A learning curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between the amount of learning or practice and the resulting improvement in performance. It is used to illustrate how the level of proficiency or mastery in a particular task or subject increases with the amount of time or effort invested in learning or practicing it. The steepness of the curve indicates the rate of learning, with a steep curve indicating that learning is occurring quickly, while a shallow curve indicates a slower rate of learning.
There are many synonyms for a learning curve, including:
Improvement curve: This term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the progress or improvement that is made over time.
Progress curve: Similar to an improvement curve, this term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the progress that is made over time.
Mastery curve: This term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the acquisition of mastery or proficiency in a particular task or subject.
Growth curve: This term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the growth or development that occurs as a result of learning or practice.
Development curve: Similar to a growth curve, this term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the development or improvement that occurs as a result of learning or practice.
Efficiency curve: This term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the efficiency or effectiveness with which learning or practice is occurring.
Performance curve: This term emphasizes the idea that the curve represents the performance or proficiency that is achieved as a result of learning or practice.
Overall, a learning curve is a useful tool for understanding and tracking the progress and improvement that is made over time as a result of learning or practice. It can be used in a variety of settings, including education, training, and professional development, to help individuals and organizations understand and optimize the learning process.
learning curve
The 1st curve of achievement represents an increase in productivity over each unit of trial. Perhaps, rather than having an ' antonym-of-steep learning curve', it is stated that the subject ' doesn't have a steep learning curve'? Industry Manufacturing costs as related to workforce performance can be tracked by using the learning curve. This enables not only insight into the improvement that the surgeon is achieving, but aides instructors with identifying where more resources and assistance can be directed to improve performance. Individual motivation, for example, would be difficult to measure. The learning curve model requires that one variable is tracked over time, is repeatable and measurable.
The application can be broad and generalized, such as describing the learning curve involved in learning to read. . Hermann Ebbinghaus described this theory as early as 1885. . A learning curve has been demonstrated to exist for many procedures in orthopedics 15-19 and if present would suggest that proximal humerus fractures are better treated by surgeons who treat these fractures frequently rather than occasionally, such as an on-call surgeon who may specialize is a different field of orthopedics. Instead of performance and number of attempts, the values could be unit cost or unit labor hours and cumulative production in units. It could also mean that the individual has lost motivation or is fatigued.
Often the end of the curve begins to level off, indicating a plateau or new challenges. The denominator time is crucial in determining the gradient of the learning curve, while the numerator knowledge has little influence. The theory can also be expressed as a mathematical function that can be used as a prediction tool. If the goal is that employees need to know how to use the software in their day to day tasks, this may be difficult to measure as it involves many variables. Instead of elapsed time it should be the time to some deadline. Instead of elapsed time it should be the time to some deadline. Measured The other application of learning curve is quantitative, where mathematical models are created to represent the rate of proficiency or mastery of a task.
For example, an organization seeking to improve the performance of customer service could decide that the implementation of a new initiative of attempts would result in a decrease in customer complaints performance. Because a surgeon is essentially practicing the same skill over and over whenever that procedure is done, the learning curve can be applied to show individual learning and performance over time. By incorporating a learning culture within the organization where employees are encouraged and supported to keep learning, performance levels can be expected to increase on the curve. Learning is learning to do. For example, when the pricing of a new product is being determined, labor costs are factored in. It was later taken up by the industrial and business sector for a variety of performance improvement applications.
. The task needs to be repeatable, measurable, and consist of only one variable within a procedure; it cannot measure an entire procedure on its own. As the worker learns to operate the machine following the procedural steps, he becomes faster and more proficient at using it. Cons of the learning curve theory As a con, a learning curve is very dependent on assumptions made about performance. I've always taken it to mean the amount to learn is a lot for the time available, whether that be a simple task in 5 minutes or a major skill in two weeks.
To me, undergoing a steep learning curve relates more to the time necessary to accomplish the task, rather than the difficulty of the task itself. The steepness of the curve is a positive subjective experience, a measure of success. The pragmatic view: The steepness of the curve is imposed by the task. The model can be used to determine how long it takes for a single person to master a skill or how long it takes a group of people to manufacture a product. He mostly was focusing on memory studies and developed a forgetting curve theory.
In these scenarios, a graphical representation using mathematics is not being applied to explain learning progression. Fascinating how opinions here seem to segretate neatly into two classes: a. Using the learning curve can provide additional insight for planning purposes. This model describes a situation where perhaps a complex task is being learned and the rate of learning is initially slow. An example of where a learning curve can be applied could be a measurable task like a factory worker learning to operate a new machine that requires specific, repeatable steps.
Where to apply the learning curve There are many variables in learning that impact the rate of progression and cannot be accurately reflected in the learning curve model. The philosophical view: The learning process is open ended: learning is learning to know. That is a steep learning curve. If one were to plot the repeated attempts of a learner against the time taken to complete the attempt, a pattern can be identified indicating that the task takes less time as the learner gains more experience via repeated attempts. The bottom of the curve indicates slow learning as the learner works to master the skills required and takes more time to do so. What if by the 100th time the product was produced, production time is reduced to one hour? I imagine most people who know about the meaning of curve as the graph of a mathematical function know this. Diminishing-Returns Learning Curve The rate of progression increases rapidly at the beginning and then decreases over time.
Progression levels off as the learner obtain full proficiency. Furthermore, flat cannot be an antonym for steep because a steep curve could equally be flat. The latter half of the curve indicates that the learner now takes less time to complete the task as they have become proficient in the skills required. Pros and cons of the learning curve theory Pro of the learning curve theory Using a learning curve can help a business to improve the performance and productivity of their workforce and reduce costs. The learning curve as a framework can help organizations to understand in this scenario what is required to become proficient in the software.
. It measures an individual who is new to a task. Determining which approach to take depends on whether the desired performance can be directly measured. I'd agree that 'Gentle' is a suitable antonym for 'Steep', but perhaps one might tackle the problem in a different way. The learning curve model is used most commonly in organizational or industrial management to improve output by way of improving the performance of the human workforce.
