Sork What Does Sork Means

Sork

What does Sork means by the "technical-rational" approach to program planning?

By the 'technical-rational' approach to program planning, Sork means an approach that was very popular between 1950 and 1970. It was designed specifically to teach adult learners, but it did not always perform that well. It was eventually replaced by other types of theories that worked better and helped people learn more easily. However, during the time that it was popular, a lot of books were published on it and most institutions used it to help adult learners do well in their educational programs. Program planning was much more structured back then than it is now, and that made a difference in how a person was taught and how they progressed through their classes and studies. Because this has changed, the 'technical-rational' approach is no longer used as much, but parts of it have been incorporated into other methods that are still in use today, keeping it alive.

The basis of the 'technical-rational' approach is that people are rational, and their education should be technical. Not technical in the sense of only being taught indecipherable mathematics, but technical in the sense that people should stay on a prescribed path and follow it closely. If they did that, they would get through their education and be able to go on to whatever came next. It gave them credibility and helped them to get hired more easily, because it showed that they went to a school that was appropriate and that followed specific rules. By following the 'technical-rational' approach everyone was taught the same things in the same way, and it was based on their schooling program. It did make things easier for the teachers but it did not make things easier for the students. It was very structured and very specific and it created some problems for some of the people who were trying to learn during that time. Nevertheless, the style of teaching persisted for over twenty years.

2.What does he sees as the limitations of this approach?

There are, however, some limitations that Sork points out in this approach. The most obvious of these limitations is the fact that not everyone learns in the same way. Many people are visual learners, where they need to see something being done before they understand it. Others feel like they have to read about something and study it that way. There are still other people who learn much better by listening, and they really do not retain everything that they need to know if they only read something or see someone else do it. The point, Sork says, is that every person learns in a different way and at a different speed. Classes cannot always accommodate everyone's individual learning style because they have to move along at a particular pace and be taught in a way that actually has some structure. Despite this, however, there are some changes that can be made and differences that can be addressed, and Sork suggests that these things should be at the forefront of the minds of the teachers so that they can give the most to their students and get the most out of them.