B&D reading

On the job training & hands on learning- I firmly believe in this. From my own method of learning- I learn much more when I am allowed to practice what I am learning. This is one of the reasons that I chose online courses. I do much better when I am an active learner vs. traditional passive learning. When I was a teacher I tried to have the students do "real-life" tasks instead of just listening to me lecture. I think kids are learning to take a more active role in their education and learn more by doing actual experiments and applying what they have learned as opposed to just taking notes and studying for a test just to forget the information a day later.

I think this also goes hand-in-hand with staff training. Many people learn by watching others but also by trial and error as well. Sometimes holding training sessions can be boring, but if you watch someone else or want to learn something because you now understand its importance- you might have better results. There are many factors that go into learning a new skill- willingness, necessity, learning style, etc- it's hard to create a one-fits-all learning situation and solution.