20092010
The Effective Lifelong
Learning Inventory
ELLI
Staff Guidebook
Dispositions to Stay
Northumbria University
2009-2010
Contents
2
Introduction to the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI)
Benefits of ELLI for Staff, Students, Departments and Institutions
The Seven Dimensions of Learning Power and Interventions:
Change and Learn
Critical Curiosity
Creativity
Learning Relationships
Meaning Making
Strategic Awareness
Resilience
Preparing Students for the ELLI Questionnaire
ELLI Graphs
Logging in (Staff and Students)
Printing Your Profile
Saving Your Profile
Supporting Students to Interpret their Profiles
Key Contacts
5
6
8
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11
13
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1
Introduction to the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI)
Underpinning original research behind ELLI, undertaken at the Graduate School of Education
at Bristol University, was the assumption that there are two strands to successful learning:
1. Achievement (knowledge, skills and understanding)
2. Personal Development (attitudes, values, feelings, dispositions and motivations)
Alongside this assumption the team at Bristol noted a long-standing preoccupation in formal
education settings with the first of these outcomes, achievement. Whilst understanding the
importance of signalling the end of a process of learning they asserted that this had been to
the detriment of recognising the significance of personal development, an ongoing process
associated with lifelong learning.
When thinking about these two distinct, yet equally important, strands of learning the team
sought to explain the energy through which they connect, finding influence in the idea of
learning power. Learning power can be explained as “a form of consciousness characterised
by particular dispositions, values and attitudes, expresses through the story of our lives and
through relationships and connections we make with other people and our world” (Deakin
Crick, 2006)
Relying upon existing research and practice into learning, and learning to learn, the Bristol
team identified and developed seven dimensions of learning power. Whilst clearly having
high face validity the seven dimensions were produced through an extended process of
factor analyses followed by testing with large populations of school-aged children
Of equal importance, the seven dimensions are:
Change and Learning (as opposed to being stuck and static)
Meaning Making (as opposed to data accumulation)
Critical Curiosity (as opposed to passivity)
Creativity (as opposed to being rule-bound)
Learning Relationships (as opposed to isolation and / or dependence)
Strategic Awareness (as opposed to being robotic)
Resilience (as opposed to fragility and dependence).
These findings informed the development of the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI)
a method of diagnostically supporting learning. ELLI is a 90-point, Lickert-type scale, online
questionnaire that produces for a learner a learning profile in terms of the seven
dimensions. Prior to 2005 interest in the relevance and usefulness of ELLI in supporting the
learning process was confined to schools.
However two specific drivers led to a growth of interest of ELLI work within a higher
education setting. These drivers included: a long-standing perception of a ‘development
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gap’ in higher education, the failure of Personal Development Planning (PDP) initiatives to
define this gap or evaluate attempts to fill it, and the publication of the Leitch report,
‘Prosperity for All in the Global Economy – World Class Skills’, in December 2006. This report
called on higher education to play a lead role in developing a successful skills-based
economy whilst also hinting at the need for a fresh look at what skills were needed for
success, including the notion of successful lifelong learning.
ELLI in Higher Education (HE) Project
By 2007 fourteen universities* had committed themselves to the ELLI in HE project – an
extraordinary, unfunded collaboration between very different and widely spread UK
institutions. The project hypothesised significant value in developing a student’s sense of
learning and their understanding of their personal learning journey and development as an
independent, self-regulated learner.
Leading the project, Northumbria University sought to test the validity of the seven
dimensions of learning power in a range of higher education contexts, to explore differences
in ELLI profile in relation to a range of demographic factors, to evaluate the impact of ELLI in
illuminating ‘personal development’ for staff and students and exploring ways ELLI could be
used to promote or support learner development.
The ELLI in HE project detailed its results in October 2008 in a comprehensive and wideranging report (Crick, R. & Small, T. 2008) finding the ELLI dimensions indeed to be valid
when tested with a substantial HE population. Beyond their validity the dimensions proved
to be malleable and thus amenable to improvement. In addition to these findings,
engagement with ELLI was reported by staff and students to be a powerful catalyst for
productive reflection and increased self-awareness.
