I have been looking deeply into my practice and identifying trends in my teaching and the learning of my students. After gathering data from the first student voice survey, I was thinking my main focus will be on feedback and feedforward. Through implementing this feedback and feedforward system through commenting on student work, oral discussions, peer assessments and communicating with students through emails, I realised there was something more that I could do. The feedback and feedforward was happening in class regardless. The student voice collected emphasised to me that through Project Based Learning, some of the students felt I was spending less time with them in discussions and giving feedback. That I have now addressed through a more focussed approach to giving feedback and feedforward to students.
Throughout, this time of the students working through their projects, I have always been keeping a closer eye on students who were not completing their tasks unless being monitored or given consequences if they were not to complete their tasks. I also noticed some students really struggled to manage their time and their work. The big projects is too much for them to unpack and plan around. They needed a lot of support to be scaffolded in how to complete each task.
Could building self efficacy in students be my inquiry focus?
Through marking of the first projects the students completed, I noticed a trend in work the students handed in. Some did not complete every aspect of the task, some did not attempt some of the tasks and some students missed out on tasks altogether.
In class, I would encourage the students to work through their tasks, give them support my verbal and written feedback but still, I was not receiving the work I was hoping the students would hand in. I believe the students did not have the belief in themselves or the motivation and determination to carry out their tasks until completion. Thus making self efficacy a very important focus for me in teaching using the Project Based Learning programme.
What is self efficacy in students?
According to Pajares (2002), 'Self-efficacious students exert extra effort, persevere with difficult tasks longer and show resilience by bouncing back from difficult learning situations. Students with high self-efficacy regard problems as challenges, set goals and are committed to them, attribute failure to lack of effort or as yet unlearned skills or content, and increase their efforts in order to overcome failure'. After reading the article by Pajares, I knew this is what I want to focus on because these are the goals I have for my students. To be able to persevere when tasks are hard, set goals, bounce back from difficult learning situations and be committed to their learning.
I am wanting to find strategies which I will implement into my practice which will foster and build self efficacy among my students. I am thinking of incorporating strategies I find in readings about self efficacy to design a learning framework in my practice which will build student self efficacy.
Inquiry question: Will a self efficacy framework designed for my learners, build their self confidence in their abilities and enable them to have more self efficacy to persevere in difficult learning situations?
In Parajes (2002), there are some strategies mentioned to build the self efficacy of students. I will now gather more readings about building self efficacy and reflect on what I know about my students. I will from there start to build the self efficacy framework which I will implement in my practice.
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