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KNOWING YOURSELF AS A LEARNER
Estimating Your Potential

YOU CAN’T TEACH OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS, so they say. But if that is true, we all need to become new dogs fast, before we are replaced by quick-to-learn dogs. What makes us old dogs? Poor self-concept as a learner, fixed ideas about aptitudes and abilities, underestimating potential, too much emphasis on what we like and dislike—all that baggage we carry around from our previous experiences with learning. Attitudes about ourselves as learners are shaped over time—they are learned. In some cases they are positive and healthy, but in other instances they are dysfunctional and outmoded. If they are learned, they can be relearned.

The way you look at yourself as a learner can have an important impact on your learning. The next step in managing your own learning is to learn how to manage your perceptions of yourself as a learner. In this chapter you will learn how to paint a self-portrait of yourself as a learner and check it for accuracy as a likeness.

YOUR SELF-CONCEPT AS A LEARNER
Characteristics That Make a Difference

Listen to what people say about themselves as learners:

I am not very motivated.

I may be too old to learn this stuff.

I never was a very good student—maybe about a C+.

I have no aptitude for foreign languages.

I am a right-brained learner.

I am not very intelligent, especially when it comes to math.

As you listen to people describe themselves as learners, note how they use words that suggest fixed characteristics, as if they were describing a marble statue rather than a living, breathing, developing human being. Why is that?

When you become an adult you develop a general view of yourself called self-concept. This self-concept stretches across many areas of your life and includes your self-concept as a learner. The development of self-concept is a complex process, but takes place primarily by accumulating ideas about what others—parents, teachers, peers—think about you; that is, how you believe they regard you. You are likely to incorporate more strongly in your self-concept your beliefs about the perceptions of those whose opinions you value most.

Certain personal characteristics influence—notice that we did not say determine—how you learn, and these are the building blocks of your self-concept as a learner. Consider the following:

• Age. Age is important, but not in the sense of being too young or too old for learning. Age determines where you are in the developmental life span, which in turn influences what learning most interests you. Young adults in their mid-twenties who are trying to establish themselves in a career for the first time may have rather different interests from those of older adults in their mid-fifties (Levinson, 1996).¹ At each stage of life there are certain tasks that become the focus of our desire for learning (Havinghurst, 1972).² These developmental tasks influence what you want to learn, how intent you are on learning it, and how eager or hesitant you will be to engage in certain kinds of learning. Your self-concept as a learner is formed in part by where you are in the life cycle and how you regard your needs for learning at this point in your life. Transitions from one stage to the next are also important, and often require the support of learning (Sheehy, 1995).³

• Intelligence. Intelligence influences learning, but not in the sense of having it or lacking it. In the past, much emphasis has been put on general intelligence (Sternberg, 1985)⁴ and the intelligence measured by I.Q. tests, but in recent years psychologists have broadened our understanding of intelligence to include multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983).⁵ These include linguistic, musical, logical, spatial, bodily and personal/interpersonal intelligences. Your self-concept as a learner is also shaped by how you view your intelligence. It is important to ask not only how much intelligence you have, but in what areas you have it.

• Aptitude. Aptitude is somewhat related to intelligence, but refers more directly to ability to learn. Some tests for entry into formal undergraduate and graduate programs test general aptitude (usually verbal and quantitative), but we also have special aptitude for specific types of learning such as using machine tools, flying airplanes, or learning foreign languages. Your self-concept as a learner is also shaped by your perceptions of your aptitudes, the things you are good at learning.

• Achievement. Achievement, which is sometimes confused with aptitude, refers to your actual current level of learning. Achievement includes what you have studied or worked with, and what level of proficiency you have attained. It refers to a specific area, so we usually say achievement in…. Your achievement levels also become part of your self-concept as a learner.

• Motivation. Motivation is also important in learning, but not as an inherent quality. Key aspects of a theory of motivation have been developed by Woldkowski (1993),⁶ who notes that motivation comes into play before, during, and at the end of the learning process and relates not only to inner needs and how they are being met, but also the stimulation of the learning situation itself and the reinforcement we get out of learning. The amount of motivation you have varies with the learning to be undertaken, your need for that learning, and the specific situation where the learning will occur. Highly motivated people develop a sense of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986),⁷ an “I-can-do-it” attitude about reaching goals that gets reinforced when those goals are actually achieved. Our perceptions of our type and degree of motivation also become part of our self-concept as a learner.