The full report on the ELLI in HE project, ‘Learning and Self-Awareness: an enquiry into
Personal Development in Higher Education’
is available from Jamie Thompson ([email protected])
*Northumbria University, the University of Bedfordshire, Manchester University, Glyndwr
University, University of Sunderland, Newcastle University, Durham University, University of
Teesside, the Open University, University of Liverpool, University of Gloucestershire,
University of Surrey, University of Worcester and East Berkshire College
Current Engagement with ELLI in Higher Education
At present ELLI is being utilised in the Dispositions to Stay (DTS) project. The DTS project is
one of seven in the ‘What Works? Student Retention and Success’ programme, a one million
pounds, three-year programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) and the
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
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‘What Works?’ aims to generate robust, evidence-based research and evaluation about
improving student retention and success. Thematic analysis and dissemination is
coordinated by Action on Access and the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Led by Northumbria University, in partnership with Manchester University, the University of
Bedfordshire, and Glyndwr University, the DTS project intends to build upon the findings
from the ELLI in HE project by using ELLI to illuminate and improve student success and
retention.
At Northumbria the first year of the project has seen the establishment of project plans for
2009-10 with all nine schools involving large numbers of colleagues and a comprehensive
range of student cohorts. In addition to this, the DTS team have collected, analysed and
evaluated a range of qualitative and quantitative data, producing an interim report.
The interim report** informs the second year of the project during which we will see the
development and evaluation of targeted interventions aimed at improving retention and
success. This report identifies a range of findings, the most significant of which is the
statistical evidence, and supporting qualitative evidence, to suggest that success, as
measured by student marks in the first year, is positively correlated to two of the ELLI
learning dimensions.
These two dimensions are change and learning and critical curiosity. In the second year of
the project the DTS team will be focussing on these two dimensions, seeking to understand
them better and exploring and evaluating ways in which processes, interventions and
environments in HE can support their development.
If you would like to know more about the DTS project or would like to be involved please
contact either:
Jamie Thompson ([email protected])
Jamie Harding ([email protected])
Karen Williamson ([email protected])
Formatted: German (Germany)
Field Code Changed
**The interim report will soon be available at:
http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/ar/lts/events/nc/nconf09/prog09/nc09sessae/nc
09e
Formatted: German (Germany)
Formatted: German (Germany)
References
Deakin Crick R., Broadfoot P. & Claxton G. (2004) Developing an Effective Lifelong Learning
Inventory: The ELLI Project, Assessment in Education, 11 (3)
Small, T. & Deakin Crick, R. (2008) ‘Learning and Self-Awareness: An Enquiry into Personal
Development in Higher Education’, Bristol: Vital Partnership and Bristol University
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Benefits of ELLI for Staff, Students, departments and Institutions
Students:
Acquire a better understanding of what makes an effective learner at HE level
Ability to identify their possible strengths and weaknesses as learners
Seek targeted support in those areas in order to improve their attainment
Staff
Obtain a better understanding of the individual and group profiles of their learners
Have a ‘language’ to discuss the key aspects of effective learning with their students
Have the opportunity to be involved in a major national project
Have access to supported pedagogic research leading to publications
Access to support for targeted learning and teaching development
Schools and Programmes
Gain a better understanding of and ability to address individual and cohort retention
and attainment issues
A mechanism to target resources through the identification of ‘at risk’ students at an
early stage
Institutional
Providing an evidence base for successful and quality student success and retention
practices and additional recognition of improvements to student retention work
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The Seven Dimensions of Learning Power and Interventions
Change and Learning
This is the extent to which students expect to see themselves grow and develop as learners,
taking new approaches to expand their repertoire of learning skills, rather than believing
that learning power is fixed and that difficulties simply reflect their limitations.
Students can:
Review earlier work and compare with their current assessments etc. in order to
recognise their development.
Use recording techniques such as Blogs, diaries, portfolios to facilitate an
understanding of the journey.
Set targets and monitor progress towards them.
Focus on one aspect that needs development and ask tutors to provide specific
feedback on this element.
Remember that educational research tells us that we can learn to develop and
become more effective learners
Tutors can:
Boost confidence through immediate feedback either individually or collectively
Design in activities where students use feedback from an early formative assessment
to improve
Provide support for ‘how’ to write reflectively – for example through informal study
networks/blogs/conversations
Facilitate group discussions into how others/peers have changed to recognise that
learning is sometimes difficult for everyone and that this is a challenge rather than a
limitation.
Talk about their learning and the things they found difficult.
Provide assessment feedback that supports learning and change (‘feed forward’).
