23 Oct Developing Lifelong Learners Through Self-Assessment
Learning doesn’t just stop when students graduate from school and enter the workforce. The most successful professionals make a concerted effort to absorb new information and improve themselves every single day. However, becoming a self-starter requires a certain mindset — one that’s driven significantly by the soft skills and attitudes learners develop by practicing self-assessment.
Critical Thinking
Because most people are their own harshest critic, reflection is one of the most important aspects of self-assessment. Reflection is an ongoing process that typically works best when learners establish goals before starting a project. Doing so helps individuals identify learning behaviors as they occur, evaluate what is and isn’t working, and formulate new strategies to close the gap between their current performance and the desired result. All of these performance indicators require people to think critically, which is one of the most desired soft skills in employees. When individuals learn to critically evaluate their own work, they give themselves a steady stream of feedback that drives continued learning and higher achievement.
Motivation
Motivation is innate, but increases when people are truly invested in something. In terms of learning subject knowledge or a new skill, people usually respond better when they feel a sense of ownership in the process. While students and professionals don’t usually have much say in what they’re being taught, how they are judged makes a big difference in their level of motivation. For example, when students help their instructors develop assessment criteria and get more insight into how they’re being evaluated, they typically engage more with the subject matter and become more invested in the outcome. This also helps students self-assess their work more effectively.
The same idea holds true for professionals. When they help develop the strategy or procedure for a new product roll-out, they naturally feel more responsible for the result and usually have more motivation to complete the necessary tasks. As individuals self-assess their work throughout that process, they have a better idea of how elements fit within that procedure and what still needs improvement.
YouSeeU facilitates self-assessment by allowing learners to critique their own Video Assignments and, with certain workflows, re-record them before submitting. Our platform enables learners to not only evaluate the content of their videos, but also how well they present themselves. To learn more about how YouSeeU promotes self-assessment, visit our website.