Are You Learning or Are You Performing?

Wait, what? That was my first reaction when I came across a white paper which clearly defined the difference between the two and it’s a valuable distinction for anyone in the learning industry or anyone trying to achieve mastery in something to know.

As I have discovered over many years, there are several different definitions of learning. I don’t think this is a bad thing, as context can change and reframe, and with that comes greater insight into use. That’s exactly what happened in my case. 

In the context of comparing learning to performance, learning is defined as “relatively permanent changes in behavior and knowledge that support long-term retention and transfer.”(Soderstrom and Bjork) Long-term for me is the key here. As an instructional/learning designer it’s my belief that we need to move away from the one and done training activities, which let face it, have dominated the landscape of organizational learning for way too long. You do not create tangible change in behaviors and skills from one training session. Even a series of training sessions that are not designed to facilitate the change in the brain will come up short in results. So why are we so impressed when people are learning and nailing material during the learning/training process? Well, it’s sure easy to measure and that’s where we get to witness performance.

Performance, as defined by scientific research as it pertains to learning refers to “the temporary fluctuations in behavior or knowledge that can be observed and measured during or immediately after the acquisition process.”  See the bolded words? Starting to put the puzzle together?  

Distinguishing between learning and performance is absolutely critical.

You need to know which one will satisfy your objectives and how to then use the right theories and methods to achieve those.  During the process of training or instruction, we can witness what I call the illusion of learning. During this time it’s easier to observe and measure change, and why wouldn’t it be. Typically we’re working within a certain time frame, stable environmental conditions and are mass training and practicing. With the variables locked into place, we can observe, test and see great levels of advancement during this time. But wait..isn’t that considered learning? Yes! But remember, we’re still in the land where Mayor Temporary is in charge. Allow me to share with you a wonderful personal experience that will put this into context for you. 

Until the recent sale of our property up north, my father and I would go regularly up to camp (that’s what Nothern Ontarian’s call a stripped-down cottage on an island in the middle of lake nowhere) A valuable skill, aside from driving a boat, is knowing how to tie up said boat to the dock. My father taught me and spent countless trips to the marina and back as opportunities for me to learn. Within a week I had nailed it. Performance mastery achieved! 

The illusion was real

Two months later, I returned to camp to help him close up for the season. I unloaded my gear, tied up the boat and got into the grunt work. I’m sure you can see where this is going. From the dock all I hear is a very perturbed “LAUREN!!!!!” and before I got to the steps to run down, I could see the boat taking a self-directed tour of the middle of the lake. 

Did I think I had tied up the boat correctly? Absolutely I did. Did I though? Absolutely not. My temporary performance mastery two months previous created the illusion that I had learned this permanently, which clearly I had not.  Had I had the time and resources in between the two visits to practice and test my abilities, I would have caught the fact that I had only temporarily learned. (luckily we had a canoe to go retrieve the boat with:) Now if I had only needed that skill for that first trip, then no problem, mission accomplished, but that, like many things you’re probably learning and/or designing for, your goal is for more permanent skill and behavior.  

So my fellow learners, what are you after? Long-term change or temporary? Both are great, but learning and designing for them can be quite different. 

I hope that seeing these definitions, will help you look at the learning you’re doing or designing in a new way. It’s a small shift, but an impactful one. I have dedicated years now to understand how to design for long-term retention and transfer. Through my extensive and ongoing learning into the brain and keeping up with the researched methods and theory of design, I have dramatically changed what I am capable of for myself as a learner and for my clients and hope that what I share here can help you too!