So what exactly is the Protéjé Effect? Taking in Seneca’s maxim, it simply means using the effort to learn the target information while knowing you will be teaching it to someone else, as opposed to the contrary where you are learning the material for and by yourself. It is not just the learner who benefits from being taught; those who are teaching consolidate the information they are transmitting to the learners.
But how does one cultivate the Protéjé Effect and what are some of its benefits? For example, you may want to implement the effect in your study routine, not only helping you learn about the topic at hand but also assisting the development of your teaching and leadership skills, which can be particularly useful for students of degrees such as DNP programs online where these skills are essential.
Let’s look at some of the ways you carry forward the Protéjé Effect across your endeavors and how it can benefit them.
Learning the Material with the Goal of Teaching it to Others: Consolidating Knowledge
When you are learning the material as if you are going to teach it to others, it makes you view it through a multidimensional lens. Moreover, studying with a ‘teaching mindset’ allows one to carefully recycle target information and reflect upon what is most important, giving an insight into how you learn. You can, for example, choose to create study notes as if you are teaching the subject. Ideas and concepts can be framed in a way of how you might explain it to others, or how you might answer the questions a learner might ask and vice-versa.
One study conducted in 2016 showed that students who learned for the purpose of teaching others used more metacognitive strategies, which are techniques used to develop an awareness of one’s own thinking process while learning, to solve complex maths problems than those who were learning for the sake of learning. And the reasons for this are obvious. When you are learning as preparation for teaching, you are forced to be as proficient as possible in explaining the material to others, which requires you to be as knowledgeable as possible in the target material as well.
Teaching the Material to Others: Motivation through Human Connection
The relationship between learner and teacher is a crucial reason why teachers put more effort into learning the topic they are going to teach students than they would do to themselves. Traditionally, the teacher is supposed to be the expert who solely provides the knowledge and the learner to receive it – but the reality is more flexible as the teacher can be the student, and the student the teacher as well. Despite the sense of responsibility over a learner’s success (or failure), pride and accomplishment when a student can learn and answer questions correctly is a particularly pertinent motivating factor.
This is also exhibited under a teacher-learner dynamic amongst students in the classroom, and a study conducted in 2009 specifically deals with this question. Researchers first split the students into two groups: one who was learning in the belief that they were teaching for an avatar called ‘Teachable Agent’ (TA), and the other who was learning for themselves. It was concluded that the former group who had a TA placed more effort into their learning than the latter and therefore were able to absorb more information. Students gain a sense of responsibility under this process, which can significantly propel their motivation to study and learn and improve performance. Of course, this can also apply to you too and any course or job you are taking.
Putting the Protéjé Effect into Practice: Finding Effective Learning Strategies
There are two ways you can start turning the Protéjé Effect into a reality;
Before starting to teach, you can first try to teach your knowledge to a rubber duck (or any toy like a teddy bear). It may seem like a childish way of learning content, but even many engineers in Silicon Valley swear by it. This can be a particularly useful tool for learning in areas such as healthcare or any care industry. For example, you might be keen to reap the benefits of the Protéjé Effect but are still apprehensive about actually involving another person – the rubber duck method can be the first preliminary stage you can use to practice.
As per its name, this is when you simply conduct anything in a classroom-like setting. This can be teaching your colleague a problem or doing a collaborative exercise to allow everyone to explain their understanding of the relevant topic/problem. Doing this in the workplace for example will not only let you consolidate your understanding of the topic but also build confidence in your leadership skills in areas such as phrasing questions and summarising answers for coworkers.
Obviously, there are many other methods, but the most important thing is that using these methods can allow you to explore what learning strategies work best for you. In a 2014 study, researchers found that those who were learning to prepare to teach another were able to recall more information. This group used far more effective learning strategies, such as weighting and organizing information together, and considered how this would fit in the macroscopic scale.
The Protéjé Effect can be harnessed relatively quickly and easily by anyone. Teachers should search for ways to create positive outcomes through means such as student-centered teaching; employers can make work far more collaborative and learning-centric; and students should be more creative in their study methods, making the process more enjoyable and less onerous.
