Shyam Barr

Blog

 

PREFACE

This blog discusses topics that exist between the fields cognitive psychology and leadership, teaching and learning. Although I make connections between research and personal experience (my attempt at bridging the age-old ‘theory-practice’ gap), I write for a general audience. It is as Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi stated in the preface of his book FLOW:

“To take this step is somewhat dangerous, because as soon as one strays from the stylised constraints of academic prose, it is easy to become careless or overly enthusiastic about such a topic” (p. xi)

To avoid carelessness, I will endeavour to include references to journal articles, books and alike (as commonly expected in academic writing), but not at the expense of accessibility and ease of reading. This will be a delicate balance and one I will endeavour to achieve.

To end, I chose the word ‘discusses’ in the first sentence of this preface, to highlight that although the blog articles themselves are very much a dialogue between myself and what I read, I encourage you to share your comments and questions, so that we may start a more authentic discussion. 

 
 

Using a competency-based learning approach for SRL

Competency-based learning, in comparison to content-based learning, is concerned with the process of learning that students undertake to achieve different educational aims (Neelakandan, 2020). It involves a student “generating evidence through action or a product that can be used as evidence of learning” (Sanford, 2023, p. 190, emphasis added), or in my book Educate to Self-Regulate – evidence for self-regulated learning.

             Dickson College, as part of their 2021-2025 strategic plan have implemented competency-based learning, with a focus on Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking and most recently, Confident Self-Management. Drawing on my recent work with Margaret O’Donnell, a leader from Dickson College, around conceptualising the competency of what it means to be a ‘Confident Self-Manager’, I have distilled our process for preparing for competency-based learning about SRL into 3 steps.

  1. 1.    Define the competency and sub-competencies.

  2. 2.    Clean up competency ready for testing.

  3. 3.    Upload to a suitable online platform, test in context and iterate as you go.

Step 1: Define the competency and sub-competencies.

First, you must define the competency of SRL within your school context and generate the appropriate sub-competencies following these steps.

1.1. Establish an initial working definition of SRL.

Consider what you already have access to within your educational context that could inform an initial conceptualisation of SRL. You might draw on:

  • ACARA’s (2024) general capabilities, or on

  • Research literature (e.g., Muijs and Bokhove, 2020; Vosniadou et al., 2021).

  • School documents (e.g., behavioural indicators in reports, subject rubrics, a teaching and learning framework)

Dickson College engaged in an initial conceptualisation of ‘confident self-manager’, drawing on multiple sources, for example:

Using this information, Dickson College developed a working definition for the competency of self-management specific to their context. What would be your working definition for SRL?

1.2. Engage a Critical Friend

Now that you have a working definition of your competency, engage an ‘expert’. Consulting research literature and experts in the field of interest increases rigour and enhances validity, an approach often used in developing data collection methods for research (Creswell & Guetterman, 2019). For example, Dickson College approached me to help further conceptualise the competency “self-manager” and to break the competency into component skills and finalise the definitions, drawing on my knowledge of SRL. This involved me sharing my conceptual frameworks about SRL, recommending readings and journal articles, and then collaboratively re-writing the competency definition and generating suitable sub‑competencies that would be functional for students.

1.3. Seek student feedback about the competency definition and sub-competencies.

Once you have your draft competency and sub-competencies, it’s time to seek student feedback about their pragmatic application (i.e., are the competency and sub-competencies useful to students?). This can occur as adhoc conversations with students or in carefully crafted feedback cycles (e.g., interviews or focus groups). Dickson College sourced some initial feedback through ad-hoc, in-class conversations with a small group of students to ensure that the competency and sub-competencies were consistent with students’ thinking and how they might collect evidence to demonstrate the competency. This initial feedback prompted a larger semi-structured focus group (approach for conducting the focus group documented in the following Table) where we sought to have a full draft of the competency “confident self-manager”.

Step 2. Clean up competency ready for testing.

Following student feedback, it’s time to ‘clean up’ your competency definition and sub-competencies. As an example, the Dickson College final competency and sub‑competencies are included in the following table:

Step 3. Upload to a suitable online platform, test in context and iterate as you go.

Once you have clarity about the competency (e.g., SRL) and its sub-competencies, upload it to a suitable online portfolio platform, and test it with students and in your own educational context (i.e., classroom or school). This is an important process to gather further feedback about the functionality and application of the competency and sub-competencies for learners and teachers. With the feedback, leaders and educators must continue to iterate, making the necessary amendments to the competency and sub-competencies ensuring enhanced alignment between research literature and practical application. For example, at the time of writing this blog (mid 2024), the competency and sub‑competencies listed above had been uploaded to the Mastery Transcript Consortium (https://mastery.org/) and were currently being tested with Dickson College students.

Shyam Barr