The Value of Learning by Doing

BY DEAN ROBERT JOSS

May, 2003

This edition of Stanford Business includes an article on the innovative work being done by our professor-turned-entrepreneur (on leave) Paul Romer to develop Web-based tools that can greatly enhance a student's ability to learn economics. Unlike the simplistic notion of "distance learning" where the Internet is used only as a ubiquitous and low-cost 24/7 communication channel for disseminating information, the exciting feature of Paul's approach is that it offers real promise for improving actual learning—by both improving the quality of student effort and raising the productivity and value of the instructor.

The purpose of a University is to promote learning, and the purpose of the Graduate School of Business is to promote learning about management. As Paul's effort reminds us, we need to practice what we preach and continually search for ways to improve the learning within our School.

In this regard, I find an old proverb to be very insightful:

I hear, and I forget.
I see, and I remember.
I do, and I understand.

Understanding might be viewed as the highest form of learning, for it is understanding that stays with us and gets integrated into our habits and practices. Indeed, some research on learning indicates that we may retain only about 10 percent of what we read, maybe 20 percent of what we see and hear in a lecture, and perhaps 80 percent of what we experience personally. Learning may increase even more to the extent that we take what we have experienced, put it into our own words, and then explain or teach it to others.

In their best-selling book our colleagues, professors Jeff Pfeffer and Bob Sutton, have made numerous managers aware of the "knowing-doing" gap. Too many people and institutions know what to do, but just don't do it! As a school of management, this gap must concern us greatly.

There are several ways to learn. In a broad sense, we can talk about two main approaches: (1) theory modes of learning—where one learns about the concepts, theories, and frameworks that describe a body of knowledge; and (2) practice or experiential modes of learning—where one learns by actually practicing and doing. Theories and concepts are very important, and certainly a University is exceptionally strong at delivering this type of knowledge. Our faculty create and disseminate enduring frameworks and theories, which our students learn and apply in their own work—while at the Business School and throughout their professional lives. The School is second-to-none when it comes to providing a tremendous life-lasting base of knowledge as a solid foundation for the career endeavors of our alumni.

But we also know that practice and experience can greatly enhance learning. Personally experiencing concepts brings them to life. Imagine the near impossibility of trying to teach a young child the concept of "hot" by merely imparting knowledge to the child. It is when they touch something hot and burn their fingers that they really get the concept! So it is with much learning about management and leadership. As our alumni know so well, the learning by doing, or "burning one's fingers," that comes from the difficult work of managerial leadership is absolutely critical to one's deep understanding of what we have learned intellectually. Theory and practice work hand in hand to support the learning process—theory makes sense only through practice, and practice makes sense only through reflection enhanced by theory.

Therefore, one of the innovations we will be trying to build more systematically into our student programs at the Business School is more experiential learning—more learning by doing. Important groundwork has been laid by a number of faculty who have already designed courses with a large experiential component-Managing Through Mutual Agreement, a pre-term course designed by Margaret Neale, Deborah Gruenfeld, and Larissa Tiedens; Business Process Design, designed by Jim Patell; and, of course, the Interpersonal Dynamics course designed by David Bradford, to name just a few. You will be hearing a lot more about our efforts to integrate experiential learning in the months ahead, particularly as we experiment with ways to better prepare our students for taking on the responsibilities of leadership throughout their careers.

From the Editor

Dean's Column