Being an Independent Learner

Description of this Guide

In this guide we shall discuss what it means to be an independent learner and the value
this has in later life as a lifelong learner. You will see the role motivation plays, how
good you are at setting goals, managing your time and reflecting. These activities that
will reveal to you how you currently stand with regard to independent learning.
Understanding the importance of these issues and implementing them will determine
your attitude to work now and later.

Learning Outcomes
1. Distinguish the characteristics of an independent learner
2. Recognise the value of reflective practice in self improvement
3. Evaluate how independent you are as a learner

Contents
1.0 How motivated are you to study?
1.1 Being responsible for your own learning
1.2 Setting goals
1.3 Leaving things to the last minute
1.4 Reflecting….

2.0 How are you managing your time?

2.1 Managing the big picture
2.2 Managing lots of things
2.3 Using your time effectively – understand how you learn
2.4 Taking stock

3.0 Reflecting on your learning

3.1 Helping you to reflect
3.2 Ways to record your reflections
3.3 Using feedback to aid your learning

4.0 Over to You

_____________________________________________________________________
 Being an Independent Learner
The material in this guide is copyright © 2003 the University of Southampton.Skills
Permission is given for it to be
copied for use within the University of Southampton. All other rights are reserved.

2
 Being an Independent Learner
Your attitude to your studies will colour your experience of university life and affect the
grades you get. In order to get the most out of your time at university, it is worth
thinking about how you can become an independent and assertive learner – qualities that
will be invaluable to you now, to your employer later and throughout your career.

Independent learners
If you are an independent learner you will (a) be motivated to learn; (b) manage your
own learning; and (c) reflect on your learning. These attributes will enable you to
become a successful learner and/or provide you with some insight into your learning
achievements that will enhance your motivation to continue learning. The responsibility
for this is yours.

1. 2. 3.
Motivated Manage Reflect on
to learn your time your
learning
This is influenced
by strategies of You actively You develop your
achievement: identify what is ability to reflect
important to you on your progress
Being responsible in your studies.
for your own You record how
learning. You balance you are
your studies and developing a
You set social life. wide range of
challenging but skills
attainable goals. You use your
time effectively You know what
You deal with and know where feedback you
procrastination. resources are. need from tutors
and peers and
You understand how to use it
how you learn
best

3
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills
1.0How Motivated are you to Study?
As you are probably aware from previous experience, success and the feeling of
achievement is very motivating. It is important therefore to identify what achievement
strategies for success you already have in place as well as find some new ones.

1.1 Being responsible for your own learning

The first strategy of achievement is to recognise that you are responsible for your own
learning. The table below indicates some of the features that characterise dependent
and independent learning and as you can see the ‘independent learner’ shows a greater
responsibility for their own learning.

Your learning Dependent Learner Independent Learner

Motivation to You predominantly respond to the You respond to the external pressures, but
learn pressures of the system through you are also seeking personal satisfaction
deadlines, penalties & marks. and what to learn as much as you can.

What you learn The content and resources are Although your tutors have given guidance
determined by your tutors on resources you need, you happily seek
out your own resources.

Managing your You follow your tutors instructions to You are keen to develop personal
learning letter and don’t go much beyond it. strategies for learning.
You find it sufficient.

Reflection on You find little opportunity in your You are keen to reflect on what and how
your learning studies to do this and you may not be you learn.
encouraged to do it either.

Your tutors can only do so much. It is up to you to be prepared to take full

advantage of what is on offer.

Tick the strategies you use now and indicate which ones you intend tick
to do:

1. I have checked out/will check out the Library, Computing Services, Departmental
Libraries and the Departmental Website.

2. I have fixed a time to see/have already seen my personal tutor.

3. I have read/will read the student handbook.

4. I’m not afraid/will not be afraid to ask questions in or out of class regarding a
topic.
5. I generally organise my notes so I can keep on top of a subject.

6. I generally work with others and not alone whenever possible or appropriate.

If you ticked 1-3 you are familiarising yourself with the resources
available at University that are there to help you. Do this as early on in

4
 your studies as possible and keep abreast of how these resources
develop. This shows how proactive you are.