Introduce notions of multiple intelligences (e.g. Gardner)
Course designers can:
Use portfolio approaches so students can see how their work has improved.
Use activities that support structured reflection consistently across the course.
Introduce students early on to different learning styles and approaches and support
practice with these.
University/others can:
Foster student mentoring and peer assisted learning
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Provide role models
Introduce students to study skills and specialist support guides/materials/resources
Present research evidence that people can learn how to learn
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Critical curiosity
This is the extent to which students want to ask questions and get below the surface of
what is going on, rather than accepting what they are told and believing that ‘received
wisdom’ must be correct.
Students can:
Try to understand the reasons behind the material covered (not just learn by rote)
look for patterns and common ideas.
Spend quality time on the key concepts so that they understand these thoroughly
Engage in discussions with fellow students about the topics covered and challenge
people to explain and justify their opinions
Listen to differing opinions and form their own judgements
Use a dictionary to explore words they don’t understand (Develop a glossary of
common terms)
Recognise that learning is sometimes difficult.
Tutors can:
Encourage students to think for themselves ask questions and don’t expect
immediate answers.
Ask ‘what if’ questions, encourage ‘thought experiments’ etc.
Encourage students to argue from both sides of a question.
Recognise that some students may find the material difficult
Assess students’ questions not necessarily their answers
Explain that sometimes there are no clear answers.
Don’t shy away from controversial/challenging subjects
Use questions which encourage students to identify the bias/slant/perspective in a
particular article.
Allow students to make mistakes and don’t pounce on errors
Acknowledge areas where your own understanding may not be perfect or where you
have uncertainties.
Use assignments which foster curiosity
Course designers can:
Ensure that suitable time is given to difficult ‘threshold’ concepts
Revisit difficult areas to conform understanding.
Use Active learning approaches
Use problem-based or enquiry-based curricula.
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Creativity
This refers to the extent to which students are able to look at things in different ways and
imagine new possibilities, rather than tackling every task in an identical, rule bound manner.
Students can:
Actively try different approaches to learning: writing/re-writing notes, multi-media,
mind maps, pictures, games, quizzes etc.
Use different writing styles (journals, newspaper articles, dictionary entries etc.) to
record material and make their own narrative about the subject
Don’t worry if they’re stuck with learning for a while, put the problem area aside and
comeback to it later
Tutors can:
Set a task and leave students to determine the method to complete it
Provide time for students to be creative
Encourage playfulness and activities which support creativity e.g. Dragons’ Den
Ask students to share their mistakes (requires a group who know and trust each
other)
Ask students to write a guide for a specific audience
Ask students to explain tasks to each other
Encourage the use of multimedia such as making films, deconstructing images,
drawing cartoons or designing games
Encourage students to take risks and ask ‘What if?’ questions
Ask students to assess each other’s work
Ask students to create mind maps, posters etc.
Set problem solving activities with no ‘correct’ answers
Enable students to set their own assignment topics (within QA processes)
Expect students to blog questions and answers after a seminar (and give them credit
for doing so).
Encourage students to transfer knowledge and skills across their course from one
subject or module to another
Encourage students to reach their own solutions
Make clear creativity will be rewarded in assessments
Course designers can:
Ensure that students are introduced to different methods of learning
Use supported ELLI, learning styles questionnaires etc
Ask students to assess each other’s work
Ask students to create an e-learning site to support the course
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Ensure assessment workload etc is balanced across the year to enable time for
creativity
University/others can:
Develop QA systems that foster creativity
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Learning Relationships
This is the extent to which students are able to work effectively on their own or with others,
striking the correct balance and not becoming isolated or dependent. It also refers to the
extent to which they are willing to seek help where appropriate.
NB: This dimension can be quite problematic in that it incorporates both the importance of
working independently and with others.
Students can:
Set themselves up with a support network with a movement away from individual
competitiveness (sharing learning processes, positive feedback as well as critiques)
Use online student-led support networks/discussion boards etc
Identify the people who can help them learn formally or informally: at home, at
university, in halls of residence etc.
Identify the fellow students that they can help
Seek support from one of their ‘support network’ when they are stuck or find things
difficult
Discuss assignments with their support network to check understanding and see if
they are on the right track.
Tutors can:
Provide informal social events to enable students to develop ‘support networks’
Help students to use relevant resources
Establish online student-led support networks
Provide activities where students learn collaboratively
Use group work
Course designers can:
Establish mentoring networks either within or across levels
Establish learning sets.
