Skills to acquire knowledge

 The article below provoked my mind to think hard about the skills and the meaning of knowledge.I am quite lucky to attend a few lectures by Prof Dr Syed Naguib Al-Attas and Prof Dr Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud on the topics of knowledge as mentioned in the article below.

 Flash back more than three decades ago when I was a student at Sheffield University,I think I have acquired some knowledge and skill on how to acquire knowledge during the lectures,tutorials and lab work.But the emphasis  was more on giving me basic engineering knowledge than teaching me skills to continuously acquiring knowledge after I graduated.Below is a comment I received from my learned friend when I sent this posting to him yesterday.

As salam mu alai kum Adib,
Please look at

1.learn about the subject matter (knowledge)
2.practice applying the subject matter (skill development) and
3.independently apply the knowledge or skills (demonstrate competency)

Universities are only responsible for teaching the skill to acquire
the relevant knowledge. The skills and competency(knowledge+ skills+
attitudes) can only be obtained at the workplace.

I personally feel that the less than 20% of the knowledge that we
acquire at the Universities were applied at the workplace. The
Universities role was just to provide the basic knowledge. It is up to
to the individual to apply the knowledge acquired. That why the
ATTITUDE is very important in making a person competent.

Prof Dato Sri Dr Ir Wahid Omar

 How about your experience?Please share with me and the other readers of this blog.Thank you.

Notes on photos: The above two photos were taken when I was attending a lecture to seek more knowledge.The photo below was taken when my partner and me were conducting a PMP course.

Tuesday June 3, 2008

Varsities must teach the skill to acquire knowledge

IKIM VIEWS
By Ir Ahmad Jais Alias Fellow, Centre for Consultancy and Training, IKIM

Students should learn about the purpose of knowledge, and how to acquire knowledge correctly. This will necessitate lifelong learning.

IN ONE of my articles written last November, I emphasised the importance of continuing professional development for graduates beyond their formal university education.

One of the reasons is to bridge the gap between what they have acquired during their studies and the demands and expectations of employers in the job market.

If we take the opportunity to gauge feedback from employers (or potential employers), most of them are of the opinion that today's graduates are not ready for a job requiring a certain command of knowledge that graduates are supposed to have acquired from their learning process in universities.

Another common concern is an apparent lack of skills among the graduates that would enable them to adapt and adopt new knowledge and skills at their workplace. Hence, employers have to spend a handsome sum of money to send their graduate employees for training and enhancement programmes.

These are two aspects for us to ponder. On the one hand, graduates are expected to acquire knowledge, at least to a minimum level in their field of study; while on the other hand, they are expected to be sufficiently trained in certain skills which will enable them to be self-sufficient in their jobs.

So, where do we begin to address these concerns?

Perhaps we should begin by trying to understand the difference between the process of learning vis a vis the training process. Which should universities focus more on?

In acquiring knowledge, one is necessarily referring to the process of learning, in other words, the cognitive process of acquiring knowledge or skill. The result of learning correctly conducted is profound scholarly knowledge.

Prof S.M.N. al-Attas defines knowledge as “both the arrival of meaning in the soul as well as the soul’s arrival at meaning”. It is this meaning which allows the seeker to understand the relation between the subject matter of knowledge, and knowledge itself.

Therefore, the process of learning in universities should produce graduates with the ability to understand the meanings of what they have learned. They should be able to explain it, elaborate on it, and create a new relationship between what they have learned and the current and real challenges in the employment sector.

The process of acquiring knowledge may be established by means of external and internal senses and faculties, reason and intuition, and true reports of a scientific or religious nature and transmitted by their authentic authorities.

Students should therefore learn about the purpose of knowledge, and how to acquire knowledge correctly. This will necessitate life-long learning, and will continue with individual professional development, even at their workplace.

The question is, does our higher education system today help to prepare students with regard to how to acquire knowledge? Or is ‘spoon-feeding’ information still the norm?

As real knowledge is acquired through training, skills are also developed by training. There are other meanings to the term skill: “an ability that has been acquired through training” or “an ability to produce solutions in some problem domain”.

Normally, skilled workers are trained in the same activities or sequence of processes, until they command a certain level of craftsmanship that enables them to produce successive controlled or similar results.

There are trade-offs here. If the education system focuses more on producing skilled graduates in terms of ‘technique’, they may neglect the ability to acquire knowledge.

In my opinion we should train students with the skill of acquiring knowledge. Acquiring knowledge is actually paramount, to be repeated constantly throughout our life. With the skills to acquire knowledge, a person actually fulfils the requirements for continuous lifelong professional development.

All other knowledge, skill and ability, will henceforth be automatic. The institution of higher education should perhaps ponder and reflect, and subsequently act.

Comments

[Zawi]

Pak Adib,
I am always of the opinion that knowledge can be gained by hands on training at a suitable place of work. The medical doctors do it through their housemanship, the lawyers through chambering. Other profession like engineering should embrace this form of training to gain knowledge. I have met mechanical engineering graduates who doesnt even know how to handle spanners correctly. Given a choice I would choose one who knows rather than who doesnt as the later wont be able to supervise a job well as he will not know if the job is correctly done or not.

[wan]

Sdra Adib,
Thanks for posting photos of two of my small educational activities. I am deeply humbled. Your blog extols right and soft perspective on knowledge, religion and social life. This kind of positive sharing is much needed in blogsphere nowadays...salam.
Wanmn

[Adib]

Wassalaam Prof WanMN,
Thank you for taking time to read and leave your comment at my blog.I wish to thank you for allowing me to sit in your lecture room among your PhD students.Thank you,Sir.
Jazakallahu khairan.