True engagement is fundamental to learning but as Daniel Pink shares in Drive, “People don’t engage by being managed. They don’t engage by being controlled. The way that people engage is if they get there under their own steam, and that requires sometimes enormous amounts of autonomy over people’s time (when they do what they do), over their technique (how they do it), over their team (who they do it with) and over their task.”

An example that drove this home for me was a few years ago when my daughter Abby came across the Cake Boss and loved watching his videos on YouTube. She had exposure to experts through these videos and other bakers to teach her and inspire her. Since she loves sweet things, the exposure and sense of purpose led her to decide to make some cake pops among many other treats. She was determined that she knew exactly what to do and gathered ingredients without a recipe and began to “bake”. It was a hot mess, which is likely not a surprise to anyone reading this but to her it was devastating. She threw the concoction in the trash and proclaimed that she was a failure. She had agency, which was adorable but this was not enough to make her dream desert. She got stuck in the learning pit. And because I was busy cleaning up the chocolate mess in my kitchen I left her there for a while. 

Two years later at 11 years old she proclaimed on the Today Show (see the clip here) that she “basically taught herself to bake by YouTube.” This is an oversimplified (although cute) version of her journey. I want to unpack her learning journey and how the importance of exposure, purpose, goals and planning, guidance, and revision are to support learner agency and how we can empower learners, anytime, anywhere.

Exposure + Purpose

Abby’s exposure to experts on Youtube and other social media exceeded my knowledge, expertise, and frankly, interest, but  because Abby had access to these videos, as our learners do today, she could learn anything she wanted. The access to new ideas and experts is available in a variety of formats including youtube tutorials, books in print or digitally, podcasts or blogs. They can check out social media accounts and connect with experts in a variety of ways that technology has made possible. She was consuming content and gaining new ideas that gave her purpose to create something that was meaningful to her. 

Set Goals + Plan 

After watching multiple videos, she decided that she wanted to make cake pops which eventually led to cakes and many other desserts and delicious creations. What we both learned from the cake pop fiasco is that a goal is important but the plan is essential. Once Abby decided what she wanted to try next, before she was allowed to start she had to show me the plan, prove that she had a recipe and if she was going to deviate she knew why and had a prediction what the impact would be. Setting goals is an important part of the learning process and sometimes they are academic, skill based or habits that we want to create but being explicit about what you are trying to accomplish and setting a plan helps to accomplish them.

Take Action

Based on her goal and a plan, Abby bakes a lot. She continues to learn about ingredients, cooking temperatures, and make some really great desert and food. She loves to cook and we love to test it out for her:). 

Guidance and Support

A critical part in Abby’s journey was my good friend and neighbor, Erica, who took Abby under her wing and mentored her. She would invite her over to help make special cakes and help her refine the techniques and teach her when you can and can’t deviate from the recipe. She gave her feedback and coached her as she developed new skills. Erica is an excellent baker and even better human and had provided Abby with invaluable guidance that I could not. Part of our jobs as parents and educators is not only to teach young people what we know but also to help connect them to others who can support them to learn and grow the skills that they need.  

Reflect + Revise

As Abby has reflected and revised her techniques through trial and error, her mentors–virtual and through strong relationships– she has developed the confidence and competence to take recipes, modify them, and experiment, and has gotten really skilled. So yes, Abby started to bake (and do many other things) because Youtube was a catalyst but she learned through a variety of supports that all learners need in their journey.  Had Abby not had passion, guidance, and a lot of help cleaning up, she would have stayed right at the bottom of the learning pit thinking that she was a failure instead of understanding that was just the beginning. 

Confidence + Competence

I want to reinforce that agency is not doing whatever she wants, which is a concern that I hear often about agency, or ever simply just providing voice in choice in the classroom. Within a structure, there can be opportunities to expose students to ideas, perspectives, that gives them purpose. Goal setting and planning helps provide accountability with milestones to chart the course. Taking action is about doing something and learning from it through the mistakes and failures, which is why we need to be there to mentor and support them to navigate the learning pit. Through reflection and revision, we learn and improve and ultimately develop confidence and competence like Abby who now has taken to live streaming her own cooking lessons with friends and making desserts for me anytime I need to bring something to a party. That’s what I call Win Win!

An independent learner has strategies, habits, and skills to tackle challenges. They seek resources to solve problems such as mentors, videos, books, and experiences and have the ability to navigate the challenges and persevere. Instead of creating systems that demand compliance, what if instead we take the time to model and guide students to develop skills like time management, goal setting, focus, and self-regulation to become the independent learners they need to be. I used the Knoster Model framework to think through this experience with Abby and how it can inform how we develop learner agency and provide structures and support to guide their learner.

Agency is by definition the power to act, but this doesn’t have to be misconstrued as a free for all. We all operate within constraints but we don’t have to all do things the same way to reach the intended learning targets and goals. Educators have certain expectations they are accountable for teaching and there is a variety of content and skills that we want students to learn. Within the content, there can still be opportunities for learners to have choice and to drive their own learning process based on shared goals and expectations. 

In order to create opportunities for learners to seek information and learn to learn, here are 6 questions that you could pose to promote learner agency and encourage learners to wonder, explore, and drive their learning (yes, even within your content and standards).

• What do you know and what do you still need to learn?
• What resources i.e books, articles, videos might help you learn more?
• How does this connect to what you already know?
• What are some creative ways to solve this problem?
• Who are the experts you can learn from?
• How will you share what you are learning?

What if we provided the time and support to be engaged in problems worth solving that matter to our students? How might this change their motivation and perseverance in solving problems or overcoming challenges? What if we provide opportunities that allow students to engage in authentic tasks that foster autonomy, invite the pursuit of mastery, and intrigue them with a sense of purpose?