Learning by doing

From the essay "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" by Peter Norvig

The best kind of learning is learning by doing. To put it more technically, "the maximal level of performance for individuals in a given domain is not attained automatically as a function of extended experience, but the level of performance can be increased even by highly experienced individuals as a result of deliberate efforts to improve." (p. 366) and "the most effective learning requires a well-defined task with an appropriate difficulty level for the particular individual, informative feedback, and opportunities for repetition and corrections of errors." (p. 20-21) The book Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics, and Culture in Everyday Life is an interesting reference for this viewpoint.

Elsewhere in the essay, Norvig also references the work of Malcolm Gladwell ("Outliers") in which he cites "a study of students at the Berlin Academy of Music compared the top, middle, and bottom third of the class and asked them how much they had practiced". Ten thousand hours seems to be the key. According to Norvig:

The key is deliberative practice: not just doing it again and again, but challenging yourself with a task that is just beyond your current ability, trying it, analyzing your performance while and after doing it, and correcting any mistakes. Then repeat. And repeat again. 

In thinking about how we improve our educational and recognitional (certification) approaches in the work/career world, I believe we have to not just provide opportunity, but also make it desirable.  Fun.  Challenging (in a good way).