If you ticked 4 you are aware that you need to develop self confidence in
order to become an independent learner; this is really important.

If you ticked 5 &6 you are managing your own learning by being organised
which makes it easier for you to keep an overview of your studies and
identify parts you are having problems with. Working with others let’s
you see how they think about particular topics. You can get support and
learn how to discuss your subject in a non-threatening way.

Remember to always reflect on how things are going and what you need to do to improve.

1.2 Setting goals

The second strategy of achievement refers to you setting challenging, but attainable
goals, and breaking down tasks into manageable, bite size chunks. In your studies, your
assignment goals are set by the tutor, but you have the control on HOW to break the
task down into manageable sub goals. Are you doing this?

tick

1. I have found most of my studies (here or elsewhere) very easy.

2. Most of my studies I find challenging, but ‘do-able’.

3. Before I start an assignment, I think I’ll never be able to manage

it, but I do.

4. Before I start an assignment, I get very panicky and this prevents

me from working properly.

If you ticked ‘1’ then either you are doing a grand job with your studies,
or you are doing the minimum and getting just OK or poor grades. If the
latter, consider how you could put in more effort to raise your grades.
Decide which category you fall into.

If you ticked ‘2’ then you are getting a lot out of your studies- you find it
challenging enough, but you are not overwhelmed by it. You have obviously
developed strategies to cope with challenging work, which will stand you in
good stead for the future. Can you articulate what these strategies are?

If you ticked ‘3’ you are capable of doing the work and probably getting
good marks, but you lack some confidence. You have probably developed
quite good strategies for chunking a large task. Next time you do this,
reflect on how you do it so you confidently use these strategies in other
work. Why don’t you compare your strategies with others – you may learn
some new ways.

5
 Being an Independent Learner

If you ticked ‘4’ you are capable of doing the work but your Skills
confidence
and ‘nerves’ are getting the better of you. Analyse the task (with a
friend or your tutor) and break it down into attainable sub goals. Tackle
each small segment and feel confident with yourself as you check them
off. Finally, read through your work in its entirety (aloud or get a friend
to do this if appropriate) and ensure it really answers the question asked
and that it is coherent.

1.3 Leaving things to the last minute

When you are having difficulty with assignments you will probably find yourself
procrastinating regularly, if this happens, then you need to think why you are doing this
how you can overcome it. It might be, as indicated above, because you don’t chunk
assignments or exercises into smaller bits and create sub goals. Having a large
assignment as the only goal would be a very daunting task indeed. There may of course
be other reasons for procrastination. Have a look at the statements below and tick the
one(s) that refer to you.

Do you put your assignments off until the last minute?

Frequently Sometimes Never

If you answered frequently or sometimes then tick the reasons tick

you might be doing this:

1. I don’t enjoy the subject.

2. I’m not sure what I have to do.

3. I just have difficulty getting started.

4. I feel you haven’t read enough.

5. I need the adrenaline rush of the ‘last minute’

You ticked ‘1’ . If this applies to all subjects within your programme, then
you should consider changing your degree as it may just be wrong for you.
If it relates to one or two subjects within the degree, and you find they
bore you, try and find some aspect or good text book that could make it
more interesting even though it may never be your favourite subject. If
you find you just don’t understand the subject, then go and talk to a
friend, the subject tutor, your personal tutor, or a post graduate
assistant who might be taking some classes. Try and isolate which parts
you are having difficulties with.

You ticked ‘2’. Read the directions through carefully and isolate the part
you are having difficulties with then talk to your friends and see how

6
 they interpret the instructions. You might check with your tutor by
sending a quick email for clarification.

