Independent Learners, Part I

From the desk of Carol C. . .

During the month of March we’re looking at the idea of autonomy in education.  This week I want to look at some of the characteristics of autonomous learners.  First, simply put, autonomy is the ability to take charge of our own learning. Autonomous learners are capable of choosing what, when, where, and how they learn and then they are able to make meaning of the information they have gathered.

Autonomous learners:

• have an awareness of who they are.  They understand what strategies and styles to use to accelerate and deepen their learning.  For example…autonomous students would recognize whether they were better suited for small group or independent work, written or oral projects, a phonics or sight word approach to reading.  Realizing who they are as learners is the first step.
• actively attempt to solve a task.  These students immediately begin to try to complete the task before them not to finish first or get it over with but to engage their minds quickly.  They do not expect to sit back and be given the strategies or the answers.  They want to figure it out for themselves.
• take risks.  Some children seem to need assurance at each step that they are on the right track.  They are more concerned about a correct answer than the process they are using to arrive at that answer.   Autonomous learners either intrinsically or having been taught value process over product.
• are willing to attempt and discard multiple strategies in their quest to reach a conclusion.  These learners revise and reject ideas as they see what makes sense/works and what doesn’t.  One example would be that students in a foreign language class are asked to translate sentences.  They try to decipher the sentences word by word.  If it doesn’t work they look for phrases or known words.  They reject the hypothesis they had when they realize none of the vocabulary needed is included in the sentences.

Not all students or adults begin as autonomous learners.  The good news is that everyone regardless of age can begin to develop the characteristics of successful independent learners.  Next time we’ll look at ways teachers can help children develop these traits.