Chapter 27 Quiz: Professional Skill Learning

Answer all questions from memory before checking the answer key.

Question 1

The 70-20-10 model of professional development proposes that approximately what proportion of professional skill development comes from on-the-job experience?

A) 10% B) 20% C) 50% D) 70%

Question 2

According to this chapter, what is the critical condition that experience must meet to produce genuine learning rather than mere habit?

A) Experience must be positive and successful — failure only produces discouragement B) Experience must be documented in writing to count as learning C) Experience must be followed by feedback on whether actions worked, reflection to extract lessons, and behavioral modification based on those lessons D) Experience must be observed by a senior professional who can provide evaluation

Question 3

Donald Schön describes two forms of reflection. What is the distinction between "reflection-in-action" and "reflection-on-action"?

A) Reflection-in-action happens in formal settings; reflection-on-action happens in informal settings B) Reflection-in-action is real-time adjustment during an activity; reflection-on-action is systematic reflection after the fact C) Reflection-in-action involves other people; reflection-on-action is done independently D) Reflection-in-action applies to physical skills; reflection-on-action applies to cognitive skills

Question 4

What does the after-action review (AAR) format ask, and what distinguishes it from ordinary performance debriefs?

A) The AAR asks only about successes, not failures, distinguishing it from typical negative performance reviews B) The AAR asks what was planned, what happened, why there was a gap, and what to do differently; it's distinguished by focusing on systems and decisions rather than individual fault, and producing learning rather than blame C) The AAR is conducted by external evaluators, distinguishing it from self-assessment D) The AAR is primarily a military tool with limited relevance to professional settings

Question 5

What does research identify as the characteristics of effective mentoring relationships (as opposed to mentoring that produces little learning)?

A) Effective mentoring requires long-term relationships of several years; short-term mentoring is ineffective B) Effective mentoring primarily focuses on the mentor sharing their career journey and advice; specific feedback is less important than inspiration C) Effective mentoring involves specific feedback on specific performance, focus on growth areas rather than just strengths, graduated challenge, and modeling of expert thinking D) Effective mentoring requires formal organizational structure and regular documented meetings

Question 6

What does Lave and Wenger's "legitimate peripheral participation" describe in the context of communities of practice?

A) The idea that only full experts should participate in professional communities; beginners should observe only B) The process by which beginners legitimately participate in a community at the periphery — observing, assisting, doing subsidiary tasks — and gradually move toward full participation as competence develops C) The principle that peripheral members of professional communities are more innovative because they're not constrained by established norms D) The system by which communities assess the competence of potential new members before admitting them

Question 7

According to the chapter, why doesn't failure automatically produce learning?

A) Failure is too demoralizing for most people to learn from effectively B) Failure produces emotional discomfort that typically generates denial, self-justification, rapid movement to the next thing, or vague resolution — all non-learning responses. Learning requires honest accounting, causal analysis, lesson extraction, and behavioral application. C) Failure produces learning only for beginners; experienced professionals have enough baseline competence that failures are usually someone else's fault D) Failure doesn't produce learning because there's usually too little feedback about what exactly went wrong

Question 8

Amy Edmondson's research on psychological safety in teams shows which finding relevant to professional learning?

A) High psychological safety produces teams that are more comfortable but less productive B) Psychological safety has minimal effect on learning but significant effect on employee well-being C) Teams with higher psychological safety perform better, innovate more, and learn faster because members are willing to surface problems, admit errors, and ask questions without fear of punishment D) Psychological safety is primarily relevant in high-stakes environments like healthcare and aviation; it matters less in ordinary professional settings

Question 9

What is the "T-shaped professional" concept, and why is it useful for career planning?

A) A professional who has T-shaped furniture in their office, metaphorically indicating they make space for both individual and collaborative work B) A professional with deep expertise in one domain (the vertical bar) and working knowledge across several adjacent areas (the horizontal bar), creating unique value through depth while enabling collaboration through breadth C) A professional who has divided their career equally between technical and managerial roles D) A framework for determining how many hours to spend on formal training vs. on-the-job experience

Question 10

David's mentoring relationship with Fatima was effective for which specific reasons identified in this chapter?

A) Fatima was unusually generous with her time and willing to explain everything in detail B) David asked for something specific, prepared for every interaction (including writing his own current thinking), asked for reasoning rather than just answers, and documented and reviewed what he learned C) The relationship worked because it was informal and low-pressure, unlike formal mentoring programs D) David had already read Fatima's published work, which made him a more receptive audience for her expertise

Question 11

This chapter describes different learning priorities at different career stages. What is the recommended emphasis for professionals at the mid-career stage (roughly 3–10 years of experience)?

A) Depth only — continue specializing in the primary domain to remain competitive B) Formal education — a master's degree or professional certification to provide credentials C) Integration: developing the skills that multiply domain expertise (communication, leadership, influence, strategic thinking) and beginning to mentor others D) Management — moving away from technical work entirely toward managing teams

Question 12

What is the core argument of this chapter regarding the relationship between professional experience and professional expertise?

A) Professional expertise develops automatically with time — more experience always produces more expertise B) Professional expertise and professional experience diverge when experience is not accompanied by reflection, feedback, and behavioral modification — leading to people who have years of experience but much less expertise than those years should have produced C) Professional expertise is primarily developed through formal training, and on-the-job experience only reinforces what was already learned D) The most effective path to professional expertise is job-hopping across many different roles to accumulate diverse experience

Answer Key

1. D — The 70-20-10 model proposes 70% from on-the-job experience, 20% from others, 10% from formal training. Note: the model is directionally accurate but not rigorously validated as precise universal proportions.

2. C — Experience produces learning only when followed by feedback, reflection on that feedback, and behavioral modification. Without these conditions, experience produces habit rather than expertise.

3. B — Reflection-in-action is real-time adjustment during an activity (the expert who adapts on the fly). Reflection-on-action is systematic debrief after the fact (what happened, why, what would I do differently).

4. B — The AAR asks what was planned, what happened, why there was a gap, and what to do differently. Its defining feature is focusing on systems and decisions rather than blame, producing learning rather than accountability.

5. C — Effective mentoring involves specific feedback on specific performance (not general praise), focus on growth areas, graduated challenge, and modeling of expert thinking — particularly the reasoning process.

6. B — Legitimate peripheral participation describes how beginners legitimately enter communities of practice at the periphery (observing, assisting) and gradually move toward full participation. This is the mechanism of professional knowledge transmission.

7. B — Failure produces emotional discomfort that generates denial, self-justification, rapid movement to the next thing, or vague resolution. Actual learning from failure requires overriding these responses with honest causal analysis and lesson extraction.

8. C — Edmondson's research consistently shows that psychological safety — the ability to speak up without fear of punishment — produces better team performance, more innovation, and faster learning.

9. B — A T-shaped professional has deep expertise in one domain and working knowledge across adjacent areas. The T-shape captures the combination of unique depth-based value and broad collaborative capability.

10. B — David's relationship worked because of his preparation: specific ask, specific questions with his own thinking articulated, asking for reasoning rather than just conclusions, and systematic documentation and review of what he learned.

11. C — Mid-career (3–10 years): integration. Developing the skills that multiply domain expertise (communication, leadership, influence, strategic thinking) and beginning to mentor others, with teaching being among the most effective learning activities.

12. B — The chapter's core argument: professional experience and expertise diverge when experience lacks reflection, feedback, and behavioral modification. Many professionals have years of experience repeating the same patterns rather than continuously developing.