You ticked ‘3’. Is this connected with writing? If so, check out the
guide: Writing Effectively. You may just need some writing techniques so
you can overcome this initial ‘getting started’ barrier. Maybe it’s not
about writing, but about motivating yourself to get going. Some people
find it helps to ‘strike a deal’ with yourself: for example, you can promise
yourself that once you’ve bullet-pointed a brief plan, or written the first
two sentences of the assignment, you’ll let yourself go and do something
else you really want to do. Once you have the beginnings of a plan, or the
start of the written assignment, it’s much easier to carry on. Anything
that gets you over that ‘blank page’ feeling will help.

You ticked ‘4’. It is generally difficult to feel completely ready before

starting an assignment, but you have a time limit and at some stage you
have to get started. Break the task down and answer parts you feel
confident about first. Think positively about your ability.

You ticked ‘5’. Some people do work better under this condition and
actually enjoy it. Do you really enjoy this approach, or does your
procrastination leave you no choice? Remember, the ‘last minuter’ has
little time to reflect on the work they’ve done or edit it.

If you answered ‘Never’ I suggest you share your secret with your
friends!

If you just feel you can’t get organised, then look at Section 2.0 below on
managing your time.

1.4 Reflecting…..
The third strategy for achievement refers to your active involvement in your learning and
if you are using at least half of the above strategies then you are well on your way to
being actively engaged in your learning. A very important aspect of active learning is
your ability to reflect on your work (be this University work or extra-curricular).

Now think about how responsible you feel you are for your own learning, how good you
are at identifying and setting achievable goals and being an active learner. Which of
these do you think you need to work on most and which are you most happy with?

Actions - I intend to : (If you have a personal development planner, you may want to use it.)

7
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills

2.0How are you Managing your Time?

This section is essentially a health warning for section 1 – bear in mind that you need to
see your study commitment as a manageable part of your life as a whole.

2.1 Managing the big picture

Time management entails an analysis of the jobs we have to do within a given time
period. To do this effectively we need to plan our activities and in order not to forget we
may create prioritised ‘to do’ lists. However, time management is more than just
identifying tasks and planning how to carry them out. We also need to make room for our
wider goals in life, relationships, friends and family – we need a balance. Just planning
and prioritising the tasks we have been given can be rather reactive and in order to
account for all aspects of our life that are important to us, we also need to be proactive
and ensure we work at them too. We need to make sure we can plan, create and fit in
all things that are important to us. Our use of time has been characterised across four
quadrants by (Covey, Merrill et al. 1994).

URGENT NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT I II
• Crises • Preparation
• Pressing problems • Prevention
• Assignment deadlines • Clarifying values
• Preparations • Planning
• Lectures, seminars etc • Relationship building
• Creating

III
NOT • Interruptions, e.g. phone
IMPORTANT calls, some emails
• Some meetings
• Some pressing matters
• Many popular activities
IV
• Trivia, busywork
• Junk mail
• Some phone calls
• Time wasters
• ‘escape’ activities

Quadrant I is where we need to ‘manage our time’, actually produce and meet the
challenges set. It is for quadrant I that we need to develop strategies and ensure that
we don’t procrastinate in order to keep on top of the tasks demanded of us. If we are
not careful however, we could spend most of our time in quadrant I just reacting to
pressures. This is where we can easily feel ‘stressed out’.

Quadrant II is where we deal with important issues such as planning (to keep quadrant
I in check), creating new ideas and working towards our goals for both university and life
outside. Keeping fit, doing exercise, broadening our mind, making intellectual leaps in
our studies, charity work, reading, helping friends and family, and developing meaningful
relationships are all part of quadrant II. In this quadrant we feel empowered. We need
to spend a good deal of our time here for our own fulfilment.

8
Quadrant III is where we operate on an urgency basis, with things that are not
important for us. You may find you are reacting to other people’s priorities at the
expense of your – try and keep a balance.

Quadrant IV is where we generally waste our time. We might slump in front of the
television, read trashy novels etc. We are all in this quadrant from time to time, but try
to limit how much time you spend here. Very often when you procrastinate you will find
yourself in this quadrant.

Stop now and think of all the things you are doing in your life at present and try
putting them into a 4-quadrant box.

