This article presents a new concept co-developed by Laurel Whisler (Assistant Director and Coordinator of Course Support Programs at Clemon’s Westmoreland Academic Success program) and Paul Treuer (retired professor at University of Minnesota Duluth and educational consultant). It invites the learner for an individual learning journey in a context of wider community. It structures a process to organize one’s own learning plan and to apply what we have learnt when working with peers.
This model can support a person’s own learning. By going through its structure, you may be more aware of your own learning and better organize it.
Entangled Learning (EL) is a framework for self-directed learning in which individuals collaborate in shared practices to grow, deepen, and document their knowledge. EL is a learner-centered educational pedagogy for the 21st century in which students, and their teachers, leverage and build social networks to deepen knowledge. Learners who are entangled not only find joy in their learning, but also they develop lifelong skills and relationships to direct their own deep learning.
Entangled Learning is a structure and a process for facilitating self-directed learning in which individuals document their learning to validate it and to share with others.
– Design: Develop a Learning Action Plan with goals for learning, actions to take, and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of their learning. Revise periodically as often as needed.
– Learn: Use a variety of study resources that match personal learning styles and preferences. Participate in one or more Communities of Practice (CoP) in a learning domain using multiple roles.
– Apply: Apply newly developed knowledge and skills to undertake issues, assignments, problems, or projects of interest by oneself or in a group.
– Know: Contemplates on what they know and what they want to know more about. Engages in practices that support depth, rigor, and validation of learning, documenting these in an ePortfolio to share with others their input.
Your learning plan.
Use e-portfolio as a good practice to show, share and discuss your learning outcomes.
Develop your own EL Action Plan to shape your self-regulated learning. Invite somebody to join this learning journey, with his/her own EL Action Plan.
What resources and collaborative partners are available to you?
What actions can you engage in each area?
How can you evaluate the quality or effectiveness of your practices?
Make and design your own e-portfolio.
What have you experienced by using this approach?
What else would you like to experience in terms of learning to learn competence?
Laurel Whisler is Assistant Director and Coordinator of Course Support Programs in Clemson University’s Westmoreland Academic Success Program. Previously, she was Coordinator of the Supplemental Instruction Program for five years. Laurel enjoyed a fifteen-year career as a librarian, serving in such capacities as reference and information literacy instruction, music librarian, and administrative roles in liberal arts colleges. Laurel’s passion is empowering lifelong learners, supporting self-directed learning, and developing leadership among undergraduate peer educators. She has given a number of regional, national, and international presentations about using communities of practice to develop leadership, build expertise, and foster reflection in Supplemental Instruction programs.
© Paul Treuer and Laurel Whisler, March 2019.
