learning@maricopa.edu / pubs / oct97 /
	Learning is Complex
The rate at which organizations learn may be the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. Ray Strata, Analog Devices, Inc. Psychiatrists at Johns Hopkins University recently reported brain research findings that indicate that it takes the brain six hours to permanently store new skills such as playing the piano, welding , tennis or keyboarding in the brain. Interrupting the "storage process" by learning a new skill appears to erase the first skill. Arizona Republic, July 1997 The complexities of learning are manifest in the sheer number and nature of the factors that influence it. Consider the following observations: Research, discovery and innovation in the fields of psychology, biology, technology, human and organizational behavior, and cognitive science have identified previously unknown opportunities to significantly influence learning. Beyond recent theories of multiple intelligences and learning styles, educators are challenged to determine practical ways to act on such theories within the context of real and virtual classrooms. Increasingly, learners come to higher education in different states of preparedness. As human beings, learners are inherently complex. They bring divergent sets of values, experiences, abilities, and motivations to the learning process. Implicit in each observation is a "call to action," a call to make changes in individual thinking and behavior, as well as in organizational policies, practices and structures. Taken individually, these statements signal either an opportunity that fosters learning or a threat that limits it. Viewed systemically, the observations are connected and are, therefore, best understood and acted on as pieces of the whole that "hang together."
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