Arrange Informal social events to include strategies to overcome problematic
relational barriers between students / tutors
Ensure that students have early meaningful contact with support areas (learning
resources, careers, student support etc.) and enable engagement.
University/others can:
Arrange Events that also cut across disciplines / subject areas and between national /
international students
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Consider how student groups, societies, sports etc provide opportunities for
developing a wide social network that can support learning.
Provide events that cut across disciplines / subject areas and between national /
international students so that the social network is wide.
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Meaning making
Meaning makers look for links between what they are learning and what they already know,
enjoying seeing things ‘fit together’, rather than approaching learning sessions piecemeal
and responding to them on their individual merits.
Students can:
Use mind-mapping, concept-mapping, diaries, blogs etc.
Identify feelings as well as thoughts.
Make connections between the topics covered and previous topics or topics in other
modules.
Identify key words and make sure they understand them.
Tutors can:
Use active learning approaches such as case studies and role play
Consciously make connections between the material covered and previous or other
topics.
Help students to make sense of data
Use assessments that encourage thinking rather than regurgitation.
Use case studies and other approaches that make connections between the topic
and future learning inside or outside the curriculum.
Course designers can:
Use assessments that encourage students to make connections
Use integrative activities that link across modules (capstone modules)
Consider cross-course inter-professional working
Develop a spiral curriculum
Provide scaffolding
Use enquiry-based or resource-based learning
Include elements of work-based learning
Use Case studies
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Strategic Awareness
Students with high levels of strategic awareness plan their time, like trying out different
approaches and thinking about their own learning, and are able to explain their reason for
taking a particular approach.
Students can:
Plan their time and study. Mark in diary holidays, birthdays etc so they can see
where the breathing spaces are and can helpthem structure their time better
Converse and collaborate to explore the learning approaches of other students
Think about the big picture as well as short term goals
Understand what they want to achieve and what the limitations are.
Think about their learning (using ELLI and other questionnaires to take ownership of
their learning).
Recognise that ‘failure’ can be a positive learning experience
Be honest and realistic but ambitious.
Understand the criteria by which they will be assessed.
Learn from their own and others’ mistakes
Keep a learning log/journal/blog to record the difficulties, frustrations, worries,
boredom, as well as the ‘Eureka!’ moments and feelings of satisfaction.
When they are starting a major piece of work plan it out before jumping straight in.
Think about the best approach to be taken and justify it.
Try new approaches.
Tutors can:
Encourage conversations and collaborations
Share (and explain) assessment criteria with students
Stress the importance of failure as a means of learning and encourage positive selfesteem
Develop a climate the encourages honesty
Use Role play
Use Feed-back to Feed-forward
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Resilience
Students with this characteristic like a challenge and are willing to have a go at something
when the outcome is uncertain; they carry on when learning is confusing or frustrating.
Students without this characteristic are risk averse and react negatively to getting stuck or
making mistakes.
Students can:
Use peer group support to talk about real experiences or use hypothetical ones
Recognise the emotional side of learning – all learners find some things difficult.
Understand the criteria by which they will be assessed.
Set realistic expectations.
Understand the climate that helps them learn best.
Be prepared to try new things.
Describe early uncertainties, doubts, and confusions: and recognise that they
provide a starting point
If things aren’t working then set them aside for awhile and then come back to them.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – but do learn from them.
Tutors can:
Ask open questions “what are you looking forward to at university? Why did you
come to university?”
Look at and try to understand students’ backgrounds
Ask them to give examples of when they have been resilient (in personal or
academic life)
Build confidence and self-esteem
Be sensitive to students’ feelings
Build a safe and secure learning environment
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Preparing students for ELLI questionnaire
After introducing to the students the importance of personal development and reflective
thought in higher education give a brief overview of the research behind ELLI:
The seven dimensions of learning power – our strengths and weaknesses in our
approaches to learning (it is advisable not to go into too much detail about the seven
dimensions as this may well distort the way that questions are answered – a more
detailed discussion of each of the dimensions can form part of discussions postquestionnaire)
ELLI is a questionnaire that allows us to know ourselves better as learners
There are no right or wrong answers – it is important to be as true to yourself as
possible in giving your answers (it is easy to be too hard or soft on yourself when
answering questions like these but try not to do this – again this may produce a
distorted picture of your learning approach)
Show some profile examples so that students can familiarise themselves with the
spider diagram format
There are around 90 questions and the questionnaire should take around 20 minutes
to complete
The questions all ask you to read a simple statement about how you might or might
not respond to a learning situation
The questions will ask you to respond that the statement is:
 Very like you
 Quite like you
 A little like you
 Not like you
The questions should be answered at a steady pace – try not to dwell for too long
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ELLI Graphs
When an individual completes the 90 questions of the ELLI questionnaire, an individual
learning profile is immediately produced on screen. The profile takes the form of a spider
diagram. There are seven strands from the centre of the spider diagram, one for each of the
seven dimensions. The plot is made from the mean score of all the questions that relate to
each dimension.
