​How can self-directed learning be made visible?

Self-directed learning is a broad approach to learning that focuses on the learner as being able to construct their own understanding of knowledge and concepts, making connections between the two in order to deepen further understanding. This research enquiry was conducted during the academic years of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 with a purpose to establishing the benefits of self-directed learning versus other forms of learning, such as direct instruction. Secondly, to understand some of the practical concerns when implementing an approach to the curriculum that encompasses self-direction in the classroom and particularly how to ensure that the learning is visible and outcomes are able to be measured during the full process of a learners self-direction.

1.0 The literature

Below are a series of articles that I read as part of the process of developing my own thoughts on self-directed learning; from this a SWOT analysis is being constructed.

Self-directed learning

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High Tech High is an integrated network of fourteen charter schools serving approximately 5,300 students in grades K-12 across four campuses. HTH is guided by four connected design principles: equity, personalization, authentic work, and collaborative design.

Projects, Passion, Peers and Play: Seymour Papert's Vision For Learning

Many of the ideas that have become popular in education today like the power of projects and collaboration -- not to mention the way technology could change learning -- are rooted in ideas put forward by Seymour Papert, who died in 2016.

Self-Direction is the Key to Mastery

"What you love to do you will do well." ~Japanese proverb What do Thomas Edison, Vincent Van Gogh, Maya Angelou, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Lennon, Steve Jobs, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and Malcolm X have in common? What's shared by all of them- and key for many who we call "gifted"...

Why Our Coercive System of Schooling Should Topple

I've been called a crazy optimist, a Pollyanna, a romantic idealist. How can I believe that our system of compulsory (forced) schooling is about to collapse? People point out that in many ways the schooling system is stronger now than ever.

Project based Learning

Why Learning Should Be Messy

Principal at High Tech High, an innovative, project-based learning school in San Diego, California, Larry Rosenstock, points out, "If you were to hike the Appalachian trail, which would take you months and months, and you reflect upon it, you do not divide the experience into the historic, scientific, mathematic, and English aspects of it.

Can Project-Based Learning Close Gaps in Science Education?

Access to good science curriculum materials is a "vexing issue," Harris said. In urban public schools, science textbooks are often 10 years old and the standard curricula "provide very few opportunities for students to really engage in the science, beyond emphasizing the scientific canon or the knowledge that's been developed over time," he said.

How Can Schools Prioritize For The Best Ways Kids Learn?

He pointed to the Canadian province of British Columbia and its stated goal to offer education that is student-initiated, interdisciplinary and co-planned by students and teachers together. Ontario, Canada's Ministry of Education is embracing collaborative inquiry through play. And Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia are thriving under the visionary leadership of Pam Moran.

How To Ease Students Into Independent Inquiry Projects

Chris was a shy, introverted student in my senior-level English class. Throughout the course I saw Chris raise his hand during a class discussion only once, and it was to ask permission to use the washroom. He didn't like sharing, and he certainly didn't come across as a confident student.

inquiry based learning

10 Tips For Launching An Inquiry-Based Classroom

"The brain is so primed for questions," said Laufenberg, managing director of Inquiry Schools and a former 11th and 12th grade history teacher at SLA. "It learns better that way and remembers better that way." Unfortunately, many educators and schools are so focused on achieving standardized outcomes that they don't leverage the best tool at their disposal -- students' natural curiosity.

How to Bring 'More Beautiful' Questions Back to School

Luckily, kids are hard-wired for that kind of generative curiosity. Unfortunately, "right around age 5 or 6, questioning drops off a cliff," Berger said. Paradoxically, when kids go to school they stop asking so many questions. "Children enter school as question marks and leave schools as periods," Berger said, quoting Neil Postman.* But why?

Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions | Edutopia

You might wonder how lesson planning works if you're always reconstructing on the fly. I've found that if the students take the lesson in a different direction than what I've planned for, it's my job to light their way to where my intention and their intention meet.

How to Design a Classroom Built on Inquiry, Openness and Trust

I've also discovered I need to teach the difference between collaboration and cooperation. Most students have been taught to cooperate. "Play nice in the sandbox." Collaboration is an entirely different thing. Many adults don't know how to collaborate well. 1. START WITH ONE UNIT Start with creating one inquiry unit in one subject.

Visible learning

Visible Learning

Find out more about John Hattie's Visible Learning meta-study

John Hattie & His Top 10 High Impact Teaching Strategies

Note, this article refers to John Hattie's 2009 book, Visible Learning. You can find an updated summary of his findings here. John Hattie synthesized over 500,000+ studies related to student achievement in his book Visible Learning. In this book he showed that teachers can make a difference despite other circumstances that may impede learning.

John Hattie and Deb Masters on Visible Learning - video - Routledge

In these 3 short videos, John Hattie and Deb Masters ask: what are effect sizes and what do they mean for learning? What works best? How can we find a language for learning?

When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges

His research shows that when fourth graders are asked to develop a concept map about thinking, most of their brainstorming centers around what they think and where they think it. "When students don't have strategies about thinking, that's how they respond - what they think and where they think," Richhart said.

Criticism of self-directed learning

John Hattie & His Top 10 High Impact Teaching Strategies

Note, this article refers to John Hattie's 2009 book, Visible Learning. You can find an updated summary of his findings here. John Hattie synthesized over 500,000+ studies related to student achievement in his book Visible Learning. In this book he showed that teachers can make a difference despite other circumstances that may impede learning.

Student-Led Classrooms Waste Teacher Skill - Marginal REVOLUTION

A slew of research shows that direct instruction produces superior results compared to other instructional methods. A new study in the Journal of Labor Economics by Eric Taylor provides more information on how and why. Using a randomized controlled trial, Taylor compares a weak form of direct instruction with student led classrooms in which: the ...

Direct Instruction: A Half Century of Research Shows Superior Results - Marginal REVOLUTION

What if I told you that there is a method of education which significantly raises achievement, has been shown to work for students of a wide range of abilities, races, and socio-economic levels and has been shown to be superior to other methods of instruction in hundreds of tests?
skills-tasks-teachers.pdf
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2.0 SWOT ANALYSIS OF SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

3.0 evaluating visible learning strategies

3.1 Student evaluation of project based learning - HOLOCAUSt project at bish 2017 and 2018 - random pool of responses 

Holocaust project 2018 (Current Year 9)​

​PLEASE WRITE AN INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION OF THE PROJECT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? (200 WORDS MINIMUM)
Class 1
Class 2
​PLEASE WRITE AN INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION OF THE PROJECT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? (200 WORDS MINIMUM)

HOLOCAUST PROJECT 2017 (CURRENT YEAR 10)

Class 3

4.0 Conclusions

The responses of students attitudes following exposure to Project Based Learning in the second year of the project are overall good and better than the first year. The following  is a summary of the quantitive data that is of interest:

Appendices: 

International Educational Encyclopedia Article - What is Self-Directed Learning?
what_is_self-directed_learning_review_by_university_of_columbia.pdf
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An objective critique of John Hattie's Research, Sean Killian
an-objective-critique-of-hatties-visible-learning-research.pdf
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FULL DATA SETS 2017 AND 2018 Holocaust Project
2017_holocaust_project_data_set_full.xlsx
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2018a_holocaust_project_data_set_full.xlsx
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2018b_holocaust_project_data_set_full.xlsx
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Software to aid 'visibility' in self-directed learning

Socrative

Quickly assess students with prepared activities or on-the-fly questions to get immediate insight into student understanding. Then use auto-populated results to determine the best instructional approach to most effectively drive learning.

Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world

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