1. How balanced are your activities?

2. Is there a long list of things to do in quadrant I ? Are you happy
about managing this? If not, see section 2.2.
3. How developed is quadrant II for you ? This is where your life’s
goals are, where you create and reflect on activities. You re-generate
yourself here.
4. What about quadrants III and IV? If your activities are
predominantly here you might be faced with others saying that you are
irresponsible
5. ‘Stand’ in each quadrant and see how you feel. Can you feel the
different quality each of these quadrants bring?
6. Do you want to re-balance your activities, or are you happy with
the way things are?

2.2 Managing lots of things

We all have to deal with the pressures of life and the demands made upon us. However,
you can take charge of how you allocate your time to all the activities you are involved
in.

 Start by drawing up a timetable of your commitments.

 Check out odd times that could be used for personal study time –
giving you time to reflect on your studies and have a deeper understanding
(quadrant II).
 Be realistic and try to develop a pattern of activities as you
eventually just go with the flow of your own timetable. Making lots of
changes gives you the opportunity to dither and then not do things.
 Don’t forget to timetable in your social events and ‘keep fit’ times.

9
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills

Approx Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun

times
6.00- Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
8.00am

8.00- Paid work Catching

10.00am 9.00-10.00 9.00-10.00 up with
Lecture Lecture sleep
10.00-12.00 10-11.00 Paid work Catching
11-12.00 Seminar 11 - 12.00 up with
Lecture Lecture sleep
12.00- 12-1.00 Paid work Seeing
2.00pm Seminar friends

2.00-
4.00pm SPORT 2-3.00
Seminar
4.00-
6.00pm 5-6.00 SPORT
Seminar
6.00- Paid work
8.00pm

8.00- Regular Paid work Regular Regular

10.00pm evening evening evening
out out out
10.00-
12.00pm Sleep

2.3 Using your time effectively – understand how you learn

In order to utilise quadrant II better, you need to understand yourself and the
environment you are in.

Understanding how you learn is one step. What kind of learner are you, how do you
learn best and what aspect of your studies do you prefer? For example, you may prefer
to learn through listening, through reading alone, through working with others or through
accessing visual aids. Your motivation towards your studies may also affect the kind of
learner you are.

10
 Type of learner
Motivation Strategies

You do what is required of you in

order to complete the task.
You are mainly studying to get the
Surface degree
You rely on memorising
information for assessments. You
limit your reading to core texts.

You want to get good grades. You

You want to get good grades as
Strategic you know you will need them for
later.
find out what the lecturer wants
and follow up all required reading.
You organise your time efficiently
and to greatest effect. You use
previous exam papers to predict
questions. You have kept a good
set of notes which guide your
studies. You pick on cues about
marking schemes and you are
aware of where you can get the
help you need.

You are excited by the topic and

You are excited by learning and
Deep may be interested in taking it
further.
strive to understand it well. You
read widely and see links between
ideas. You can come to your own
conclusions and relate ideas to
your own experience. You are an
analytical thinker.

Adapted from Entwistle (1987).

Where does your motivation lie – where would you place yourself on the chart above?
Find out more about your own learning styles and strategies by looking at the:
Understanding your learning styles Guide.

You need to know how you learn best, the strategies you use and the resources you have
available to help you. See Appendix 1 for an example of a set of resources that might be
available to you. Alter this to suit your own situation. Be smart, use your time effectively
and identify the resources you can use. Why not pin up Appendix 1 to remind you!

• Study skills website at: http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/

11
 Being an Independent Learner

Catherine Jester A Learning Style Survey for College, Diablo Skills

Valley College
This is an online questionnaire to see what learning style you have. It looks at:
the Visual/ Verbal Learning Style, the Visual/ Nonverbal Learning Style, the
Tactile/ Kinesthetic Learning Style, the Auditory/ Verbal Learning Style with
learning strategies for each of these styles.
http://www.metamath.com//multiple/multiple_choice_questions.cgi
2.4 Taking stock…
In this guide we have looked at the factors that help you become an independent learner
– a skill that will serve you for life. Some of the factors you need to develop this are:
• Be motivated to study – take responsibility, set reasonable goals, be active and
reflect on your learning
• Manage your time effectively and understand how you learn best.
After having worked through some of this material and your experience of being a
learner what do you think you need to do at this moment to take things forward?

