Paul
Crawford
CRN
3100 Learning Theory Essay
Introduction
Social cognitive
learning is social and context bound, that definitely has
physical representations that
are replicated, monkey see monkey do. Social
environmental learning in groups
through repetition and shared knowledge.
Let's face the facts. A major part of learning
in today’s total environment has
never been more socially driven than it
currently is now. Is the student of
today completely reliant on their
own
for direction and acknowledgement?
"Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention
hazardous, if people
had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them
what to do.
Fortunately, most human behavior is learned by modelling: from observing
others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later
occasions this coded information serves as
a guide for action" Albert
Bandura,
Social
Learning Theory,
1977.
In many learning
situations we are put into groups of varying sizes regardless
of educational acumen.
When we embark into the intimidating world of being
"The Student", some of
our biggest fears most likely will be, will I be able to
understand
the delivery of the curriculum and will I be able to absorb and
remember
the curriculum. Since we were children we have been put into
groups for the purposes of team
building, morale, friendship and learning
assistance. I remember teachers
uttering certain phrases such as, help each
other out, work together, when you’re
done help out the students in your
group. The teacher would come around to check
the progress and give
guidance accordingly. Social Cognitive Theory
is alive and well here.
My reasoning for
this topic
As
well delve deeper into the personality types that make up our ever
evolving existence, social networking genres, booking anything
online, using your smart phone, even paying for parking at those
automated machines, all of these actions requires a certain amount of
training. With varying degrees each training module for these
particular services will have a social training piece that will just
happen. People in general like to show each other the how
to of
life. We get a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when we can
show our friends how to do something. Raising our children is a
constant assault of observing, mentoring and modelling. How many
times has the eldest child of a household been scolded for not
setting a good example? Has the child been shown all of the
parameters of what it is the parent is upset about? How can a child
help out his siblings if they haven't been properly shown themselves?
As young adults go through life, they huddle around in groups for
many reasons such as gossip, watching the latest you tube video,
security, hey look at my new gadget so I can show you how it works,
look at me, hey how did you do that? Socially we need each other more
than we think. We connect to each other through mentoring, mimicking
and admiration. Choosing Social Cognitive Learning Theory was easy
due to the day to day tasks that a Chef Instructor must deliver. I
enjoy showing students how to cook a variety of items as they go
through their learning experiences. Chefs use a variety of delivery
systems, video demos, hands on live demos with description and of
course each student must have the On Cooking text with them. This
text book is full of information from pictures to web addresses for
more in depth information. An interesting learning technique is
having the student perform the demo with the Chefs assistance. Quite
often what happens is a student will be working on turning
vegetables, which is cutting certain vegetables such as carrots,
zucchini and potatoes into barrel shapes, essentially the vegetable
must have seven sides as a grading tool. I will line up the examples
the student has done and critique each one. The majority of them fail
on the first few times, I will show them again and explain how to do
it properly. It is not easy to learn. A Chef will demonstrate how to
turn a variety of vegetables and then watch the students as they
attempt to master the art of turning. This is a very visually
demanding exercise and is tough on the hands, they will cramp from
time to time. It is these challenges that is exciting for me to
educate the future Chefs of our society.
From the Learners
Perspective
When adults are put
into learning situations do they rely on the teacher for all
information both theoretical and practical, for the most part they
do. When it comes time for them to get the job done they will
naturally gravitate to each other for advice on how to deal with a
problem that they are finding difficult. Is self-efficacy the outcome
of expectancy and is reinforcement necessary for both learning and
performance? Reinforcement is a great tool as long as it isn't over
done. With the adult learner, education can be a daunting task, is
the education something that they wanted to do? Or is it a mandatory
lesson in order for them to gain knowledge for job promotions or for
self-realization. Each scenario presents some interesting challenges
that the adult student will have to make for themselves. The age of
the adult student can be another factor for expected instruction. If
a student has just graduated from high school they might already be
well versed in social cognitive theory and don't even realise it.
They naturally seek each other out for the "how did you do that"
situations, rather than going to the teacher for every single thing.
Also depending on the psychology of the students they will either get
the assistance they need or they won't. At that point the student has
to go to the teacher and ask for a demo or just give and explanation
on how to get it done. The more senior student has entered a realm
that can be full of memory flashbacks.....”oh how the times they
are a changing”...they might be thinking. Does a senior student
seek knowledge the same way a younger student would...possibly!
From the
Educators Perspective
The educator must
realise these variables of teaching and be able to teach all students
with slightly different approaches. In my experiences working as a
Chef, teaching people of all ages and ethnicities, these theories
definitely apply. Social Cognitive Theories in my experiences have
never been more prevalent. Let's take the new student who has been in
Canada for a short time and has a basic grasp of the English
language. These students will gravitate to each other that are in the
same situations. Mimicking each other and also speaking in a familiar
language will help these students. Assistance from the Chef, slower
orator without big words, combined with live demonstrations and
modelling of how to prepare menu items.
