Welcome! Time to own your learning!
This Growth & Goals module is designed to help you take greater control of your learning process and guide you through essential components of becoming an efficient and effective learner.
These aims will be achieved by:
- Helping you learn metacognition skills so you may monitor and decide what to do for your learning.
- Guiding you through the process of self-regulated learning (SRL) and goal-setting, which will help you make your goals more attainable.
- Exploring the differences that your mindset can have and teaching you to develop a growth mindset.
- Explore and develop the concepts of mindfulness and resilience.
Learning can be difficult and that’s okay! Success takes effort and requires dedication and at times it can be very frustrating. Research has shown that the best learning is happening when it feels the most difficult so don’t worry if you’re feeling this way; it means you’re on the right track!1 Even professors and professionals have struggled (and failed!) too! The goal of this module is to help you develop learning skills and strategies to help you gain success — in university, your career or even your personal life.
In the past, some individuals have found some aspects of the module challenging because it took them out of their comfort zone but they found it was well worth the effort.
“I’ve never met a successful person who had an easy path.” —Robyne Hanley-Dafoe
See what actual people (students) have to say about this module Transcript (.pdf, 55kb):
What is self-regulated learning (SRL) and why should I use it?
Self-Regulated Learning means taking strategic control of how you approach your goals and being prepared and willing to face any challenges and seize any opportunities that might arise as you work to make your goals your reality.2
The self-regulated learning cycle
The SRL cycle has three phases: reflect, plan, and act.
-
- The REFLECT phase involves looking back on past performances to identify your strengths and the areas you think you need to focus on. You’ll also identify your learning beliefs, your mindset when faced with challenges and your existing knowledge. Finally, you will set and refine the goals you want to achieve.
- During the PLAN phase, you will identify strategies and develop a plan and schedule to achieve your goals from the reflect phase.
- Now that you have goals and a plan it’s time to enter the ACT phase. Here you will carry out your plan, continually monitoring your progress and making adjustments as you feel necessary.
The SRL cycle can be repeated multiple times as you face deadlines – How did your plan come together? What would you change? What goals did you realize? What goals need more work?
Once you’ve completed the module you can keep using the SRL cycle in other aspects of your life.
REFERENCES
-
- Brown, P.C.; Roediger III, H.L.; McDaniel, M.A. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 2014.
- Zimmerman, B. J. Am. Educ. Res. J. 2008, 45 (1), 166–183.
Reflect Phase
Are your study strategies effective? Do you believe myths about learning?
Meet Tracy, who is about to face an obstacle in her life.
Complete Activity 2 below to see how she’s been preparing leading up to this obstacle.
Now complete Activity 3 to see if you believe some common myths about learning.1
What are your feelings about the obstacle you're facing?
Complete Activity 4 below, which asks you to rate opposing words to help you take stock of your feelings on this obstacle as you begin to prepare.2
What are your thoughts going into this obstacle?
Complete Activity 5, where you will rate the various thoughts you may have as you approach this challenge.
REFERENCES
- “You Probably Believe Some Learning Myths: Take Our Quiz To Find Out.” NPR, 22 Mar. 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/22/520843457/you-probably-believe-some-learning-myths-take-our-quiz-to-find-out.
- Xu, X.; Lewis, J. E. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (5), 561–568.
Welcome! Time to own your learning!
This Growth & Goals module is designed to help you take greater control of your learning process and guide you through three essential components of becoming an efficient and effective learner.
These aims will be achieved by:
-
- Guiding you through the process of self-regulated learning (SRL) and goal-setting, which will help you make your goals more attainable.
- Exploring the differences that your mindset can have and teaching you to develop a growth mindset.
- Introducing you to the concept of metacognition so you may monitor and decide what to do for your learning.
Learning can be difficult and that’s okay! Success takes effort and requires dedication and at times it can be very frustrating. Research has shown that the best learning is happening when it feels the most difficult so don’t worry if you’re feeling this way; it means you’re on the right track!1 Even professionals have struggled (and failed!) too! The goal of this module is to help you develop learning skills and strategies to help you gain success — in university, your career or even your personal life.
In the past, some individuals have found some aspects of the module challenging because it took them out of their comfort zone but they found it was well worth the effort.
“I’ve never met a successful person who had an easy path.” —Robyne Hanley-Dafoe
See what actual people have to say about this module Transcript (.pdf, 55kb):
What is self-regulated learning (SRL) and why should I use it?
Self-Regulated Learning means taking strategic control of how you approach your goals and being prepared and willing to face any challenges and seize any opportunities that might arise as you work to make your goals your reality.2
The self-regulated learning cycle
The SRL cycle has three phases: reflect, plan, and act.
-
- The REFLECT phase involves looking back on past performances to identify your strengths and the areas you think you need to focus on. You'll also identify your learning beliefs, your mindset when faced with challenges and your existing knowledge. Finally, you will set and refine the goals you want to achieve.
