Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Most students start the semester eager to learn. But in spite of everybody’s efforts this genuine desire to learn soon fades away: learning is hard work. A 2007 study found that 88% of New Year Resolutions fail, in spite of 52% of the participants being certain of success at the beginning. If all students are inherently motivated to learn, they quickly learn to be unmotivated when they fail repeatedly. All students have the basic need to belong, be competent and influence what happens to them; motivation to learn usually exists when these conditions are met. Decoding of Disciplines is a process in seven steps designed to help instructors and educational consultants find new ways to increase student learning. Though clearly a learner centered process, Decoding’s emphasis is on transforming teaching for the benefit of learning. We present a very effective (in our experience) enhancement to Decoding, in four steps, to empower students with responsibility while effectively teaching them to become accountable to themselves and to others. The use of self-assessment in Decoding (although not at all straightforward) gives students a measure of accountable responsibility while also allowing the instructors to track and examine their students’ thinking as it actually develops. Studies show that inaccurate self-assessment is associated with poor self-regulation, and poor performance. Self-regulated learning is a series of practices that virtually every learner can understand and develop; however, these practices need to be taught, rehearsed and honed. Our data indicates that self-assessment effectively opens the door to self-regulated learning.