On the Sublimity of Practice

I am writing up an article on the nine paradoxes of educational simulations for T+D magazine.

When talking about my personal favorite, number four, I had two comments I just couldn't wait to share.

Jake Stahl, Director, Client Systems Delivery, Purdue Pharma, “If Joe Montana said to me that throwing a football is simple, I would agree that from his perspective it is. But can he explain to me in words how to do it, or does he need to show me? Once he shows me, do I now know, or do I need to practice? Once I practice, have I perfected it or do I need to fine tune?”

To Jake's comment, SimuLearn's Ken Kupersmith added, "And, finally when is my skill good enough, or should I always be striving for improvement. Even professional baseball players have a spring training every year to practice and improve, and often they have practice during the season when they do not schedule a game."

So often, formal learning seems like a desperate chase to cover as much ground as possible, inevitably at the expense of depth. We love long lists of learning objectives"covered." But the real magic might be in "learning" less but practicing more.