Learning occurs occurs
across complex dimensions which are interrelated and interdependent. Learning
theorists have argued that learning and development is not an assembly-line
which can be broken down into discrete steps occurring with machine-time precision,
but an organic process that unfolds along a continuum according to its own
pace and rhythm. The teacher (and student) is actively searching for, and
documenting, positive evidence of student development across five dimensions:
confidence and independence, knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies,
use of prior and emerging experience, and critical reflection. These five
dimensions cannot be "separated out" and treated individually; rather, they
are dynamically interwoven and interdependent.
Individually, you should expect to make progress across five dimensions:
Confidence and independence
Confidence and independence in our own reading, writing, and thinking abilities.
We see growth and development when learners' confidence and independence become
coordinated with their actual abilities and skills, content knowledge, use
of experience, and reflectiveness about their own learning. It is not a simple
case of "more (confidence and independence) is better." The overconfident
student who has relied on faulty or underdeveloped skills and strategies learns
to ask for help when facing an obstacle; the shy student begins to trust her
own abilities and begins to work alone at times, or to insist on presenting
her own point of view in discussion. In both cases, students develop along
the dimension of confidence and independence.
Skills and strategies
Specific skills and strategies involved in composing and communicating effectively,
from concept to organization to polishing grammar and correctness, and including
technological skills for computer communication. Skills and strategies represent
the "know-how" aspect of learning. When we speak of "performance" or "mastery,"
we generally mean that learners have developed skills and strategies to function
successfully in certain situations.
Knowledge and Understanding
Content knowledge refers to the understanding gained about new technologies,
rhetoric, research methods, the topics we write about, the methods of organizing
and presenting our ideas to others, and so on. Content knowledge is the most
familiar dimension, focusing on the "know-what" aspect of learning. What is
"persona" in rhetoric? Where can I find reliable information on a particular
topic? What is a "home page" on the WorldWide Web? These are typical content
questions.
Use of prior and emerging experience
Use of prior and emerging experience involves the ability to draw on our own
experience and connect it to our work. A crucial but often unrecognized dimension
of learning is the ability to make use of prior experience as well as emerging
experience in new situations. It is necessary to observe learners over a period
of time while they engage in a variety of activities in order to account for
the development of this important capability, which is at the heart of creative
thinking and its application. In predetermined learning situations we cannot
discover just how a learner's prior experience might be brought to bear to
help scaffold new understandings, or how ongoing experience shapes the content
knowledge or skills and strategies the learner is developing.
Reflection
Reflection refers to our developing awareness of our own learning process,
as well as more analytical approaches to reading, writing, and communication.
When we speak of reflection as a crucial component of learning, we are not
using the term in its commonsense meaning of daydreaming or abstract introspection.
We are referring to the development of the learner's ability to step back
and consider a situation critically and analytically, with growing insight
into his or her own learning processes, a kind of metacognition. Learners
need to develop this capability in order to use what they are learning in
other contexts, to recognize the limitations or obstacles confronting them
in a given situation, to take advantage of their prior knowledge and experience,
and to strengthen their own performance.