[[Understanding is wise performance]] tags:: #on/learning dates:: 2022-02-28 # Expert Blind Spot *The expert mandatorily looses the beginner's perspective, making it harder to recognize what the beginner needs in order to become an expert.* "The curse of knowledge is that it closes our minds to what we don't know" Think Again, Adam Grant When educating, the expert typically wants to bring in more information, the student needs less. When creating a learning experience the expert cannot see what the novice needs to learn. [[Constructivism]] theory describes how a learner is [[Making Meaning]] while they create [[Understanding is wise performance]]. [[Learner-Centered]] means that learners have their own perspective and the expert must focus on [[Listening to Understand]] so they can recognize what help the learner *really* needs, instead of what they know that the learner should memorize. Instead of telling learners what you know, better techniques for building learning experiences exist. The first step would be asking [[essential questions]] to start with an assessment. Then the educator helps the learner build cognitive scaffolds or [[Mental Model]] and start making meaning of the information with [[Transfer]], [[Elaboration]], and [[Inversion]]. This will help the educator identify and clear up mis-understandings. The expert and the novice will have different mis-understandings about how they see the situation. The expert then can see through the eyes of the novice. When designing learning interventions, piloting to look for where your assumptions about the learning process do and do not work is key to avoiding your blind spots. Remember, it is impossible to look from the novice's point of view, and to recognize what they need a priori. It is possible by paying attention to the learners progression and seeing where your process has gaps, to allow them to learn and to look for mis-understandings along the way. *Sage on a stage* is a way that people are comfortable receiving information. Learners seek opportunities of comfort, so one approach is to give them what they seek. Also, as an educator or expert, it is so easy to fall into telling instead of letting them learn. ## Sources: [[🐓 Idea Farm/Deadfall/For myself only/Readwise/Books/Understanding by Design]] Grant, A. (2021). _Think again: The power of knowing what you don’t know_. WH Allen.