- During the PLAN phase, you will identify strategies and develop a plan and schedule to achieve your goals from the reflect phase.
- Now that you have goals and a plan it's time to enter the ACT phase. Here you will carry out your plan, continually monitoring your progress and making adjustments as you feel necessary.
The SRL cycle can be repeated multiple times as you face challenges – How did your plan come together? What would you change? What goals did you realize? What goals need more work?
Once you've completed the module you can keep using the SRL cycle in other aspects of your life.
REFERENCES
-
- Brown, P.C.; Roediger III, H.L.; McDaniel, M.A. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 2014.
- Zimmerman, B. J. Am. Educ. Res. J. 2008, 45 (1), 166–183.
Welcome! Time to own your learning!
This Growth & Goals module is designed to help you take greater control of your learning process and guide you through three essential components of becoming an efficient and effective learner.
These aims will be achieved by:
-
- Guiding you through the process of self-regulated learning (SRL) and goal-setting, which will help you make your goals more attainable.
- Exploring the differences that your mindset can have and teaching you to develop a growth mindset.
- Introducing you to the concept of metacognition so you may monitor and decide what to do for your learning.
Learning can be difficult and that’s okay! Success takes effort and requires dedication and at times it can be very frustrating. Research has shown that the best learning is happening when it feels the most difficult so don’t worry if you’re feeling this way; it means you’re on the right track!1 Even professionals have struggled (and failed!) too! The goal of this module is to help you develop learning skills and strategies to help you gain success — in university, your career or even your personal life.
In the past, some individuals have found some aspects of the module challenging because it took them out of their comfort zone but they found it was well worth the effort.
“I’ve never met a successful person who had an easy path.” —Robyne Hanley-Dafoe
See what actual people have to say about this module Transcript (.pdf, 55kb):
What is self-regulated learning (SRL) and why should I use it?
Self-Regulated Learning means taking strategic control of how you approach your goals and being prepared and willing to face any challenges and seize any opportunities that might arise as you work to make your goals your reality.2
The self-regulated learning cycle
The SRL cycle has three phases: reflect, plan, and act.
-
- The REFLECT phase involves looking back on past performances to identify your strengths and the areas you think you need to focus on. You'll also identify your learning beliefs, your mindset when faced with challenges and your existing knowledge. Finally, you will set and refine the goals you want to achieve.
- During the PLAN phase, you will identify strategies and develop a plan and schedule to achieve your goals from the reflect phase.
- Now that you have goals and a plan it's time to enter the ACT phase. Here you will carry out your plan, continually monitoring your progress and making adjustments as you feel necessary.
The SRL cycle can be repeated multiple times as you face challenges – How did your plan come together? What would you change? What goals did you realize? What goals need more work?
Once you've completed the module you can keep using the SRL cycle in other aspects of your life.
REFERENCES
-
- Brown, P.C.; Roediger III, H.L.; McDaniel, M.A. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 2014.
- Zimmerman, B. J. Am. Educ. Res. J. 2008, 45 (1), 166–183.
An Overview of the Growth and Goals module
The first Growth & Goals cycle takes about 2 hours to complete, although some people may find it useful to spend more or less time. There are 20 activities, interspersed with information before and after each activity. The activities are intended to be completed in the order in which you encounter them in the module.
Start by identifying three deadlines that you have coming up in your semester or next few months. These deadlines could be exams, assignments, competitions, performances, or simply specific timepoints. Put your deadlines in a calendar, with reminders to yourself to complete each of the next activities. We suggest doing them one week before and within one week after each deadline.
The Growth & Goals cycle will repeat before and after deadlines you are working towards and before and after the final deadline you plan to work through using this module, but will take less time to complete compared to this first cycle. For example, students may choose to complete the module before and after midterms, major assignments, or presentations. They often choose the final examination in the course as their final obstacle. It's important to choose deadlines you face that are important to you and that you feel you would benefit from or perform better on after completing this module. Decide the three deadlines you want to work towards now!
There are a number of interactive activities in this module. After completing each activity, you may wish to save your responses by taking a screen capture or copying the text. You will need to refer back to some of your responses at different points so be sure to save your work in a safe place!
Now that you’ve been briefly introduced to the content of this module, please take a minute and complete Activity 1 below!
Self-regulated learning can be achieved through the SRL cycle. The SRL cycle allows you to take strategic control of how you approach your goals and be prepared and willing to face any challenges and seize any opportunities that might arise as you work to make your goals your reality. The SRL cycle consists of three phases: reflect, plan, and act. Ideally, you should repeat this cycle multiple times as you create goals and tackle challenges.
A particular milestone in your semester or year that you are preparing for. The deadline could be an exam, assignment, competition, etc. The key idea is to identify specific timepoints using these deadlines so that you can check your progress toward your goals.
