As teachers who use technology, how can we stress the responsibility that comes with students taking control of their learning and not lessen their Sense of Self?
This week essential question is a subject I feel strongly about. Historically I have always noticed organizations doling out training on new software, policies, training or whatever but doing little to have the employee own the experience. Most often the onus for organizing, facilitation and followup would fall to the supervisor, or trainer if available. This model can work just fine in certain cases but often its not scalable or dynamic enough to prepare learners with just in time learning resources. Stuff is getting complex fast and the more invested a learner becomes in their own development the greater success they can achieve When I began to work for Apple I noticed a big shift in how they approached employee learning. With the nature of work in technology, there was daily need to have the best information possible to perform at a high level. This culture of learning needs to start in early education and perpetuated through curriculums that are designed to put learners at the center of their experience. The trick is for the ownership of learning not to become overwhelming to the learner/employee. This requires feedback and support otherwise learning can become overwhelming vs. empowering. As an example at Apple I managed teams and would meet frequently with each member to discuss their individual learning goals, progress towards goal, challenges and wins. Almost always with those who had not made progress, time management was the number one issue for incompletion of self development, leaving the employee feeling hopeless to make any improvement towards their learning goals. Asking someone to own their own learning is not enough, as leaders its up to us to recognize where we can support with resources, to avoid a negative “self efficacy” loop that can kill motivation. Having an undergrad background in Psychology I am familiar with Badura’s work referenced in the Vilas & McCabe article, where feelings of success, positive reviews from peers, meaningful feedback, and creating a “safe” & supportive dialog are promoted to enhance a learners belief “they can do this”. (Vilas & McCabe, 2014) So really we are talking about improving confidence of self, as Gunn states “ A confident classroom is a successful classroom”. Gunn also references the self efficacy tool kit which is also influenced by Bandura’s research, ultimately you cannot have a learner who takes their educational destiny by the horns in a vacuum, there must be support in the form of a mentorship, guide, jedi master, or even a friend. When my daughter was young and would get stuck she would say “I cant…” my response would always be “cant never could”. This is a variation on Gunns reference to the “power of yet” and this is the magic that we can impart with our language as educators to promote a strong narrative vs. using weak language like “I can’t”. If we want to feel strong we have to talk strong and research shows it.
References:
Promoting Students' Self-Efficacy in the Online Classroom. (2014, May 20). Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/promoting-students-self-efficacy-online-classroom/
Stajkovic, A. D., Bandura, A., Locke, L.A. & Lee. D. (2018) . Test of three conceptual models of influence of the big five traits and self-efficacy on academic performance: A meta-analytic path-analysis. Personality and individual differences, 120, 238-245
How to Encourage Student Self-Efficacy. (2019, January 03). Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/leaders-link/build-student-self-efficacy/
