--- title: How “cognitive apprenticeship” can level up middle managers description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6989564/how-cognitive-apprenticeship-can-level-up-middle-managers/ author: Michelle Peng article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-18T11:30:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-28T07:07:28.027Z article:section: Charter og:title: How “cognitive apprenticeship” can level up middle managers og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. 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Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d2d78c58ae60e17/698a57edb3fce38c850cd498/ai-playbook-2-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- The information presented here is created by Charter, independently from the TIME editorial staff.  Time charter * [ai](/partner-content/charter/tag/ai/) ## ai # How “cognitive apprenticeship” can level up middle managers > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=8064e867-f5b9-48e9-bf63-a363f5883811&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=8064e867-f5b9-48e9-bf63-a363f5883811&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1)  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Jun 18, 2024 11:30 AM UTC  Illustration by Charter · Photo by iStock zamrznutitonovi  by [Michelle Peng](https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/) Jun 18, 2024 11:30 AM UTC In our new playbook, “​​[The AI Educator: Using artificial intelligence to transform manager development](https://www.charterworks.com/the-ai-educator/),” we share best practices for using AI tools for learning, with a focus on manager development. Through our conversations with researchers, practitioners, and other experts, we identified key areas within learning and development (L&D) that are ripe for organization-wide AI adoption: * Curriculum development * Skills practice * AI tutor and content enhancement * Mentorship and connection * Skills assessment For [Matt Beane](https://tmp.ucsb.edu/people/matt-beane), an assistant professor of technology management at University of California, Santa Barbara, bringing novices and experts together has always been at the center of learning, as far back as early civilizations inventing the bow and arrow. “That bond is the thing that allowed us to create the bow, the first stored-energy weapon in the history of humanity,” says Beane. “There's archeological evidence that shows that people worked across the expert-novice divide to do that.” Within the study of organizational learning, much of the research on the novice-expert connection focuses on cognitive apprenticeship, a mental model that undergirds both formal apprenticeship programs and more informal coaching relationships. Early [research](https://www.psy.lmu.de/isls-naples/intro/all-webinars/collins/cognitive-apprenticeship.pdf) on apprenticeship identified [three main components](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1472811720301841) of an apprenticeship relationship that produces effective learning: * **Modeling**: An expert demonstrates a skill or task for the novice to observe. * **Coaching**: The novice attempts the skill, and the expert offers guidance and feedback based on their observations. * **Scaffolding**: The expert scales up challenges as novices become more proficient, assigning more and more difficult assignments and and/or slowly reducing the level of structured guidance to encourage independent work and mastery on the part of the novice. While traditional apprenticeship has been an effective way to learn physical skills and processes throughout history, researchers note that there are three additional steps for cognitive apprenticeship, a process for learning more abstract skills: * **Articulation**: An expert or coach prompts the novice to verbalize their thinking process, from their understanding of basic concepts to their problem-solving process while practicing the skill. * **Reflection**: The expert encourages the learner to compare their work to that of peers, mentors, or the expert themself. * **Exploration**: The expert leaves the learner to independently apply their skills to new situations. The key to cognitive apprenticeship is to slowly build proficiency and independence over time while providing consistent support, says [Laura Ball](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraball93/), director of learning science at apprenticeship platform Multiverse. From traditional instructional models, it requires “a real shift in instructors or coaches moving from that ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side.’” For example, a more experienced manager might help a new manager learn how to give better feedback using the cognitive mentorship model: * **Modeling:** The senior manager gives the first-time manager examples of what good feedback looks like, based on best practices and existing scripts. * **Coaching:** The two managers practice the skill through role-playing opportunities or by brainstorming how to phrase feedback for the more junior manager’s reports together. * **Scaffolding:** The more experienced manager encourages the first-time manager to move from role-playing to giving feedback to reports in real time, slowly scaling up from in-the-moment feedback on small projects and behaviors to more intensive feedback conversations, like performance reviews. * **Articulation:** The mentor encourages the new manager to discuss their experiences giving feedback: What was your goal for this feedback conversation? What went well? What