• Learning styles. Most learning style theories focus on personality characteristics. Many of you will have encountered brain dominance theories and the personality types measured by the Myers-Briggs Inventory. Becoming more aware of your personality type helps you to discover the kinds of learning situations you prefer, and the way you may behave when you find yourself in different kinds of learning environments. Some learning style theories also focus on sensory modalities; that is, the strengths and preferences we have for auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic learning. How you view your dominant personality traits and learning-style preferences also becomes part of your self-concept as a learner.

There are other characteristics you might consider as you examine your self-concept as a learner. Gender, social class, and ethnic background are also worth some reflection, but in general the characteristics listed above contribute most to our self-concept as learners.

Managing your attitudes about yourself as a learner begins with identifying your current perceptions.

CHALLENGING YOUR SELF-CONCEPT
Is It Accurate?

Here are three potential problems we all face with our self-concept as learners.

• We are often wrong in our perceptions, frequently underestimating our potential.

• We place too much emphasis on unimportant characteristics while sometimes neglecting more important characteristics.

• We often attach a permanence to our perceptions that makes changing them difficult.

Before undertaking new learning, as part of your effort to implement your action plan, it can be important to reexamine thoroughly your self-concept as a learner. To do this, ask yourself these three questions:

• Are some of my perceptions wrong? Have I been thinking about age, intelligence, or motivation in the wrong way? Have I drawn false conclusions based on poor information from others and my own distorted perceptions? Am I underestimating my potential?

• Have I placed too much emphasis on certain characteristics as opposed to others? Do I, for example, give disproportionate weight to my learning style preferences, when in fact, aptitude, achievement, and types of intelligence may be much more important to my learning?

• Do I view the elements of my self-concept as a learner as permanent, or am I able to modify some of them? Should I continue to believe what I do about myself as a learner, or might I change some of my characteristics through new experiences?

RETOUCHING YOUR SELF-PORTRAIT
Estimating Your Potential for Learning

The characteristics we have described—age, intelligence, aptitude, achievement, motivation, and learning style—are important in learning. The big question is: How important? There may be some things you cannot learn because of inherent limitations. We all live within the boundaries of our capabilities, and our limitations are real. On the other hand, we often draw those boundaries unnecessarily tight and we have a tendency to underestimate our potential. It may be more comfortable that way, but in this new era it is important to get beyond our limitations.

How does knowing yourself as a learner—drawing the most realistic self-portrait possible—help you in managing your learning?

• Selecting learning experiences. If you have made a realistic estimate of your potential, you are probably going to select appropriate learning situations. You will also be willing to undertake activities that test your self-concept as a learner. You won’t be intimidated by your shortcomings and overwhelmed by having to operate outside your comfort zone. You will be realistic about challenges but optimistic about success.

• Monitoring your participation. You will be aware of what you like and what makes you uneasy, your strengths and your limitations. This will help you to understand why you respond as you do, and how you can participate more fully and more effectively in any kind of learning.

• Being aware of effort needed. All learning requires effort, but some learning requires more effort—sometimes because of the subject but more often because of your characteristics as a learner. You will know how much effort is needed—very little or very much—but you won’t run from learning just because significant effort is required to compensate for limitations.

• Being conscious of time needed. Some learning, for certain learners, simply takes more time. Being conscious of your key characteristics as a learner helps you allocate appropriate amounts of time for your success.

Our view is that in recent years far too much emphasis has been placed on the importance of individual learner characteristics, particularly learning styles, in the mix of factors that influence learning. Knowing yourself as a learner is important for the reasons just mentioned, but preoccupation with your characteristics and limitations as a learner may lead to a reluctance about learning that you cannot afford in this new era.

Knowing yourself as a learner is important, but let’s avoid analysis paralysis. Climb out of your box, crawl out from under your desk, break out of your mental chains, and get out there and give it a try. There is a good chance you may have underestimated your potential. You may even be surprised to find out how badly formed and irrelevant your self-concept as a learner turns out to be.

The Age of Perpetual Learning requires that we become self-directed learners, aggressive learners, self-confident learners, and optimistic learners. In every situation that holds forth promise for learning, the question is not whether it is a perfect match for you, but whether you know how to manage yourself as a learner with insight, self-awareness, and courage.