Autonomous Learner Model
for the Gifted and
Talented
Introduction Module
Autonomous Learner Model
The world is open to those
who give . . .
Dear Learners!
Hi, welcome to the Autonomous Learner Model (ALM). I am glad you are
working on the Spotlight for Technology Website and want to become
life-long learners. This approach is developed for you, the students
who want to become more independent and more responsible for their own
learning. This is your opportunity to learn how to learn independently,
to decide what your want to learn and produce and to be involved with
your project until completion. The ALM was developed years ago at
Arvada West High School in Arvada Colorado. The goal was to give
students the opportunity to become independent, self-directed learners.
What is exciting is that this model of education was not developed by
teachers but by the students. These students came from two different
groups; those who were not achieving and those who were achieving in
high school. Two different groups but both with the same need – to make
school meaningful and to be more involved in the development of what
they were going to learn. The teachers were there not to direct them
but to assist students in the process of becoming life-long learners.
Learners accept responsibility for their own learning and develop the
skills, concepts and attitudes necessary for independent
investigations. Instead of seeing students as students, we began to see
them as learners and they began to see that we were not dispensers of
knowledge but facilitators of the learning process.