would you do differently next time? * **Reflection:** The mentor might offer their recommendations for how they might structure feedback conversations, or examples of how other managers have approached feedback conversations in their organization. * **Exploration:** The senior manager continues to check in with the new manager in one-on-one meetings, encouraging them to apply their new skills to give continuous feedback to their reports. With new AI learning tools, organizations have an opportunity to strengthen novice-expert bonds, whether they help learners engage and connect with human experts or serve as the experts themselves. See the chart below for how our five areas of AI adoption in L&D relate to the framework of cognitive apprenticeship described above. | **Areas for AI implementation in learning** | **Steps of cognitive apprenticeship** | | | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Curriculum development | AI-powered curriculum development can help L&D managers **model** new skills using existing content that guides learners through new processes or frameworks. | **Modeling**CoachingScaffoldingArticulationReflectionExploration | | Skills practice | The best AI coaches mimic the most adept human managers. They can **model** an example of a skill or process, **coach** the user by providing feedback in the moment, **scaffold** learning with new challenges and guidance. They can also prompt users to think about their own learning by asking them to **articulate** the steps of their problem-solving process, **reflect** on their work in comparison to peers or other experts, or assign additional assignments for independent **exploration.** | **Modeling** **Coaching** **Scaffolding** **Articulation** **Reflection** **Exploration** | | AI tutor and content enhancement | An AI tutor can enhance content-based strategies by **scaffolding** individual learning, whether through in-the-moment guidance to better understand a lesson or by assigning additional exercises that gradually build challenges. | ModelingCoaching**Scaffolding**ArticulationReflectionExploration | | Mentorship and connection | AI tools can strengthen novice-expert connections by matching workers to potential mentors or providing AI-generated summaries and action items based on in-person sessions. | **Modeling** **Coaching** **Scaffolding** **Articulation** **Reflection** **Exploration** | | Skills assessment | When integrated into a larger learning strategy, AI skills assessment provides a foundation for learners to **articulate** what they’ve learned and **reflect** on their progress and competency levels. | ModelingCoachingScaffolding**Articulation** **Reflection**Exploration | **Download the full playbook** [**here**](https://www.charterworks.com/the-ai-educator/) **for examples and case studies for each of the five areas on our L&D menu**, as well as a deep dive into our original survey data and best practices for rolling out AI-powered learning tools. _Thank you to_ [_Valence_](https://www.valence.co/)_, the sponsor of this playbook, for making this work possible._ _This preview first appeared in Charter Pro—subscribe_ [_here_](https://www.charterworks.com/pro/) _to get early access and exclusive content related to AI adoption, learning and development, and more._ --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: How to Recruit, Hire, and Develop Entry-Level Talent](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/how-to-recruit-hire-and-develop-entry-level-talent/)  ### How to Recruit, Hire, and Develop Entry-Level Talent [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/how-to-recruit-hire-and-develop-entry-level-talent/) [Open article: How to Maintain the ‘Heartbeat of Work’ in the Age of Ai](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/how-to-maintain-the-heartbeat-of-work-in-the-age-of-ai/)  ### How to Maintain the ‘Heartbeat of Work’ in the Age of Ai [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/how-to-maintain-the-heartbeat-of-work-in-the-age-of-ai/) [Open article: Workers Worry AI Will Take Jobs—Just Not Theirs](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/workers-worry-ai-will-take-jobs-just-not-theirs/)  ### Workers Worry AI Will Take Jobs—Just Not Theirs [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/workers-worry-ai-will-take-jobs-just-not-theirs/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6989564/how-cognitive-apprenticeship-can-level-up-middle-managers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6989564/how-cognitive-apprenticeship-can-level-up-middle-managers/"},"headline":"How “cognitive apprenticeship” can level up middle managers","datePublished":"2024-06-18T11:30:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T07:07:28.027Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6989564/how-cognitive-apprenticeship-can-level-up-middle-managers/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d2d78c58ae60e17/698a57edb3fce38c850cd498/ai-playbook-2-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Peng","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-peng/"}],"articleSection":"Charter","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d2d78c58ae60e17/698a57edb3fce38c850cd498/ai-playbook-2-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ai-playbook-2-2","caption":"collage featuring an image of a young woman working at a laptop.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/6989564/how-cognitive-apprenticeship-can-level-up-middle-managers/","name":"How “cognitive apprenticeship” can level up middle managers"}}]}] ```