The ”What the Skills?!?” Episode

In this episode, Matt is joined by the eminent educational psychologist, Paul Kirschner. Paul is truly one of the most qualified humans on the planet to talk about our topic this episode-- skills. The word skills is bandied about all over our industry. And we all agree it is important for people to develop skills. But, what do we mean by skills? Have we perhaps oversimplified this concept? During the episode, Paul and Matt hit several specific areas related to this often used, extremely important, but still ill-defined concept (at least within our industry)- skills:

1. What is a skill? What are complex skills? What are generic skills? Domain-specific skills?
2. What is the cognitive architecture?
3. Can skills be taught? What about leadership? Creativity? Etc.? Of course... you know the answer... it's nuanced!
4. From an instructional design perspective, how should we go about teaching “skills.”
5. What are the mistakes educators and trainers make when it comes to skills?
6. What are the misconceptions we have about skills?
7. How should we test whether a learner can perform a skill and what do those tests tell us?
8. Then there is Cognitive Load Theory..., Oh my!
9. And, more!

There are many places you can find Paul. But, the best place is at his blog, 3-Star Learning Experiences.

Paul has written several books. Some of our favorites, of which many of the subjects touched upon here, are delved into deeply there. They include, but are not limited to:

Ten Steps to Complex Learning How Learning Happens: Seminal Works in Educational Psychology Evidence Informed Learning Design Urban Myths about Learning and Education More Urban Myths about Learning and Education

We also have a bit of a conversation about John Sweller. John is an Australian educational psychologist best known for formulating the influential theory of cognitive load. A wonderful YouTube video of John talking about cognitive load is here.

And if you want to see a quick video of Paul... Here you go... one from a few years ago... https://ldaccelerator.com/giants-in-ld/paul-a-kirschner.