Approaches to Personal Learning
Personal Learning in practice
Students need to develop a sense of themselves as learners and develop the knowledge and skills to manage their own learning. As they do this, they move from being supported learners to autonomous learners. Becoming autonomous, or self-regulating, implies the use of strategies prior to, during and after the completion of tasks. The development of personal learning skills and behaviours involves the use of challenging questions such as ‘How do I prefer to learn?’ and ‘What can I do to improve my learning?’.
The following figure identifies the phases and processes of self-regulated learning, including specific processes prior to task engagement, during task performance and as part of reflection following task completion. It incorporates the two dimensions within the Personal Learning domain: The individual learner and Managing personal learning.
Autonomous learning across the pre-task, on-task and reflection phases
Although the above figure identifies three discrete phases of autonomous learning, there are many areas of overlap. Some key questions for students to ask themselves are outlined below. Further questions for each process followed. They are a guide only: some may need to be modified, depending on students’ abilities.
Key questions
- How do I prefer to learn?
- What is important?
- What’s working for me?
- What didn’t work?
- What critical incidents occurred?
- What do I need to do to finish this task?
- How successful was I?
- What can I do to improve my learning and/or performance?
Each of these questions is considered below.
Phase 1: Pre task
Awareness
It is important for teachers and students to recognise
the diversity of ability and learning styles within any classroom. Some
students may be competitive and be motivated by recognition for achievements,
others may prefer to think quietly and work alone, while others may be
non-participants. Within any classroom, there will be students who work best
in the morning, others in the afternoon; some who are impulsive, others who
are reflective; some who like small groups, others who enjoy working in large
groups.
The literature identifies visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles. Howard Gardner’s theory of ‘multiple’ intelligences is currently having a significant impact on education as teachers and researchers consider how knowledge of intelligence and thinking styles can affect teaching and learning preferences. While some students might be identified as having a particular ‘intelligence’, a range of other factors can have an impact on student learning. Teachers and students need to consider the influence of context and teaching style, and the student’s family, culture, personality, emotions and motivation on learning preferences.
Within the context of proven learning strategies and principles already in use within the classroom and school, teachers can provide opportunities for students to learn about how they learn.
A key question for awareness of learning preferences is ‘How do I prefer to learn?’ Related questions are:
- What do I enjoy?
- What am I curious about?
- When do I learn?
- How do others learn?
Motivation
Intrinsic motivation, where students value learning and strive for mastery by developing strategies to persist and avoid distraction, is a major goal of education. Students may also engage in tasks because they are extrinsically motivated, wanting, for example, to receive rewards and praise, or to avoid punishment.
Questions for students to consider in learning to understanding their motivation are:
- Why do I want to learn?
- Why is this task important?
- How can I be more successful at this task?
Planning
Students can use their knowledge of learning strategies and preferences to set goals and plan for the time and effort required to achieve a task. Planning requires development of organisational skills and behaviours. Time management and planning skills can be taught within the classroom as base skills for autonomous learning. A key question for planning is ‘What is important?’ Related questions are:
- What sort of task is this?
- What do I have to do?
- How can I break up this task into smaller tasks?
- How long will this task take?
- What are my priorities?
- How can I remember important information?
Phase 2: On task
Monitoring and adaptation
Students constantly monitor what they are
doing in response to a learning task. When they are on task they are able to
reflect on the success of their learning skills and behaviours. The key
questions for monitoring are ‘What’s working for me?’ and ‘What didn’t
work?’ Related questions include:
- How can I learn from any mistakes?
- What am I worried about?
- How can I respond to useful feedback from my peers or the teacher?
- What might others learn from me?
- How might I explain how to do this task?
- What might I learn from others?
During a task a number of critical junctures (such as an obstacle, problem, critical or interesting incident) may be encountered that require learners to reset goals, manage motivation and to make adaptations, including new strategies, to continue their progress. The key question here is ‘What critical incidents occurred?’ Related questions include:
- What was unexpected?
- What intrigued me?
- What questions were raised in my mind?
- Do I have to change my plan?
- What do I have to tell my peers or the teacher?
- How can I get back on task?
Focus
When on task, students need to remain focused and in control of their learning. Autonomous learners are self regulating: they engage with a task by setting goals, selecting effective and efficient strategies, and monitoring their progress. Autonomous learners take a proactive role in their learning, using their initiative, perseverance and adaptive skills. They are aware of learning principles and strategies and their own learning practices, including the capacity to remain focused on the task.
The key question for focus is ‘What do I need to do to finish this task?’ Related questions include:
- How can I present the final product of this task?
- What can I do right now?
- How could my peers help me to complete this task?
- What other ways could I work in order to complete this task?
Patterns of behaviour
Students need to constantly rehearse and
practise learning strategies and behaviours. Planning, focus, monitoring and
reflection should become routine behaviours for autonomous learners.
Phase 3: Reflection
Self evaluation
Self evaluation involves students using reflection
questions as an analytical tool to support their learning and inform their
future actions. Self evaluation allows students to make sense of their
activity and orient themselves for ongoing success. The key question for self
evaluation is ‘How successful was I?’ Related questions are:
- What worked well?
- What pleased me?
- How do I know that it was successful?
- Who can/did I share my success with?
- What did I do that helped me to:
- prepare for the task
- create new ideas
- practise new skills
- improve existing skills
- modify my learning habits
- find relevant information or materials
- organise information or materials
- correctly summarise information
- understand unfamiliar ideas
- take relevant notes
- use my existing knowledge or skills
- represent information in meaningful ways?
- What could I do differently next time?
- What factors influenced my ability to learn?
- What might help me learn more about this?
Resilience
Resilience refers to the positive adaptations a student makes to adverse aspects of a task. Two important aspects of resilience are the student’s perceived reasons for poor performance on a learning task and their capacity to improve. (Was it bad luck, a full moon, or a disorganised teacher? Or did students have a poor understanding of the task, make little effort or a messy presentation?) Students who attribute success or failure to factors that they believe they can change or influence are more likely to respond positively to feedback. The capacity to adapt to different contexts and feedback from peers, parents and teachers is a key part of being a resilient learner.
Other components of resilience are learning from inevitable mistakes and failures, taking risks, optimism and being creative. While an important part of learning includes rehearsal, practice and routine, a counterpoint is provided by experimentation, trial-and-error and creativity. Also, when students are faced with a stalled task, optimism and an innovative approach are often required to restart the project.
A key question for building resilience is ‘What can I do to improve my learning and/or performance?’ Related questions are:
- Who could I approach to help me?
- What did the teacher think of my performance on this task?
- What did my peers think of my performance on this task?
- What positive small steps could I take in response to this feedback?
- What factors influencing my performance were beyond my control?
- How did I manage any feelings of boredom, frustration or anger during this task?
- What do I know about my peers’ feelings or ideas about this task?
- Do I need to change my learning or task goals?
- What could I personally change in order to improve my performance?
- Which factors can I control in order to improve my performance?
- What mistakes did I make? What can I learn from these mistakes?