Actions: I intend to: (If you have a personal development planner, you may want to use it.)

3.0Reflecting on your Learning

If you can reflect on what you do at each stage in
your programme of study, and learn from it, you
”Let’s
will make much better progress than if you just do think…”
something, forget about it, and then move on to
the next activity.

Here we shall look at:

• some key questions you can ask yourself to adopt a reflective approach to any
aspect of your learning
• some specific types of assignments or activities in which you may be asked to
reflect on your own learning.
• using feedback to aid your learning

12
3.1 Helping you to reflect

Select scenario and reflect on it…. tick

I got an essay back with lower marks than I was expecting, and with comments from my
tutor about my lack of background reading and muddled argument.

As a group we missed a deadline for our project plan.

On my first day at the work placement I felt unclear about what was expected of me.

A seminar presentation I led went much better than I had expected and I was surprised
to find that I felt very confident and enthusiastic about my topic.

Add your own here.

From your selection(s) above consider :

1. How you felt

2. What you did about it or what you could have done about it
3. How it helped you move on
4. How it didn’t help you move on and why not
5. What you learned from the experience

You may be asked to reflect on the skills you are developing during your studies and this
activity may even be part of your assessment.

Consider the following questions that could help you hone your reflective skills – i.e.
learning how to learn.

1. What resources (people or materials) have you ever drawn on, and
did they meet your needs?
2. How have you used feedback given to you by your tutor or your
friends?
3. What have you learned about your strengths and weaknesses as a
learner, a researcher or a professional?
4. What could you do to learn or act more effectively next time?

13
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills

Some of the common faults with reflective assignments such as logs and self-evaluation
reports are:

• Being too descriptive and not evaluative enough (not commenting on the good or
bad things and the ‘whys’ of the situation)
• Not following up the implications of your own thoughts and comments
• Not reflecting on why you made certain decisions or encountered particular
problems
• Not referring to what you have learned about yourself, your own views and
values, as well as about approaches to the subject.
• Not commenting on what you might do differently next time, and why.

3.2 Ways to record your reflections

In Higher Education, there are many types of assignments and activities designed to
promote your ability to reflect on your own learning. This allows you to benefit
knowingly from your own experience. These may include:

• Reading and responding to your lecturers’ feedback on your assignments

• Keeping a learning log
• Writing reflectively as part of an activity such as a project, group work
assignment, oral presentation, work experience or work placement
• Making notes in preparation for a meeting, for example with your personal tutor,
a careers adviser, a mentor or supervisor
• Keeping a Personal Development Planner (PDP), or similar personal file,
designed to give you opportunities to reflect, record and plan your learning and
work-related activities appropriately.

For the first three types of activity, your lecturer or tutor may give you guidelines about
what is expected. Make sure that you read these carefully, ask for clarification if you
need it, and refer to the questions in section 3.1 when ‘writing reflectively’.

You may be asked to complete a Personal Development Planner (PDP) File while at
university. Exactly how this document will look depends on your School, but you should
be able to:
• record the skills you are developing at university
• keep a record of your personal details and qualifications
• keep of record of your studies with marks and comments,
• note the skills you are developing from casual employment
• record your final grade.
You may wish to keep a record like this even if this is not requested by your tutors. If
you do this, you will be able to compile your CV easily and be aware of all the skills you
are learning. This is ideal for the job application letter and interview.

Ask the Careers Advisory Service for advice about this.

3.3 Using feedback to aid your learning

Feedback is a mechanism that allows you to reflect on your behaviour. We all learn
through feedback. This can be through learning from fumbling attempts at a new skill,
observing how your behaviour affects others, even if nothing directly is said, through
your friends and family who tell you what they think even if you don’t want to hear it,

14
through friends at university who you have asked for feedback and from your tutors. A
great deal of the feedback we receive we process subconsciously. However, if you are to
become a responsible, reflective and independent learner, you need to use consciously
the feedback given to you by your tutors so you can create opportunities for
improvement.

