Tweet: Expertise is not a single skill

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Expertise is not a single skill; it is a collection of skills, and the same professional may be highly expert in some of the tasks in her domain while remaining a novice in others.” Daniel Kahneman

 

Because expertise is not a single skill but a collection of multiple skills, its is suggested to deconstruct the big skill into its component forms. Eg, Divide a language learning into multiple bit sized sub-skills and tackle each of it separately.

While many research findings shows that such separation may lead to weak transfer of skills to performance conditions, It is still the most popular method of learning in many instances because of its ability to give fast results.  

Following is a video in which Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek talk about his skill deconstruction method of DiSSS, which contains the following process: 

  • D – Deconstruction (+ identify)
  • S – Selection (+ simplify)
  • S – Sequencing (+ optimize fundamental elements)
  • S – Stakes (+ motivation/importance/consequence)

 

 

In the following video Author Josh Kaufman reveals a new approach for acquiring new skills quickly with just a small amount of practice each day. He also advocates deconstruction as a powerful strategy. 

 

 

Variable practice on the other hand, is becoming more prevalent in sport(motor) training in which transfer to real game conditions are more important than fast learning of skills. More and more studies are proving that variable practice is very powerful in motor perceptual and cognitive learning conditions.

 

 

Many scientific studies have revealed that unless practice includes a randomized element, it effects the transfer to the course. Here Alex Nicolson discusses variable practice(randomized) applied to Golf.

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