Narrative Identity

One of the most profound impacts of the DiG learning framework that many of our teachers are noting is the shifting Identity of learners. They are morphing into active learners who are empowered to reveal their hidden potential. This 'DiG thing' is changing how our learners see themselves and how our teachers see them, too.

Wallflowers are blooming, the disengaged are becoming engagers, unlikely experts are illuminated. Many unknown stories are emerging from our learners as they bravely share hidden passions and personal curiosities. Our learners are acting in more courageous ways, developing deeper levels of confidence and resilience, sharpening their engagement, expanding their creativity and curiosity, honing their 21st Century skills. Seeking to illuminate these shifts in learner identity has become an ongoing experiment for the staff at Griffin.

As an impact of the DiG learning experience, we sense that the story our learners tell themselves about their potential is evolving. We’re seeing sparks of hidden potential in our learners that we weren’t aware existed. The DIG learning framework is changing our learners. Not only are they learning about content and the learning process itself, each DIG is also a journey of self-discovery, as they lean into personal interests and vulnerabilities.

Noticing the power of the DiG learning framework to influence changes in our learners has led us to design an assessment tool, one that might allow us to illuminate the narrative identity of our learners. Through capturing how our learners see themselves as learners themselves, hidden potential is revealed to us. This visible evidence of our learners’ narrative identity is allowing us to document what we sense might be the most powerful influence of the DiG experience; the power to influence narrative identity shifts.

Our tool is capturing the empowerment of self and the creation of an aware learner. Using the dominant themes of the DiG experience that our staff identified as prominent in their own DiG experience, our simple assessment tool allows us to document what we noticed anecdotally.

Unpacking each dominant theme into three elaborations, we capture the narrative identity of our learners using a Likert scale. We first created a tool for teachers to assess their learners. We then collaborated with learners to create their own self-assessment tool, using a slightly different language. After several drafts, our tools were ready.

So far, we have trialed our tool with four teachers and forty learners, the data revealing three groups of learners. Learners in the first group identified a lower perception of their learning potential than their teacher; in the second group learners perceived their learning potential to be greater than what was seen by their teacher; and in the final group, learner and teacher perceptions more closely aligned. Each of these data sets reveal intriguing stories about learners and learning. Inputting the data into a radar graph has allowed us to highlight the emergent potential of our learners, the gap between realised and perceived.

Next: Empowering Potential