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What exactly is Learner Autonomy? How Can You Help Promote It?

Sep 7, 2023

One of the biggest challenges teachers and institutions face is how to keep their students engaged, particularly when there are distracting and demanding demands coming from all sides. In such a situation the ideal past forward is one where learners are in charge of their own learning.

It is a result from the autonomy of learners which is a fundamental concept in learning that provides learners with the skills and tools they need to take charge and hit their goals.

What you should to know about the autonomy of learners and the advantages of learning autonomously and ways to encourage it in the organization you work for.

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What is learner autonomy?

Learning autonomy is a term that refers to the capability of learners to take control of their learning experience. The idea is that if you give learners the ability to be responsible for their learning -- including the way they learn it and the ways they learn it -- you'll drive up their engagement and independence.

The growth of learners' autonomy is viewed as a collaborative learning method in which learners are guided by educators, rather than being taught or directed by educators.

The most important elements of a learner's autonomy

To be completely autonomous, they need to be armed with a wide range of skills to help them be able to take charge of their learning.

Here are a few of the key elements of self-learning:

  • Learners have the ability to determine and set their own learning goals
  • Learners design and execute their activities of learning
  • Students are able to reflect on their learning and assess their performance
  • Learners are aware of the goal of education
  • Learners are aware of their own learning processes
  • Learners are able to apply various learning methods in various contexts

Educators can help learners in developing these abilities through education and instruction, as well as assigning tasks and projects that encourage autonomous learning.

Non-autonomous learners Autonomous Learners
The teachers explain each step to follow to accomplish a task and how they can accomplish it, as well as when they need to do each step. Learners decide for themselves what steps they need to complete to get there and when and how they do each stage.

Examples of autonomy for learners

The notion of autonomy of the learner was initially developed for foreign language learning and teaching. While it has now been extended to a variety of learning environments, it's still a key aspect of teaching language today.

A self-directed learner can determine their own learning objectives as well as choose their own activities and activities, and look out opportunities to apply their knowledge outside the classroom.

What will this look like in actual practice?

Imagine that you're learning Italian in a language class located in Milan.

In a classroom, your teacher might assign specific duties to promote autonomous learning, including:

  • Asking you to reflect about your objectives so that you are able to set your own aims for the learning process
  • Learn how to make use of an Italian dictionary, so that you can look up words yourself
  • Offering you the option of assignments for homework so that you can choose the exercises you find most helpful for your needs in learning and goals
  • Dividing your group into smaller ones so you can participate in group discussions regarding topics of your choice
  • We encourage you to join a language exchange group to interact with other people and learn outside the classroom

This is a great example of instruction that is tailored towards promoting learner autonomy. Teachers are empowering students with the tools required to develop their own learning and establishing assignments that promote self-directed learning in both the classroom and outside.

The benefits of learning autonomously

Learning autonomously can provide numerous opportunities and benefits for learners, aiding in maximizing student engagement while requiring minimal input from educators.

Here are the top five benefits which are associated with encouraging learner autonomy.

Empower learners

When you allow learners to determine how they would like to learn, they have the chance to drive their own development and growth.

Improve Engagement

The main difference between learning through autonomous as opposed to traditional instructor-led learning is that it's a much more dynamic learning experience. Autonomous learners take more responsibility for their learning, which means they're more efficient and flexible as they're not dependent on an instructor or teacher. The result? Engaged and excited learners who are eager to learn.

Develop problem-solving skills

Learning autonomy for learners isn't only key for increasing learner engagement It can also help to boost analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

The students are given the chance to design their own educational path while also being asked to think about their learning accomplishments and what they're working towards throughout the course of their learning. The actions are all based on students' capacity to think critically and solve problems, a vital ability for employees and students alike.

Improve self-esteem

When you equip learners with the abilities they require to manage their education, you will boost their self-confidence and confidence also. Rather than being spoon-fed learning content, learners are able to control their experiences of learning. If they can see the improvements they make, they get an enormous confidence gain.

Give you more choices

Learning environments that encourage learners' autonomy, teachers offer learners more options to allow them to direct their own learning.

In making learning co-operative, students are able to create their own individual learning plan rather than simply following the instructions of a teacher or trainer. It means that there's more possibilities for them to take part in a wide range of assignments and activities as well as create their own along the way.

10 ways to promote the autonomy of learners

If you're assisting new customers, training employees, or teaching students, promoting student autonomy is a worthwhile and beneficial goal.

Here are 10 ways for promoting autonomy of the learner to increase the enthusiasm and engagement of your learners.

Learners should be asked what they are looking to learn

There is one very easy strategy that you can employ to encourage autonomous learning: ask learners about what they'd like to learn about.

Ask for feedback on what subjects they would be most interested in and what information they find most helpful, or what they think is essential to know, and use their answers to design your classes as well as learning modules.

There's a myriad of ways you can collect the feedback of your students, such as:

  • Surveys
  • Polls
  • Group discussions
  • Room discussions in break-out rooms
  • Online forums
  • 1-to-1 chats

If you give learners the chance to have the opportunity to have their say on the way they spend their time in class, you'll encourage greater participation from your students as well as create an engaging learning environment.

Give multiple choices to learners

The promotion of autonomy for learners can be as simple as giving learners multiple options for every task, activity, and evaluation.

Teachers can offer learners an option to choose the activities they would like to take part in rather than simply giving an identical task to all students. As an example, when it comes to assessments, rather than simply assigning a multiple-choice quiz, offer learners a range of assessment choices for example, answering an essay question or analyzing and presenting an actual case study scenario, or engaging in a discussion, as an example.