Most students are interested in feedback as well as the grade, but very often don’t quite
know how to use the feedback they get.

Feedback from your tutors can come in a many guises:

• In written comments on your work. Since the number of students in

Higher Education is increasingly beyond the number of tutors that are
employed, giving and receiving written comments from your tutor tends to be
the main source of feedback you will receive, so it is important to make the
most of it. These can be free comments in the margin as the work is being
read with or without some summary feedback at the end.
• Written feedback on a proforma sheet. Where pre-defined categories are
listed with comments under those headings. This feedback allows you to see
over various assignments if you are having a consistent problem and make
you aware of it.
• Face to face feedback. With the pressures of current Higher Education this
is becoming a rare commodity and if you get the chance of this, then do take
it. You can obtain feedback from your personal tutor (if this is available to
you) or during your lecturers’ office hours. Find out when a tutor’s office
hours are and book yourself in. A tutor may also say they are available for
face to face feedback after an assignment. You may also find you can have
some feedback from research students who may be attached to your unit. Do
take these opportunities if you can.
• Generic feedback to the whole class. Tutors will be able to identify key
issues that came up during an assignment. Even though this is not tailored to
your assignment, you can gain a great deal of insight into what the tutor is
looking for and why you make generic mistakes.
• Email. You may be able to field a direct question to your tutor. If you do
this, try and be specific and don’t assume they can remember your essay and
the exact comment they gave you. So, contextualise your question and state
clearly what you want information on. Don’t overdo this option as your tutors
could be getting hundreds of emails per day!

How do you deal with feedback ?

Our ability to respond effectively to feedback needs to be developed and once developed
it is a skill to be nurtured, both for giving and receiving feedback. How do you feel about
receiving feedback?

Use: 1= generally me 2 = sometimes me 3 = generally not me.

Take some time to think about how you generally react to feedback and jot something
down. It may be good to come back to this in a year’s time and see if it is different.

15
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills

Statement And you ? How do you generally react to

1,2 or 3 feedback ?

A. .
I get marked down a lot, even
though I think I am doing a good
job.

B.
I get marked down a lot and I
know I have problems, but I don’t
know how to improve.

C.
I tend to get good marks, but I
don’t know why.

D.
I tend to get good marks and I
know how I manage to do it.

Feedback for the area(s) that applies to you generally (1)….

If you selected A you may find you have problems receiving feedback as you
feel that what you do is fine. When you receive feedback, try not to be
defensive about it, just listen or read the comments and try to stand back and
digest what is being said. Try to imagine in the beginning it is not your work
that is being discussed. Take on board the feedback, accept some and reject
other comments. Try to establish an action plan where you can put the
feedback you have accepted into practice.

If you selected B you may find you get disheartened by the feedback you get.
You may feel mortified if it is only critical – you really need feedback to be
constructive. You also need the feedback to be precise enough so you can do
something with it. Vague critical comments just make you feel worse. If you
are experiencing this, discuss the feedback you are getting with your tutor
and he or she will be able to help you.

If you selected C you are obviously doing very well and sailing through, but are
you getting the most out of your studies? You may not be challenged enough
and you may not know exactly how to improve. It may be worth finding out
from your tutor what makes your work good so you can transfer these skills to
a different task and also ask how your tutor thinks you could improve. If your
tutor is giving you this precise feedback, then do use it.

If you selected D you are obviously doing very well and you know why. This is
the ideal combination. This means you know what works and can work on it to
improvements. You are using the feedback you get to your advantage. If some
of your feedback falls short of the mark, you know how to question your tutor
for more precise comments.

16
Now look at some tutor feedback comments. Are you able to use these comments –
what could you get out of them? If you find them useless, can you identify why and
what you need to make them effective – your tutor may be interested to know how you
perceived his/her feedback.

