Page 34 - International Journal of Process Educaiton (Special Issue)

performance area (knowledge), shares a profile of a high their article, Learning How to Learn: Improving the
quality performer in that area (identity) and lists specific Performance of Learning, they answer that question. As
learning skills that support performance in that area. For they explain,
most student examples (performer profiles), context,
personal factors, and fixed factors are shared as well. In The act of learning is usually thought of as
addition a performance measure is usually offered, giving something done preparatory to a performance; a
students the opportunity to see performance measurement student learns and then can perform on the basis
in action, to measure sample performances, and learn to of what has been learned. This article frames
measure their own performances. the act of learning as a performance in its own
right, allowing the Theory of Performance to be
The Theory of Performance was also integral in the used as schema for naming and exploring the
development of Learning to Learn: Becoming a Self- various dimensions of the learning performance
Grower (Apple, Morgan & Hintze, 2013), with primary that can be improved. This paper’s exploration
focus on the growth and development of key areas of is conducted with the future improvement of the
performance: (as a) self-grower, master learner, self- learning performance very much in mind —
assessor, time manager, problem solver, team player, learning how to learn.
reader, reflective practitioner, mentee, risk-taker and
self-challenger, public performer, and self-motivated Table 2 offers the 13 aspects of performance that can be
professional. These performance areas form the basis targeted in order to improve the performance of learning
for the Profile of a Quality Collegiate Learner (Apple, (divided into the usual components: identity, knowledge,
Duncan, & Ellis, 2016). learning skills, context, and personal factors).

Learning as the Performance As the authors explain, these pieces of a learning
performance are interrelated and interdependent; most
Apple and Ellis (2015) asked, “What happens if we treat importantly, they are based on the concept that learning
learning itself as a performance, rather than as an integrated is a process and a performance that can be improved.
aspect of a disciplinary or general performance?” In The importance of this cannot be overstated; when we
say, “Learn better,” what we mean is, “improve your

Table 2 The 13 Aspects of Performance

Identity (as a Learner)
1. Learner Efficacy: Belief in oneself and one’s capability
2. Learner Ownership and Responsibility: “I am responsible for my own learning.”

Knowledge
3. Levels of Learner Knowledge: Elevating the level of learning
4. Learning Process Methodology (LPM): Building awareness of one’s own learning process
5. Forms of Knowledge: Aligning best learning practices with each type of knowledge

Learning Skills
6. Cognitive: Elevating thinking skills for processing information, constructing meaning, and applying knowledge
7. Social: Building social skills for producing effective team learning
8. Affective: Increasing emotional maturity to take risks, accept failures, and persist through to success

Context (of Performance)
9. Immersion in a High-Quality Learning-to-Learn Experience (Learning-to-Learn Camp/Course)
10. Cooperative Learning: Adapting the best learning practices from team members
11. Active Learning: Publicly performing the act of learning

Personal Factors
12. Life Challenges: Transforming past problems into opportunities for growth
13. Making the Right Choices: Making a better future

32 International Journal of Process Education (February 2016, Volume 8 Issue 1)