Group profiles can come in the form of bar graphs or pie charts shown above. There is a bar
graph / pie chart for each of the seven dimensions, shown as a traffic light system. Students
who scored themselves poorly (under 45%) are in red, those who scored themselves
between 45% and 75% are in yellow and above 75% in green
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Logging in (Staff and Students)
Students:
1. Type in the ELLI Online Instrument Second Edition (ELOISE) website address:
http://www.eloise-online.com This will take you to the ELOISE welcome homepage
2. On the homepage, go to the blue login box at the top right hand side of the screen
3. Enter your username, which is your unique login, in the first space e.g. 138824HR11930 making sure there are no spaces and the dash is included
4. Enter your password in the second box (please note that these are case sensitive)
and click ‘login’
5. You will then be taken to the next screen which asks: ‘You are about to start the ELLI
learning profile. Do you want to do this now?’ (This will only happen the first time
you login)
6. Click on ‘yes’ and you will be taken to your Student Zone Control Panel
7. Click on the link ‘Complete or view your ELLI feedback here’
8. This will take you to the ‘ELLI Permissions Page’ which explains how your data is kept
secure and asks for permission to use it for research purposes
9. When you have read and agreed to this, click on the button ‘Start the Profile’
Staff:
Login the same way as students, but with your unique tutor username and password
There are two links that you may be interested in:
1. View all students’ feedback – where you will be able to view students’ individual
profiles
2. View students mean / class scores – where you will be able view whole class profiles
(you can change views here, choosing between pie charts or bar graphs)
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Printing your profile
Double click on your ELLI profile. Your profile will appear in a new screen. Print from this
screen by going to ‘file’ and ‘print’.
If the print out is blank, you need to ‘accept cookies’ in your browser
Accepting cookies in Windows
1. Go to ‘Tools’ then ‘Options,’ in Firefox or ‘Internet Options’ in Internet Explorer
2. Select the ‘privacy’ tab in the box that will appear
3. Tick the relevant boxes in Firefox to accept cookies or move the slider down to the
bottom to ‘accept all cookies’ in Internet Explorer.
Accepting cookies on Firefox for Mac
1. Go to ‘Firefox’ and then ‘Preferences’
2. Select the ‘Privacy’ tab and make sure all cookies are accepted.
Accepting cookies in Safari
In Safari go to preferences and click the ‘security’ tab and ‘accept cookies’
Saving your profile
Double click on your ELLI profile, it will appear in a separate window.
Click file and then save it to your network space/folder/USB stick.
You could also simply click and drag the picture onto your desktop/folder/network
space/USB stick if your browser allows it.
The picture may automatically save as a .bmp (bitmap) or a .png (portable network
graphic).
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Supporting Students to Interpret their Profiles
Empowering:
Students need to own their own profiles and strategies
Ask some questions:
1. What do you think of your profile?
2. Do you agree with it?
3. How can we follow this up?
Building Confidence:
Start with students’ strengths
Strong dimensions can be used to build others
Use your judgement to match the level of challenge to each students’ level of
confidence / need for support
Use positive language: ‘areas for development’ not weaknesses, ‘opportunities’, not
threats
Connecting Up:
Ask students to remember examples from their experience to appreciate how their
profiles reflects them as a learner
Point out the links between the seven dimensions – how they interconnect and
support one another
ELLI profiles are about whole profiles and whole lives: what we think and feel and do
in our learning for life
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Key Contacts
Northumbria
Jamie Thompson ([email protected])
Jamie Harding ([email protected])
Karen Williamson ([email protected])
Formatted: German (Germany)
Field Code Changed
Formatted: German (Germany)
Formatted: German (Germany)
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