Can People Leave a Class Early?

Here is an interesting question posed by Elliot Masie of the Masie Center. (they are a training and learning consulting firm).

Can People Leave a Class Early? While I was in Israel, a colleague posed a challenging question for me and several other learning
professionals:

"If you are teaching a class and some of the people in the course "get it"
after a few hours, can they leave? In other words, if they are quick and contextual learners and master the content rapidly, can they leave or do they need to stay until the end of the course?"

This got a heated conversation going at our table in Tel Aviv. It challenged the idea that we all stay until the last lesson. This person related it to training in the Army, where people move on as soon as they can show mastery. In that model, the class gets smaller and smaller, until a few people are left with personalized instruction from the instructor to help they achieve the objective.

It is a different metaphor .. but interesting if you consider the use of technology to allow a learner to "test out" in mid-stream. Does it more effectively focus the energy of the instructor on those needing coaching?


Think about it in terms of how we offer lots of software and technology to the public so they can learn it on their own and then move on. We don't even have to limit it to software or tech, think about how we offer books and knowledge and the public picks it up and then moves on to their next challenge. Think about it in terms of how we offer training to library staff? I would be interested in your thoughts.