Giving learners multiple choices can allow them to discover the sport they are most attracted to and use their strengths, so they are able to showcase what they've learned to the very best of their capabilities.

Furthermore, it could help learners to apply their knowledge to real-life scenarios and contexts rather than being solely theoretical.

Provide a broad range of information

In order to assist learners in continuing their education outside of educational or formal courses you're providing, be sure to provide a wide range of sources.

Other resources that could comprise:

  • Articles
  • Videos
  • Books and eBooks
  • Forums and discussion
  • Apps
  • Online games

There is no need to integrate these materials as part of the curriculum for your learning. Instead, let learners engage with the content in a different setting than the classroom.

This could help to spark their creativity, encourage an appreciation of the mind, and open the door to new possibilities for students to take control of their education.

Try the 'can do' exercise

An easy goal-setting activity which can help kickstart learning autonomously is to write 'can-do affirmations. Utilize 'can do' phrases to encourage learners to think about their path to learning and their learning goals.

There are three components of the "can-do" exercise:

  • can do: Learners write down the things they are able to accomplish, including their experiences from previous lessons and self-study
  • Need to do: Learners highlight what they still need to master in order to meet their goals and objectives, highlighting specific learning principles and activities
  • Would you like to learn more: Learners look ahead at what they still need to know and the areas they'd like to learn more

You can try this to kick off live training sessions, or in an online chat room. Ask learners to provide opinions on how they felt about the exercise and if they found it beneficial.

Students are encouraged to keep a diary

The primary goal of autonomy learning encourages self-reflection. However, that can often be easier said than done.

Journaling is a really effective tool to encourage reflection and is able to be done anytime, meaning students are able to fit it into their busy schedules. Encourage learners to record their experiences in a journal throughout the process of learning and to consider what they would like to accomplish as well as how they feel about their learning, and the things they would like to learn.

Journaling is most effective in the event that it's regularly done, which is why you should remind learners to keep their journal going through the duration of their education course.

Build an online learning community

  • The discussion of ideas and the most important ideas
  • Inquiring and responding to questions
  • Sharing resources
  • Providing peer-to-peer feedback
  • Supporting each other's learning advancement

These types of activities help to encourage self-directed learning and make learning more interactive, fun, and sociable for the students.

Create multimedia learning materials

When you're creating learning content, you should think about offering different instructional methods as well as content that gives students a greater choice in how they are taught.

Multimedia content can help to make learning more engaging while adapting to the different learning desires and requirements.

In this case, for example, rather than the traditional textbooks or instructor-led formats Training content can be presented in:

  • Video lessons
  • Animations
  • Diagrams and infographics
  • Audio content or podcasts
  • Micro-learning video tutorials with quizzes

Students can select what kind of material they wish to study so that they can discover the most efficient and compelling learning path to follow.

Outline useful tools

Enhancing autonomy of learners includes helping learners understand how to make use of the tools they have available.

Teachers should make the effort for students to be introduced to essential teaching tools such as dictionaries that are specific to a topic as well as resource hubs and databases where they can explore more and engage in self-directed learning.

If your organization has an existing resource library, teach students how to use and navigate through it.

While it sounds simple however, many teachers skip this step and leave the learners to discover by themselves. Encourage learners to assist themselves by describing the resources that can be most helpful for them.

Let learners be encouraged to risk taking

The traditional education model often teaches that successes are significant and that errors are not good.

In fact, mistakes are normal. And they're an inevitable element of learning and life.

To help learners gain more confidence and be in control of their learning process, keep them in mind that mistakes are a normal part of the learning process.

There's a myriad of strategies to help learners to try new things during the learning process, for example:

  • Sharing your mistakes: Create an attitude of taking risks by sharing stories of people who tried and failed before. Sharing mistakes helps learners see that mistakes aren't something they need to be afraid of and that mistakes are actually a good thing.
  • Introduce educated guesses: Many students are afraid of getting their answer wrong, so they don't speak up at all. If you are able to encourage informed speculation -- and also highlight the benefits of them -they can help create a more open and encouraging learning space.
  • Celebrate perseverance by highlighting students who persist by attempting another approach to resolve an issue, refining the assignment and embracing the negative feedback. Recognizing those who stay with the process of learning regardless of their struggles could encourage other students to take risks.
  • Retakes are allowed: Assessments should be geared towards helping learners think through and apply what they've learnt, rather than aiming for high scores. By allowing retakes, you could help your students to understand the whole learning process and not only the award in the at the end.

If you can create a supportive learning environment in which students are encouraged to be risk-averse and to try and make mistakes, they'll build confidence, which allows them to become more independent in their learning.

Offer learners the chance to lead

If you are in a learning environment that's cohort-basedfor example, group or live sessions, you may offer opportunities to participants to take charge of the group to help increase the autonomy of learners.

As an example, students might try out exercises such as:

  • Group discussions that lead
  • Moderating debates
  • Presenting case studies
  • The lesson's content
  • The most prominent break-out groups

by putting control into the hands of individual learners it allows them to engage in autonomous learning, while helping boost confidence of learners as well as public-speaking.

Utilize learner autonomy to level up your education program

The concept of autonomy for the learner can be applied to a wide range of learning settings to draw learners, foster creativity and problem solving skills, and increase learner confidence and self-awareness. Follow these guidelines to help promote the concept of autonomous learning within your company and see the results from both educators and learners.

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