deployment of the PLA Navy ships in the - Information Resource ...

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While we lay so much stress on training, how many at every stage, then using this data base, the individual
of us understand the process of learning?
Some learners have no difficulty learning using
only textbooks. Others need to have hands-on
experience or experiment with the subject matter in
order to understand. Still some learners benefit from
group work and discussions. In my own course, I have
witnessed a few who cannot but hate the instructor,
and learn the content on their own, and are ever ready
for arguing and proving the instructor wrong (Cat A).
There are a few who learn only what the instructor
speaks and are wary of ‘Out of syllabus’ questions in
the exam (Cat B). There are always those who can’t
score marks, are averse to reading by themselves but
when given the responsibility practically, get the job
done in the best way and can be relied upon (Cat C).
There is nothing wrong with any of them, it is just that
their learning styles are different. The grades in each
phase of the course such as theory, simulators or OJT
should not be viewed in isolation as people would
perform as per their learning styles.
Each individual has a different learning ability
and style and one should avoid stereotyping learners.
In fact, learning styles are similar to personality traits.
While we all share personality traits, we differ
significantly with each other. The same goes for
learning styles. Research has shown that the more
aware we become of our own learning styles, the
better we learn.
If one has difficulty learning a particular subject
or skill, he/she can search for alternative methods for
understanding the new content.
However, while every person in the Navy
undergoes so much of training, there is seemingly no
effort in teaching the learners how to learn and in
assessing the learners according to their learning
styles at the schools. We seem to take it for granted
that a standard capsule of theory, practicals and OJT
would serve the purpose across the spectrum of
learners. We want learners to be 'Cat B' and also 'Cat
C'. If we can identify the learning style of each learner
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SEPTEMBER 2010
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NAVAL DESPATCH
can be better trained and could be correctly selected
for various tasks. Moreover. When an indindual is made
aware of his style of learning, he could make amends
or choose the field of work according to his strengths.
'Cat C' learner is made aware and puts in effort to
become Cat B also, he would have best of the two
worlds.
More than anything this data could help in
grading the learner in a particular course. Are we not
surprised sometimes when a student who has scored
high in his professional school seems to
underperform onboard, or when an average scorer
in the school performs very well on job. The mismatch
between the assessment of the student in the school
and his actual performance onboard (which is the
goal for which he is being trained) is because the
school does not consider his learning style while
assessing him. If varying learning styles is a reality, why
don’t we cash on it and try to maximise the effect of
learning process so as to reduce the mismatch
between the school assessments and onboard
performances. After all, we train people to optimise
the onboard performance and not to identify the
intellectuals who can memorise figures and write what
the evaluator wants.
The best part is that, the Navy caters for all the
styles to a large extent but we expect everyone to
perform well in all the styles of learning. In most of the
courses, we begin with theory, follow it up with
practical sessions / simulators and finally undertake
the OJT. However there is no analysis carried out the
way one performes in different phases and use it for
tasking him, instead, the marks are just totailed and a
merit list is prepared. In fact, for every course, the
weightages for each phase of training would need
to be different. In how many cases is the appointer
aware of the attributes of the student of a course,
which could be derived by this sort of analysis? I feel,
we are lacking in that finishing touch where the data
is all there and we only need to use it to task the right
man for the right task, instead of forcing all the
students to ape the established stereotype.
Commander Sriram Amur is an alumni of Naval Academy. He specialized in communication and is a graduate
of DSSC. His appointments include Instructor and Training Coordinator at Submarine School, INS Satavahana
and Commanding officer, INS Sindhuvijay at Visakhapatnam. He is presently posted as officer - in - charge of
Submarine School, Visakhapatnam.
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