Here's how it has
looked in my classes
I
had to demonstrate to a class the steps required to butcher an entire
lamb. To give these students a diagram and a boning knife and wish
them good luck would not be the way to get them to learn the process
of deboning the animal. We would go through the steps of knife
sharpening, gloves on, and a step by step visual of how to break it
down. Upon finishing the demo we would talk about the primary and
secondary cuts of meat that will be on one of their tests (motivation
for absorbing information). From a students point of view, the task
of butchery isn't everyone’s cup of tea. When they
understand
what it is they are working on, the student soon learns through demos
and working side by side with each other, that it isn't difficult at
all. As we go through our professional careers we work with both
confident and less confident people. "Self-esteem and
self-efficacy are often thought of as synonymous, however they vary
greatly. Self-efficacy differs from self-esteem in that it's a
judgement of specific capabilities rather than a general feeling of
self-worth"
(Beck, 2008).
For example, I was in charge of making sure that we always had an Ice
Sculpture for our Sunday brunches. Generally it would require 2-3
hours of my time, a lot of concentration and attention to detail.
After a year or so I began to train a cook that had a ton of
confidence with himself and his abilities, but had never carved ice.
I told him that I was going to teach him the art of ice carving. He
was excited and nervous at the same time. We would talk about the
carving in it's conceptual form first, then lightly etch it onto the
slightly thawed ice, and proceed from there. We would work together
for weeks until he felt more confident with himself. As his
self-efficacy improved so did his self esteem with this particular
task. The compliments he would receive from the clients, especially
the children, was definitely worth the time spent with him.
An
employee may have low self-efficacy for training a new employee, but
this will not cause any ill feelings of perceived self-worth. Even
though the two concepts are different, they are connected. The
philosophy behind Bandura’s Triadic Reciprocal Determinism is that
all determinants of motivation are functionally dependent,
interacting and influence one another (Bandura,
1997).
Therefore, an individual who has high self-efficacy and is successful
in most of the tasks he/she undertakes will most likely build a high
self-esteem. Vice-versa, self-esteem could also influence
self-efficacy. "It is true, however, that people tend to
cultivate their capabilities in activities that give them a sense of
self-worth. If empirical analysis are confined to activities in which
people invest their sense of self-worth, they will inflate
correlations between self-efficacy and self esteem, because the
analysis ignore both domains of functioning in which people judge
themselves in-efficacious but could not care less and those in which
they feel highly efficacious but take no pride in performing the
activity well because of its socially injurious consequences"
(Bandura,
1997). My
third example relates to this ideal. In the Hotel business we perform
many Banquets for varying people and ethnicities. For revenue
purposes we expanded our offering to the Jewish community. We
Kosherized part of our kitchen in order to accommodate Barmitztvahs,
Batmitzvahs and Weddings. The energy and learning curve with regards
to all Kosher and Parve Kosher functions was daunting to say the
least. I was working directly with several Rabbis in order to
completely understand how these functions are put together as far as
prep, assembly, service and clean-up was supposed to be performed.
After several functions and some extremely long days performing many
highly engaging events, the Chef and I decided that it would be a
great idea to train another employee the fine art of Kosher food
servicing. The team member that we chose wasn't exactly thrilled with
the idea of 14 to 20 hour days. I took him aside and explained the
massive amount of experience and knowledge he was going to get from
learning the intricacies of Kosher food production. It was very
interesting after we performed several functions together, the team
member realised the full extent of my knowledge for getting these
functions completed flawlessly. He once asked me if I was
Jewish.....I said no I'm not but you must behave and act as if you
are Jewish. Respecting the religious ideals is the predominant
motivation behind the successful completion of Kosher cuisine. While
the team member understood what I was telling him about all of the
demands of this denomination, he himself was an Atheist and didn't
have as much respect for the processes and found a lot of it to be
tough to deal with. He performed well and was appreciated by the
Rabbis that we worked with. In the beginning he thought it might be
injurious for his career and that the experiences he was gaining
wouldn't help him with his future career decisions, well it hasn't
hurt my career I told him. An interesting thing has happened in the
Restaurant Industry over the past few decades. Open kitchen designs
are quite apparent now. Part of the activities that I embrace when I
am teaching all students is the art of "quiet"..... This is
something my 4 and 8 year old haven't grasped yet but when it comes
to teaching adults how to work in an open concept, it can be quite an
eye opener for them. Professional etiquette, common sense and a
respect for the customer as well as each other must be observed.
Mimicking the stealth that the Chef and his Sous Chefs would employ
while working in these kitchens was very important. Watching how the
waiters and experienced cooks inter connect with each other is a must
for any future Chef to be successful.
Summary
To summarise the
Culinary Arts Social Cognitive Learner, we must put ourselves into
the clogs of young cooks and aspiring Chefs to be. Learning a trade
such as Culinary Arts is a massive and intimidating career path to go
down. The majority of cooks will never make it as Chefs. The time
requirement, patients, skills and all around aptitude for cooking and
keeping up with this ever evolving industry, can be overwhelming to a
lot of young cooks. That being said with the proper amount of hands
on QUALITY training that a cook gets at each of their jobs will
define them as a cook or as a Chef, it's their goal and dream to
become someone who will learn a craft that will take them as far as
they want to go in their lives. To be Socially Cognitive is to be
rooted in a view of human agency in which individuals are agents
proactively engaged in their own development and can make things
happen by their actions. People are self-organising, proactive,
self-reflecting, self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms
shaped by environmental forces or driven by impulses (behaviorism)
Bandura, A. (1997).
Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H.
Freeman. Bandura, A.
(1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall. Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A Social
Learning Analysis.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Bandura, A. (1977). Social
Learning Theory. New York:
Beck, AT (2008) "The
Evolution of the Cognitive Model of Depression and Its
Neurobiological Correlates".
