners to think in a comprehensive holistic manner rather than the learning windows that provide a singular window to learning.


4. Need for smart learning.

Smart learning will be unique to each learner depending upon one’s learning style, aspirations, availability of resources, short term as well as long term needs. Manipulating learning methodologies and resources to one’s own advantage to seek learning effectively in critical time exposures would be a personalised and a thrilling exercise. Such exercises would force the learners to adopt non-linear models rather than linear models.


5. The power of knowledge

The focus of the future will be on the power of knowledge rather than the quantum of knowledge. Extracting the essence of knowledge to put it into significant applications that would enhance productivity of this knowledge will alone add value to learning. Hence learners would set their own assessment tools to critically examine the relevance of the knowledge at their doors for their timely use or convertibility into wealth. Linear models will not provide support to this method as they would often be top driven without adequate concern for the learner’s learning assets.


6. Quality of knowledge

The focus of the future will be on evaluating the quality of knowledge alongside its power. The learner and the community will examine the knowledge domains for their quality – that includes its richness, its manoeuvrability, its immediate and long-term utility, and its sustenance value. Narratives that are descriptive, that which do not satisfy the intellectual hunger of the learners would be laid to rest. Through nonlinear learning, the learner would be privileged to examine the quality of knowledge on the norms of credibility, validity and sustainability.


7. The construction of new knowledge

The focus of the future would shift from celebration of the current knowledge to construction of new knowledge both at the individual and the societal level. Collaborative learning and peer learning would help co-construction of knowledge both in small groups, and at the global level. The dynamics and emergence of such new constructs would be essentially non-linear accommodating and celebrating collateral views.


8. Evolving workspaces and shared knowledge

Knowledge being celebrated as a social wealth would get generated from common workspaces which evolve day in and day out. The communities would accommodate both individual contributions of knowledge as well as social constructs so that the shared knowledge has the much-needed intensity, focus and power to disseminate itself through the entire compass of its operation. This dynamic would force knowledge operating through shared workspaces and shared knowledge centres. Such operations would be basically nonlinear and hence would need a change in basic assumptions in thinking.


9. Skill based work forces.

The approach to recruitment in various sectors of productivity and services will be based on skills, competencies and mastery. The relevance to examination-oriented performances or the positions in the normal distribution curves will get marginalised. The position of the learner on the learning curve will be the focal point to determine the learnability and trainability of an individual. Thus, learning in the future will be more open and pragmatic rather than celebration of cognitive domains and its narratives.


10. Work-life balance paradigm shifts.

The disruption caused by covid globally brought a paradigm shift to the work patterns world over. The long duration of keeping away from the formal office structures and engaging with online work from home brought a psychological change in basic assumptions in the minds of the working population. This, in turn, had its impact on the work-life balances for many people. The differential skills required in these different workstations for life called for different lifestyles and work patterns. Persons with linear thinking found it difficult to cope. The return to normalcy to offices again brought the reverse osmosis in human mindsets. People with nonlinear approaches to learning could do better than their counterparts. The future work prospects call for such skills which could align itself well with such changes.


Nonlinear learning facilitates the prospects of change management and transformational growth with ease and comfort. Carl Rogers, the founder of humanistic psychology, says “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn…and change.”


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