In formal settings, i.e. schools and universities, “learning” is sometimes reduced to creating a product as evidence that learning has happened. This is problematic for many reasons. The main reason is the fact that when we measure only the end result, we really don’t know where students started or how their learning process went. We all learn every day on our own. It is impossible to be a human and NOT learn. What if students already possessed the competencies for completing the task? Can we still credit this “learning” to the effectivess of the instructor? Ot is it just about measuring students’ performance, and how well they meet the standards?
The far more interesting questions are: What does the individual learning process look like? And how can we support that iterative learning process? How should I teach?
Focusing on supporting the individual learning process is not the easiest path! The reality is that students don’t start from the same line, and also the finishing line is different for each individual student. This is because every student arrives to the classroom (or training session) with diverse set of skills, knowledge, experiences and expectations. Their equally different take-away is what we educators call “learning”. It is important for anyone in education and training industry to remember that (thank goodness!!) students learn even in spite of us. Choosing How to Teach site offers professional development courses for educators! Some courses are free – like the one diving into the very important and popular question: Is learning a process or a product?
These learning process blog posts are the most popular:
Is learning a product or process?
Is learning a product or process – part 2
Quality of learning, process vs. product
Learning as an unending process
Engaging student in their own learning process
Instruction supporting learning process
My other site NinasNotes.fi has a bit more scholarly posts about learning and learner agency.
I hope you enjoy!
🙂
Nina
NotesFromNina 