Purposeful Practice

There is a common misconception about learning and skill development, and I hear it repeated way too often…

“Practice makes perfect”

But is it really the full truth?

Many people believe that simply practicing something repeatedly will lead to mastery, but this view overlooks the importance of 𝒉𝒐𝒘 we practice and how we grow from our mistakes.

This myth, along with many others in learning theory, has wrongfully changed the way we approach teaching humans.

There might be some truth to it, but let’s look into the reality…

If you practice something wrong, you’ll learn it wrong… unless something steps in to change your course.

Practice improves from feedback. Purposeful practice emphasizes the importance of learning from our failures. Instead of finding mistakes frustrating, we embrace them as opportunities to gain feedback for growth. Purposeful practice, where we concentrate on improving specific skills and learning from each attempt, is far more effective than mindless repetition. However, to be effective, the learner needs feedback, and they need it fast.

In instructional design and teaching, our goal should be to provide growth-driven feedback as instantly as possible to close the feedback loop. If your students are waiting two, three, or even more days for feedback on their work, the opportunity for growth steadily diminishes.

It would be like trying to play the piano, but you only hear the notes after a 5-second delay. That could work for an expert, but it’d be disasterious for an amateur!

If you don’t know me well, I can tell you that I have created content for tens of thousands of K12 and Higher Ed students and professionals in various fields.

For example, in my work with high school algebra and physics students, I noticed that those who received instant feedback on their work took the time to analyze their mistakes. They focused on correcting and identifying errors. These students performed significantly better than those who just looked at their score a few days after submitting it, tossing the page into their backpacks, and going on to the next practice worksheet without reflection.

So, while there’s truth that practice brings improvement, it’s got to be purposeful practice paired with fast feedback…

If you’re interested in learning more about developing engaging educational and training content, give me a follow. I’ll be showcasing some groundbreaking work in the coming months, and you won’t want to miss it.

I would love to hear your opinion on this, and you might have some questions. Please feel free to reach out to me, and let’s talk about it.

— Michael