Person-centered, Purposeful Learning
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin
In the new-paradigm of education, individual, collaborative, purposeful learning environments are important to naturally inspire, engage, and empower students. As the student gets older, they become more and more responsible for what they want to learn and experience, and the educator knows how to stimulate that drive.
There are some school districts in the U.S. and around the world that are beginning to implement personalized learning processes and plans as a priority. (1-2) More and more research is being accomplished around this domain of education and finding its inherent efficacy. This is great news. For a learning environment to be set up for thriving, the student must be the agent of their own learning. Children should not have to be manipulated to learn. They are hardwired to naturally want to grow and experience new things.
So why do students tend to stop engaging in learning by 3rd grade?
There are many reasons, but one of the top reasons is that someone else has taken over their learning. By the habits and processes of the education system, students learn to please the system because they believe it is their way to “success”.
It is critical that preschool through college-age students understand how they learn and what excites them the most, and be given ample time, opportunity and resources to pursue their path. When this happens, students find creative ways to share who they are at their core and make a difference, even if it means they have to accumulate their own resources.
Personalized learning environments or person-centered learning environments are highly learner self-regulated, have transparent and actionable near-real-time data, provide various structures for student voice and feedback, and integrate purposeful supports for embedding the principles of Universal Design for Learning (engagement, representation, action and expression) at the cornerstone of practice. Personalized learning requires a shift in instructional practice on behalf of both the teacher and the learners. (3-4)
The following student-centered/person-centered definition of individual learning informed this study:
In a person-centered learning environment, learners actively participate in their learning. They have a voice in what they are learning based on how they learn best. Learners have a choice in how they demonstrate what they know and provide evidence of their learning. In a learner-centered environment, learners own and co-design their learning. The teacher becomes their guide, mentor, teacher and coach on their personal journey. (5)
Goal setting is a central construct and critical aspect of personalized learning. (6) Students’ short, mid, and long-term goals, (i.e. going to college or not), along with action steps to achieve these goals, are “critical elements”. While personalized learning is a relatively new concept, the notion of goal setting is not.
“Goal setting is often studied as a form of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 2012), the success of which is mediated by learner beliefs and various regulatory processes. It is well established that implicit theories of learning influence self-regulation (Dweck & Leggett, 1988), with strong evidence that an incremental theory of growth (i.e., growth mindset) contributes to successful self-regulatory processes (Nussbaum & Dweck, 2008). When self-regulatory processes such as goal setting occur in contexts that are supportive and emphasize mastery rather than performance or competition, goal achievement is more likely to occur (Burnette, O’Boyle, VanEpps, Pollack, & Finkel, 2013).” (7)
In the new paradigm, goal setting works best in personalized learning if personal exploration and the promotion of cross-disciplinary, 21st century skills are both integrated into the goal setting process.
This means that teachers know how to engage students in exploring their personal interests and launch student-driven projects. (Identity Exploration)
Students are then given the time and space to propose personal goals tied to their interests or for them to explicitly identify goals related to their projects.
The teacher and peers provide guidance and feedback on the goals the student proposes using guidelines.
The teacher and student collaborate during the period of goal refinement to tie the student goals to a set of cross-disciplinary and life ready skills.
The resulting goals are then used to inform subsequent learning experiences and a lens for reflection and further planning.
One of the most powerful ways to integrate purposeful person-centered learning is using the art and science of what we call Empowerment Coaching & Learning, which is a type of personal, professional, Life and Wellness Coaching. It is designed to naturally bring out the inherent purpose of individuals and the self-agency of learning, growing and contributing all under the umbrella of well-being.
The definition of Empowerment Coaching & Learning is:
-a person-centered, self-directed, active communication & pedagogical process, which inspires individuals to move forward in self-determined life and learning goals, step-by-step, towards lasting changes that are aligned with their intrinsic values, intuition, and well-being.
person-centered - The coach acknowledges the student as an expert on themselves, guiding them to enhance their whole self/skills when needed. What is next comes from within “the person”! Everyone is already unique, brilliant and whole human beings. You trust that their heart's intuition knows what they need
self-directed - The person chooses their path. You support them to the best of your ability to allow them to be the “agent” of their own life, self-authoring what they are wanting and needing.
active communication and pedagogical process - You stay right with each person, right where they are, using healthy and empowering communication skills that enhance learning.
inspires individuals to move forward in self-determined life and learning goals - You partner with the person in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their life and learning potential. The individual is excited to learn and wants to explore and choose their next best path that feels good.
step by step - Learning automatically happens in progression when the individual wants to practice
to improve.
towards lasting changes - When learning comes from within and they get to experience the learning they want, it stays. They don’t forget it. They embody it.
that are aligned with their intrinsic values, intuition, and well-being. - What the person wants and needs to learn is already inside of them. So trusting this and then allowing them express their learning is vital. When they need support with the skills to move forward, they will be ready for it, and ask for it, and agree to it.
In the Empowerment Education® program, as you learn the concepts and skills of becoming an Empowerment Coach, you will naturally be using an evidence based innovative approach to goal setting. There has never been one time in 10 years of implementing this process that the teacher and students were not reeling with excitement of what they experienced. Their ability to connect with themselves and trust their inner knowledge and purpose immediately begins to expand. Their confidence in who they are grows. The classroom and school culture shifts into a highly trusting, open, inspirational, creative, and collaborative learning environment for everyone. Purposeful, personal learning plans become easy to incorporate into any environment and with any student.
Integrating personal, purposeful learning plans in the new paradigm can be easily integrated to any type of portfolio grading system with the standard grading system. (…although I believe the standard grading system needs to, and will shift).
1https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00098655.2019.1571990
2https://education.vermont.gov/student-learning/personalized-learning
3https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0162643416660835
4 https://udlguidelines.cast.org/
5https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2017.1392689
6https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2017.1392689#
7https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19404476.2017.1392689
