Those who've worked in education for some time have seen this phenomena of flat-lining - that moment when a learner hits a learning wall and can't get over it. This is no small learning hurdle. Rather, I think of it as something like a learner trying to draw on resources that were never quite built up, and there just aren't the tools to get over that wall.

That is, the learner has to start from the fundamentals...and build up the learning in order to have the resources to master this next stage in the learning process.

Or, they call it quits and decide not to return.

Just-in-Time for What?

In such cases, the just-in-time learning will not arrive soon enough - because the substructure of knowledge onto which the new information should be built simply doesn't exist. The mental maps, the conceptualizations, the interrelationships, and other elements simply don't coalesce into something meaningful. Or insufficient consideration has gone into the learning substructure.

Tying off the End of the Rope

To switch metaphors, the mountain climbing concept may be helpful here, too. The preparation for a strenuous climb is physical and mental. It's also team-development. It's also the equipment and the tradeoffs with the various tools brought onto a mountain, used and hauled off again.

Learners who hit their limits are climbing beyond their capabilities, and they're trying to make it on fumes and insufficient supplies and poor planning. When they start sliding off the mountain's face, they are scrabbling for a toe-hold and using whatever tools they've brought to keep from slipping off.

Scaffolding for Flatliners

Designing for such learners who've hit the limits of their knowledge is part of academic scaffolding. These are the preparations for the under-prepared, the under-equipped. Worse yet, many who come with lower skill sets may not know that they're needy. When they flatline, they will lash out at the instructors and sometimes at their peers.

"Remedial" has a negative ring to it, but the learning has to be done.

Long-term instructors can see signs of those who are starting to flatline. These are students who don't seem to connect with the learning. They don't pay any attention to the assignments but seem to be doing their own thing. They may read the assigned selections but have not apparently gained anything from that reading. They say that they haven't read a book through high school or even well into their adult years.

And then it falls to us to gerry-rig a substructure for the learning that will hopefully carry them beyond one course but into a positive learning future. The tough part is that all those lost years of non-development cannot be magically recouped, no matter how savvy the instructional design.