How do you use tutors comments

Example comments from tutor What points could you take If you needed more
feedback from this comment? information, what would it be?
(you may enter ‘none’)

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

It is easy to read

I like the theoretical discussion

Excellent use of sources and good

referencing

Plenty of evidence for and against

with critique

A good essay

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

You could improve the linking

between sections and include
critique in conclusions.

Your work is unstructured.

Weak conclusions

Keep to the point

17
 Being an Independent Learner
Skills

Now identify the type of feedback that best suits your learning – this will help you
articulate what you want from feedback. Once you know this you should be able to
identify feedback comments that allow you to think of ways of changing your current
work. From each feedback you get, make a notes of things you need to work on. Also,
once you become proficient at knowing what feedback suits you and how you can use it,
you become an excellent ‘feedback giver’ – see the Guide: Working in Groups, section
3.2.1 ‘Helping a friend – coaching’.

I learn from feedback that is….. I don’t learn from feedback that is..

Do take advantage of any piece of work your tutor suggests you do, even if it is not
formally assessed. This is your chance to get feedback and see how you are doing.
Don’t let it slip away.

4.0Over to You…
Being a true learner can be a rewarding and frustrating experience. In order to truly
learn you will probably go through a very uneasy stage of not understanding, feeling
inadequate, frustrated and overwhelmed. This is usually a sign that you are learning –
although you don’t want these negative feelings to go too far, so you need to develop
strategies to get through this. To do this you need to:

• Be motivated
• set modest goals that
you can achieve
• manage your time
effectively
• reflect on what you
learn.

18
You will then experience that buzz of learning something new – it will be worth it. All this
makes you a responsible and independent learner – a set of skills that will remain with
you for life.

From the activities in this guide, what does your ‘independent learner’ profile look like?
Go back and collect your answers. Now draw a mind map, or make notes on the key
issues that are pertinent to you and that you will address this semester. Would you
regard yourself as an independent learner? If not, how can you achieve this?

An independent
learner is….

References

• Entwistle, N. (1987). A model of the teaching-learning process. In J. T. E. Richardson, M.

W. Eysenck, and D. Warren Piper (Eds), Student Learning: Research in Education and
Cognitive Psychology (pp. 13-28). Milton Keynes: SRHE; Open University Press.

19

Self & Peer Assessment
Assess your own and a friend’s work to
develop your ability to reflect on the
quality of own/peer work and application
of criteria. Avoid collusion.
Research Skills
You’ll need basic research skills for
essays and more complex ones for 3rd
year projects. Ensure you have
information management skills,
understand research methodology and
information handling skills.
Check out:
http://www.library.soton.ac.uk/infoskills/
index.shtml
Study Skills
Skills to empower your own quality of
learning. Avoid plagiarism. Check out:
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk
Computer Skills
Essential skills for all work: Check
out the induction zone at:
http://www.iss.soton.ac.uk/i-zone/
first_steps.html
Appendix 1
Feedback
Utilise feedback from all sources: Learning Outcomes
Be aware what this means for
non-assessed & Being an Independent
assessed work, and Learner
your study; *how is your learning
peers - enables
Skills reflection of own
abilities and how to progress. progressing towards these
outcomes; *where can you get
help; * what do you need to
improve on? *Reflect on gaining
competence at key skills and
intellectual skills.
Learning Resources
Check out all resources available to you:
* support materials (Web?)
* library (key texts, ref material etc)
* quiet work spaces
* PCs (ISS, your School?)
* computer based training
* staff and friends.
Teaching Methods
Understand the importance of: *engaging
Taking responsibility for managing your own in class activities (develops your critical
learning. thinking), *preparing for class activities
(makes the session worthwhile for all),
*group work, *individual projects,
*leading discussions, *on line seminars.
Ground Rules Managing your own Learning
If you are working in a group make This is a vital key skill so get
sure you set ground rules that organised. Make a record sheet for
encourage responsibility within class work, assignments and group
the group to contribute fairly to meetings for projects and devise a
the work. working plan.
20