I have written about the need for students to learn to take notes as one of the vital skills that a successful student who hopes to be an independent learner. Note-taking improves the students ability to decide what is important information and what is not. It also helps him to organize the information into a proper structure most suited for his own learning. In addition to note-taking, a student must also acquire a few other skills. This includes the need to be social and collaborative; seek all possible sources of learning; reflect and evaluate his learning to make judgment about what he has learned; and apply and transfer his learning in dissimilar situations from that where his original learning has taken place.

One of the most important skills that a learner must possess are good social skills. Learning is very much a social process. The stereotype image of a learner as the lone geek is far from the truth about how learning takes place. Good social skills will assists him to be part of any learning community and participate in the active exchange of ideas. Collaboration with other learners becomes part of his learning style. Good social skills include the ability to respect any potential source of knowledge. This respect is essential because otherwise a natural mental block will be erected in his mind that will prevent any learning from taking place. Proper respect also includes respect for authoritative sources of knowledge. While this does not mean that he dismiss less authoritative sources of knowledge, it means simply that he is more discerning about where and who he is getting his information from. He also is more discerning about the quality that he is receiving from the source. It also serves as a mirror for him when it is his turn to transfer or share his knowledge with others. Those same qualities that make a source of knowledge authoritative can help him try to emulate those quality in the manner that he conveys or shares his knowledge with others. Good social skills will of course also help to open doors to new sources of knowledge too. Therefore, while it may sound like a contradiction, an independent learner is a social learner.

Another important skill is not to over rely on only one source of knowledge. Although it is important to be committed to a source of reliable knowledge, one must also be willing to expand one’s learning circle to include many other sources of knowledge. To source for other avenues of knowledge is not to be done in a haphazard manner. Again, a keen discernment of what is useful and important helps one not to go into information “black holes” where one because lost in information overload.

A good independent learner must also be a reflective learner. He is reflective with regards to what is learned; how it is learned and transmitted; what learning is important; and what learning is to be prioritized. All of these are important fro him to be more effective in his learning. He will not be a robot. He will not be someone who is just being led blindly. He becomes clearer about the direction and needs of his learning.

Lastly, an independent learner must be bale to apply his learning in different contexts. When he is able to do that, his learning has become real and meaningful. It would refelect a deeper understanding of what he has learnt because he would have to adapt what he has to lend what he has learn to fit with different environments and its challenges. Adaptation such as this can only take place with deep understanding as opposed to superficial learning that often takes place in schools.

I remember fondly the movie “The Magnificent Seven” which starred Yul Brynner in black. The movie was of course based on Kurosawa‘s “Seven Samurai” which was an even better movie. In both movies, a large band of bandits were beaten off by seven highly skilled cowboys and samurai warriors. Those two movies can be used as a parody for what should be happening in education today. We need to prepare a band of skillful people to ward off the large number of people only interested in high stakes examinations. The odds seem overwhelming. But train our students we must. For the sake of their future.

So what are the skills that we can teach to fight these educational bandits? Guy Claxton suggests eight of them. He suggested that students be imbibed with the following qualities:

a) curiosity;

b) courage;

c) a mind that enjoys exploration and investigation;

d) a willingness to experiment;

e) imagination;

f) reasoning and creative ability;

g) sociability; and

h) a reflective attitude.

These are learning dispositions which Claxton feels all students should have. These are dispositions that will make independent, life-long learners real and not just wishful thinking. Not the school written tests. Not the rote-learning and mechanical operations that e come across in schools all too often. Do you have your own set of qualities that you would like to this list to acieve the goal of an indepedent learner?

Too often when we ask our children or students about school, we ask “How are things?” And almost invariably we get predictable responses like “OK” or “Boring” or even “Lousy“. The response has become so predictable because they know that we are not very serious about asking them what has happened to them in school. Guy Claxton suggests that we ask them:

• What was hard for you today?
• Which learning muscles have you been stretching?
• Did you ask a good question?
• Did you risk tackling something new?
• What did you manage to improve?
• Did you make any interesting mistakes?
• Did you learn anything useful by watching someone else?
• How could you have helped your teacher get that tricky stuff across better?
• How would you have organized the lesson differently?

Source: Guy Claxton’s “What’s the Point of School?”

If you look at these questions, they suggest a “learner reflective mode”. It suggest to them that they should constantly be thinking about how they learn and what they are learning. It is a reflective practice that they can share with their peers, and not only with adults in authority.

If such questioning becomes habitual, it becomes part of the useful and effective repertoire of an independent learner. He learns to assess the manner he learns. His own questioning will power his own learning as opposed to answering questions from adults like parents and teachers, or worse from examination papers!

If you would like to read more about Claxton’s practical advice about how to create enthusiastic learners and more effective teaching, click on the book cover above.