The next step is to have the students assess the role that college plays in the attainment of these goals. The students rate, on a scale of one to ten (one being very low and ten being very high), how important their college education is for the accomplishment of their long-term goals. The students are then asked to explain these ratings. This step provides the opportu- nity to develop a relationship between their present activities and their long-term pursuits.

Students are then asked to explain and/or develop a rationale for how the classes they are taking during the current semester can help them to attain their long- term goals. For some classes this tends to be an easy task, but for classes that the student feels are not interesting or not relevant, the activity helps to increase their interest level and motivation by developing a connection between their classes and their long-term goals.

Once students have identified and clarified how their college education is helping them to attain their long-term goals, they are asked to rate and then explain their level of commitment to the goals they have developed. This step is seen as critical to the determi- nation of the effort and persistence that will be put forth by the student in goal attainment. If students are not committed to the attainment of their goals, little effort or persistence can be expected.

Students then clarify further the present status of their goals by discussing how far they have come in achieving them and by reflecting on what they know about themselves, the present situation, and the potential methods and strategies they could use to help them move closer to the attainment of their goals. This information is used by the students to develop short- term subgoals to either eliminate uncertainty about their commitment to their long-term goals or move them closer to the goals accomplishment.

These short-term subgoals are evaluated against the criteria of a useful goal, and tactics and strategies to accomplish the short-term subgoals are brainstormed. A strategic plan is then created using their subgoals, their knowledge about themselves and the task, and their brainstormed tactics and strategies. This strategic plan is implemented, and the student keeps a journal that is designed to foster active monitoring and adjust- ment of the plan if needed. A final evaluation step encourages the student to determine the relative success or failure of the plan, its implementation, and the continued usefulness of the goal.

To develop short-term goal-setting and -using, students begin the learning skills class by writing down what they hope to achieve in this course as well

as their other courses. Many times the students’ initial class goals are quite global and vague. Yet this exercise provides an important experience in the process of setting, clarifying, and then using goals in an academic pursuit.

Short-term goal-setting /using and their integration with long-term goals start at the beginning of the semester when students complete several assessment measures to determine their academic strengths and weaknesses. After goal-setting skills have been dis- cussed, students reexamine their pre-course assessment scores and write personally meaningful self-improve- ment short-term goals. These improvement goals are then integrated with the student's semester goals, as well as the student's short-term subgoals that were designed to help the student move closer to his or her long-term goals.

Through these integrative assignments students gain experience with goal-setting, clarifying, and using, as well as developing a personal relationship between the knowledge and skills they are learning, the classes they are taking, and the long-term goals they would like to attain during their lifetime. As students begin to understand that effective learning in college is neces- sary for them to meet their goals, they are more likely to have enhanced appreciation for the value of learning strategies; this improves the likelihood that students’ use of the learning skills will be transferred to other learning situations.

We have found the integration of both goal-setting / using and learning strategies in a learning-to-learn course to be both useful and exciting. Assignments pertaining to goals have been reported by students to be among the most enlightening and thought-provok- ing in the course. They often find that this activity helps to bring their coursework into better focus such that they understand how it may be important in their own lives. We have also found that students who invest themselves in goal exploration tend to take greater responsibility for their own actions and experi- ence enhanced intrinsic motivation to succeed aca- demically. Essentially, their learning becomes a more autonomous, self-controlled process.

e

Paul A. Schutz, D. Scott Ridley, Robert S. Glanz, Graduate Students, Educational Psychology

Claire E. Weinstein, Professor, Educational Psychology For further information, contact Dr. Weinstein at The

University of Texas at Austin, EDB 352, Austin, TX 78712.

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

March 31, 1989, Vol. XI, No. 11

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1989 Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel.

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INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizatonal Development (NISOD),

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