WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:01.770 --> 00:00:05.940 Avdi: This is The Cache Flush, a programmer's audio scrapbook. 00:00:06.990 --> 00:00:11.670 This is episode 10, recorded April 26th, 2023. 00:00:11.910 --> 00:00:16.560 I am your host, Avdi Grimm, and this episode represents 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:19.160 a semi reboot of the podcast. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:27.210 Up till now, it's been a collection of random musings, but I think 00:00:27.210 --> 00:00:28.710 I'm gonna change up the format. 00:00:29.955 --> 00:00:37.694 See, I have this collection of books and papers, which fall under the loose 00:00:37.694 --> 00:00:41.295 categorization of software humanities. 00:00:42.765 --> 00:00:48.864 They're texts at the intersection of programming and ethics and 00:00:48.995 --> 00:00:54.944 psychology and politics and systems thinking, and just all the wider 00:00:54.944 --> 00:00:58.394 systems that software is part of. 00:00:59.414 --> 00:01:04.635 And since I haven't really been able to stick to the previous format of 00:01:05.265 --> 00:01:10.935 random musings and commentary, I thought that instead I would use 00:01:10.995 --> 00:01:20.054 this podcast to present selections from these texts without commentary. 00:01:20.985 --> 00:01:24.435 Because a lot of these books, I think they're important. 00:01:24.524 --> 00:01:30.074 They deserve wider recognition and also, I need an excuse and 00:01:30.074 --> 00:01:31.785 a nudge to keep reading them. 00:01:32.785 --> 00:01:38.345 So without further ado, today's selection is by John M. 00:01:38.345 --> 00:01:38.695 Carroll. 00:01:38.935 --> 00:01:41.995 It's from a paper called Making Errors, making Sense. 00:01:42.355 --> 00:01:43.375 Making Use. 00:01:43.885 --> 00:01:48.715 This paper is one of many collected in the book software Development and 00:01:48.715 --> 00:01:53.205 reality construction, which itself is the proceedings of a conference 00:01:53.205 --> 00:01:55.585 by the same name from back in 1988. 00:01:56.585 --> 00:01:59.674 We find that users are always fundamentally motivated 00:01:59.674 --> 00:02:00.994 to get something done. 00:02:01.565 --> 00:02:05.465 Both the organizational context for learning new software and the internalized 00:02:05.465 --> 00:02:09.005 standards that adult learners have for determining what is worth spending 00:02:09.009 --> 00:02:13.954 time on bias users against a learning for the sake of learning attitude. 00:02:14.614 --> 00:02:16.894 New users want to get started fast. 00:02:16.954 --> 00:02:19.924 They like to jump the gun executing a procedure when it is 00:02:19.929 --> 00:02:21.245 merely mentioned in an overview. 00:02:21.980 --> 00:02:25.460 They like to skip around on their own in a training sequence, people want 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:29.090 to learn by doing to reason things out instead of merely reading about 00:02:29.090 --> 00:02:33.140 them, they resent rigidly structured exercises that often compel them to 00:02:33.140 --> 00:02:37.640 copy text character for character, and then subject them to insincere praise 00:02:37.640 --> 00:02:39.170 for these forced accomplishments. 00:02:40.070 --> 00:02:44.120 They like to test hypotheses that they generate on the fly 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.150 and to make use of their prior knowledge and reason by analogy. 00:02:48.214 --> 00:02:52.325 This active orientation to learning often badly misfits training designs, 00:02:52.325 --> 00:02:57.184 which are predicated on instructional models that begin with a logical analysis 00:02:57.184 --> 00:03:00.814 of what needs to be learned, and then successively decompose each learning 00:03:00.814 --> 00:03:05.914 objective into a step-by-step sequence of preview, practice, test, and review. 00:03:06.994 --> 00:03:10.714 We have considered five characteristic user errors, but we can turn the 00:03:10.714 --> 00:03:14.644 tables a bit on these five and see them also as indicators of specific human 00:03:14.644 --> 00:03:16.624 propensities in learning and reasoning. 00:03:17.405 --> 00:03:20.795 Viewed in this way, the characteristic problems become evidence of 00:03:20.795 --> 00:03:22.265 a powerful learning strategy. 