{"id":5369,"date":"2016-10-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/learner-centered-tip-of-the-week-making-targets-visible-really\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T17:43:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T22:43:01","slug":"learner-centered-tip-of-the-week-making-targets-visible-really","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/learner-centered-tip-of-the-week-making-targets-visible-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Learner-Centered Tip of the Week: Making Targets Visible…Really"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aim\"This post originally appeared on Courtney Belolan\u2019s website<\/a> on October 18, 2016. Belolan is the instructional coach for RSU2 in Maine.<\/em><\/p>\n

We all know that making learning transparent is a key element of learner-centered proficiency based education. We’ve all gotten the memo: have targets posted. Many people have even taken posting targets a step further and posted all the learning targets for an entire project, course, or year. All of these methods can be a solid part of making learning targets and progressions visible to learners. The important thing to remember is that making learning really visible is about much more than simply slapping a learning target up on the wall; It is about developing learner agency. When learners know what it is they are supposed to be learning, and where that fits in the bigger picture of what they have to learn, motivation and engagement go way up.<\/p>\n

If the goal is supporting learner agency, and not simply the posting of the target, we have to think differently about how we use targets. As a start, here are some target-posting pitfalls to be aware of, and some ideas about how to sidestep them and make the learning truly visible.<\/p>\n

Pitfall #1: They Are Posted, And Rarely or Never Referred To<\/strong><\/p>\n

The point of having learning targets, or anything really, on the walls of a classroom is to have a visual reminder for learners. But anything that gets put up on the walls and ignored might as well be old wallpaper. Relying on the off chance that learners will notice or refer to them, even after being shown where they are, is not a successful strategy.<\/p>\n

Sidesteps:<\/p>\n