Last month, I presented at a small math conference on a topic that has become of increasing interest to me -- Social Media as an Instructional Tool. For the last few weeks, I struggled with how to begin my presentation. Then, after reading the chapter entitled "The Influence of Experience and Deliberate Practice on the Development of Superior Expert Performance" in the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, an idea coalesced. Ericsson makes the observation that “(i)n virtually every aspect of human activity there have been increases in the efficiency and level of performance” (p. 690). He then goes on to cite Roger Bacon, a thirteenth century thinker who argues that to master mathematics in less than 30 to 40 years was impossible (p. 690). Ericsson then notes that despite Bacon’s claims, “today the roughly equivalent material (calculus) is taught in highly organized and accessible form in every high school” (p. 690). I now had a way of beginning my presentation . . .
Reflecting on Bacon's statement helped me realized that what has begun to change in the last few years is not the ability of human beings to learn; what has changed is our instructional techniques. Instead of being in a Master/Apprentice relationship, or a “Sage on the Stage” type of relationship, today, teachers would do well to realize that we are entering an age of social and cooperative learning. Mainly due to phenomena like YouTube or Facebook or Twitter or Wikipedia, user-generated content and interactive dialogue are becoming dominant modes of instruction and influence. I can go to YouTube right now and type in practically any topic and be able to find someone who has produced a video explaining their understanding or experience of that topic. Of course, the quality of that instruction might be questionable, but I think we're just at the beginning stages of an incredible resource. There are an increasing number of “experts” online willing to share their knowledge in a condensed, creative, and efficient manner; a manner that allows learners to bypass the all-too-often inefficiencies of poor instructors in some traditional classroom settings where feedback is many times lacking and assessments are often poorly designed.
That thought spurred me to thinking that perhaps the “10 year rule” of expert development (a notion made popular by Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers) might just be a snapshot description of expert development given our recent past instructional practices. Could it be possible that given better instructional techniques (social media? more immediate feedback? more expert feedback and demonstration?), the amount of time needed for expert status might be shortened? I wonder.
Deliberate practice is still a valid concept. Clearly, on some level, intentional practice does make perfect. Yet, there is something in the back of my mind that causes me to question whether the ten year rule might be modified given better and more efficient exposure to already expert behavior. I think social media might be the beginning of a profound change in the way we learn and think and instruct and possibly in how we develop expertise.
