Dana R. Boyer
Spring 1998

Introduction
    Learning is a life-long process in which we constantly learn new things even if we are not aware that the learning is occurring. Often when we get a new job we have much to learn. The learning event that I will be discussing is learning to run a cash register. I have a unique perspective of how running a cash register is learned and I know how to help someone learn to run a cash register. I have not only had to learn to run a cash register myself, but I have also had to assist someone else in learning this event. Because several things are involved in learning to run the cash register, it is very useful for the learner and the teacher/trainer to be explicitly aware of what is being learned, and, also, how it is being learned.

Learning to run a cash register
    Learning to run a cash register involves learning several steps that, when combined correctly and consistently, comprise the overall act of running a cash register. What is learned includes, but is not limited to: how to properly scan items, where to look for bar codes on items, how to ring up items that have a PLU number or a code, such as watermelons, how to ring up items that get weighed, such as onions, how to ring up items that have a 'look-up number', such as fabric remnants, how to ring up an item that has no bar code, how to perform a price override on an item, how to properly sack items, how to total an order, how to tender an order, and how to organize the cash drawer. This is obviously no simple or mindless task!

How to uncover what is involved in running a cash register
    Stepping back and breaking down the event of running a cash register into its many components is not easy to do. It requires me to utilize my four creative roles as discussed in Roger von Oech's A Kick in the Seat of the Pants (1986). The four creative roles are the explorer, the artist, the judge, and the warrior. The role of the explorer is to seek out the information and pay attention to the details that have since become second nature to me. The artist has to help me look at it in a different way. The artist requires me to look at something that I have done countless times and pretend that I have never seen it before. My judge has to be the decision maker. My judge decides which details are most important to successfully running a cash register. And my warrior has to do away with my excuses and get the ball rolling (von Oech, 1986)

Synthesizing different learning techniques
    I learned how to run the cash register by combining different learning techniques, including: modeling, TOTE (test, operate, test exit), using the explorer, artist, judge, and warrior, and self organized learning. When I was first training to be a cashier, I spent quite a bit of time observing another cashier. After observing her for a while and asking any questions I could think of, I tried using the modeling technique (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 71). I was beginning to gain an awareness of what running the cash register entailed and what was expected of me.

    Through using the TOTE (test, operate, test, exit) technique I gained a method of evaluating my progress. In this learning technique, the learner would have an initial purpose. The learner's ultimate goal is to achieve this purpose and move on to a new learning experience. First, the learner tests a method of achieving the goal in which a comparison is made between the learner's actual performance of a task and his/her ideal performance. Then he/she would perform the task in a new manner to reach his/her goal. Another comparison or test would be made to see if the action taken allowed the learner to attain his/her ideal performance. If the action taken was successful, the learner is able to exit to a new learning experience. If the action taken was unsuccessful, the learner must repeat the cycle, but take a different course of action (Harri Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 76).

    For example, I would try to only open a sack when I needed it. After doing a couple of orders this way, I realized that this was not the most efficient way and so I needed to revise this behavior before I could exit on to a new task. I modified my behavior by opening all four of the sacks provided before I began to ring up an order. This worked much better than open only as many as I needed as I went along. This test was successful and I was able to exit to another task. Upon mastering the various intricacies of running a cash register, I was offered the opportunity to exit to something new like lay-a-way and service desk. After I was able to accurately, efficiently, and consistently perform these tasks I was offered the opportunity to exit to a new learning experience--becoming a Customer Service Manager.

    My explorer came into play when I tried different strategies for how to scan faster or how to sack more efficiently. For example, to scan faster should I scan everything as it comes to me on the conveyer belt? Or maybe I should look ahead to get an idea of where all the canned items or all the produce items are placed on the belt My artist helped me to be open to new ideas or concepts. She helped me to visualize how the items on the conveyer belt might best fit back into the cart in a somewhat organized fashion. For instance, my artist visualized that larger and/or heavier items should either be placed on the bottom of the cart, or they should go into the basket of the cart first. Then I could place smaller and/or lighter items into the basket. My judge was concerned about my performance. Was I doing it right? How could I improve? My warrior was willing to try my ideas. If they didn't work out, well that was fine too because either way I learned from the experience (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 7).

    Running a cash register very much required me to be a self organized learner. A self organized learner is an active participant in the learning process who uses what is learned to change his/her performance (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 2). The self organized learner must carry on learning conversations in which he/she reflects on and evaluates his/her learning and questions how he/she could best use this knowledge to improve his/her learning or performance (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 25). In order to run the register accurately and efficiently I had to become more aware of what was involved in learning and performing this task. As a self organized learner I use the learning conversation to reflect on what and how I am learning.

Knowledge as power
    Looking back on my experience as a learner, trying to acquire this knowledge, and as a teacher, trying to help another learn this event, I realize that it would be very helpful for the learner to have a preliminary idea of what and how they are expected to learn. Having an overview would have been helpful to me as a learner because I could possibly have asked better, more informed questions. I had only observed the cashier and then tried to model her. I did not have explicit knowledge of what and how I should be learning. It was not made explicitly aware to me and I was not able to create a picture or mental image in my head of myself running a cash register successfully (Glasser, 1986, p.34). Ideally, the teacher has an explicit awareness of the learning and can be considered a self organized learner; after all, only a self organized learner can aid someone else in becoming a self organized learner (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1991, p. 24). If the teacher and the learner are explicitly aware of what is being learned and how it is being learned then they can have valuable learning conversations which can lead to a highly productive learning experience.
 

A learning experience
    I can give an example of why self organized learning is important. A few months back a new girl called us after only one day of training and told us she did not think she would come back. She thought that she was not doing a very good job and she just must not have been cut out for it. We were shocked because we thought she was doing fine and we told her just that. This bit of encouragement was all she needed to come back and keep trying. I think she is one of the better cashiers that we have because she made the learning personal and was concerned about it.
I think that her reluctance was a combination of personal myths and a lack of self organized learning. A personal myth is a personal belief about one's ability to learn that can act as a motivator or as an inhibitor to one's ability to learn (Harri-Augstein & Thomas, 1986, p. 10). She had developed a myth that she did not have what it takes, and she allowed this dissuaded her from developing a mental picture of her successfully running a cash register. Had she been somehow aware of what was to be learned and how to learn it, then she could have had a more informed self-evaluation and seen that she was doing a great job. She needed to have a prior conception of the learning in order to have constructive personal learning conversations.

How to know when you have learned to run a cash register
    There are several ways of knowing that you have learned the event or task. One way of knowing that I mentioned earlier is about being able to exit to something new. If you start as a cashier, and are asked if you would like to train at the service desk or lay-away, it is easy to see that you have mastered the skill and are able to exit to something new. Also, if the learner's real life experience matches their mental picture of performing the learning event then they have learned it. A final, less obvious way is when your judge is silent. If your judge is no longer critiquing or trying to improve your performance then you must be doing it right.

Conclusion
    Learning to run a cash register is a rather complex learning activity. It involves a synthesis of many different learning techniques and requires the learner to become self organized in order to be productive, accurate, and efficient. The learner and teacher can be greatly assisted by being explicitly aware of what is and how it is being learned. I am fortunate to have been on both the learning and teaching sides of this particular learning experience. It has helped me to be more aware of the learner's needs and how the teacher is supposed to assist the learner in their quest for meaning and personal knowledge.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

References
Glasser M. D., W. (1986). Control theory in the classroom. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Harri-Augstein, S., Thomas, L. (1985). Self-organized learning: foundrper & Row Publishers.