We’d like to offer up a new holistic rubric for an “Engaged Learner.” This is a recent innovation, though we’ve been using various aspects of it for years. Forgive the length; we’d like to share the definition we arrived at, as well as the dimensions of performance we identified. Following that is the rubric itself.


A

 Strong self-efficacy: Belief in one’s own ability and knowledge as a learner

A

 Self-starter: Takes initiative with each experience to maximize their learning

B

 Being Curious: Constantly seeks new knowledge in multiple forms

B

 Thinks critically: Asks critical questions, analyzes information, and synthesizes meaning to elevate understanding

C

 Active listener: Assesses the perspective of the speaker, extracts the essence of the message, records critical information, and uses perception checking to determine accuracy

C 

 Collaborative: Partners with others, performs role effectively, asks for help when needed, and assists others

D

 Being Prepared: Understands expectations, collects and organizes resources, reads for meaning, and has a plan for learning

D 

 Resilient/Risk-taker: Seeks out challenging learning opportunities, positively responds to learning challenges by others, learns from temporary failures, and continues until successful completion

E

 Contextualizes Knowledge: Applies understanding to immediate context, takes time to extend to multiple contexts, strives to put knowledge into someone else’s context, and generalizes the knowledge to any context

E 

 Self-assessor: Processes self-assessment while learning and validates the learning for each level of knowledge

Pioneer Learners

  1. Have strong belief in who they are and take every opportunity to expand their knowledge and its effective use.

  2. Want to know everything about everything (including the unknown) and use all forms of thinking to produce high levels of understanding.

  3. Accurately understand what others are saying and use this understanding to elevate the performance of self and others.

  4. Always know what is required to produce peak performance and are unafraid to create or take on any learning challenge.

  5. Readily transfer new knowledge to a variety of contexts through ongoing self-assessment in order to elevate performance in all aspects of life.

Professional Learners

  1. Are motivated to stay on top of their discipline and/or daily responsibilities by exploring new concepts and tools that can ultimately be applied.

  2. Want to know everything in the areas in which they interface and continue thinking until complete understanding is achieved.

  3. Use others to gain critical information and through timely interactions produce learning valued by everyone.

  4. Are aware of what is needed for each performance and looks for opportunities to advance through taking on significant challenges

  5. Make sure that they know how to transfer knowledge by generalizing and seeks to improve learning performance.

Contained Learners

  1. Believe in what they can do and what they currently know and initiate activities and learning in areas of the familiar and comfortable.

  2. Seek out new information to be experts in current context and do the inquiry, analysis and synthesis to put meaning to this new information.

  3. Actively understand what is said by those around them and will work with them effectively to improve the local learning and performances.

  4. Ready themselves within cultural expectations and take risks perceived realistic for the environment.

  5. Effectively use their knowledge extension in current context and self-assess somewhat regularly in order to improve learning.

Needs-Based Learners

  1. Believe that they can do “the basics” and take initiative only when it is necessary for obtaining something important to them.

  2. Can find the critical information applied to immediate concerns by using more fundamental thinking skills.

  3. Will listen to individuals that help in the current context and interact when they perceive an advantage in doing so.

  4. Will do some preparation especially when it is clearly beneficial, and only selectively accept learning challenges.

  5. Reserve the use of knowledge to its basic use and self-assess only when challenged by others.

Survival Learners

  1. Have a minimal level of belief in themselves and their knowledge and rarely initiate their own learning.

  2. Seek and use information for protecting what they have by bringing meaning for immediate use.

  3. Normally hear what they want to hear and only work with people they really trust.

  4. Ready themselves only right before crisis situations and limit the taking of risks to situations where success is probable or necessary.

  5. Expand current knowledge for immediate use and occasionally reflect when it is essential.