00:03:22.835 --> 00:03:26.825 Instead of merely seeing these problems as reflecting deficiencies in systematic 00:03:26.825 --> 00:03:30.905 instruction, we can ask what they can tell us about human learners that we 00:03:30.905 --> 00:03:34.385 might use to develop more effective approaches to the design of instruction. 00:03:35.165 --> 00:03:38.255 The five characteristic problems correspond to five components 00:03:38.255 --> 00:03:41.765 of a powerful learning strategy, one that covers most cases 00:03:41.765 --> 00:03:43.025 of human learning quite well. 00:03:43.940 --> 00:03:44.390 One. 00:03:44.570 --> 00:03:45.890 People learn by doing. 00:03:46.010 --> 00:03:47.900 They try to act in order to learn. 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:51.290 Two people learn by thinking and reasoning. 00:03:51.470 --> 00:03:54.109 They generate and test hypotheses in order to learn. 00:03:55.609 --> 00:04:00.560 Three, people seek to work in a meaningful context and toward meaningful goals. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:05.539 Four, people rely on their prior knowledge when they try to manage 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:06.950 and assimilate new experience. 00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:13.189 And five people use error diagnosis and recovery episodes as a means of exploring 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:14.569 the boundaries of what they know. 00:04:16.099 --> 00:04:19.729 There is a simple, albeit paradoxical way to summarize these points. 00:04:20.299 --> 00:04:23.900 Just the things that make people good learners, for example, a desire to 00:04:23.900 --> 00:04:28.159 make sense and to accomplish meaningful work also create the learning problems 00:04:28.159 --> 00:04:29.619 that ruin systematic instruction. 00:04:30.469 --> 00:04:33.259 People need to make sense in order to learn, but they need 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:34.909 to learn in order to make sense. 00:04:35.510 --> 00:04:38.749 The challenge of designing usable instructional systems is to allow 00:04:38.749 --> 00:04:42.020 people to make sense of their own learning activity and thereby 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:45.499 to refine what they already know and discover new things as well. 00:04:46.969 --> 00:04:50.960 These findings called for a new approach to online training, one that seeks 00:04:50.965 --> 00:04:54.799 to provide an exploratory environment for the new user, an environment that 00:04:54.799 --> 00:04:58.400 affords active involvement in the learning process, one that encourages 00:04:58.400 --> 00:04:59.989 initiative and hypothesis testing. 00:05:00.695 --> 00:05:03.550 A major consideration in this approach is user error. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.049 Error is a major consideration for any training model, but the standard rote 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:12.189 practice model typically just ignores the problem printing steps in bold face 00:05:12.189 --> 00:05:14.109 and imploring learners to be careful. 00:05:14.449 --> 00:05:17.539 From an active learning perspective, the problem is completely different. 00:05:17.964 --> 00:05:19.494 Errors are expected. 00:05:19.524 --> 00:05:20.754 They are unavoidable. 00:05:20.844 --> 00:05:22.764 They are opportunities to learn. 00:05:23.034 --> 00:05:26.274 If learners are going to take initiative in directing their own learning, 00:05:26.514 --> 00:05:27.834 they are going to make errors. 00:05:28.104 --> 00:05:31.344 The problem for designers of training is to manage the consequences 00:05:31.344 --> 00:05:34.764 of errors so that the greatest possible learning benefit obtains 00:05:36.324 --> 00:05:38.634 so again, that was John M. 00:05:38.634 --> 00:05:43.464 Carroll with the essay, making Errors, making Sense, making use 00:05:43.914 --> 00:05:47.214 from the book, software Development and Reality Construction. 00:05:48.444 --> 00:05:50.514 And this has been the cash flush for today. 00:05:51.174 --> 00:05:56.634 If you enjoy this show, you can support it by getting a membership at graceful.dev. 00:05:57.024 --> 00:06:02.645 Where you can get two weeks free trial by using the coupon code, CACHEFLUSH, 00:06:02.664 --> 00:06:09.904 all caps, all one word, or by pitching in to my Patreon patreon.com/ofd Grimm. 00:06:10.624 --> 00:06:11.434 Thanks for listening. 00:06:11.974 --> 00:06:12.754 Have a great day. 00:06:13.084 --> 00:06:14.074 And don't forget to flush.