SOME GUIDELINES FOR USING LEARNING CONTRACTS

(Malcolm Knowles)
Why Use Learning Contracts?
One of the most significant findings from research about adult learning (e.g., Allen Tough's The
Adult Learning Projects, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1979) is when adults go about
learning something naturally (as contrasted with being taught something), they are highly selfdirecting. Evidence is beginning to accumulate, too, that what adults learn on their own initiative
they learn more deeply and permanently that what they learn by being taught.
Those kinds of learning that are engaged in for purely personal development can perhaps be
planned and carried out completely by individuals on their own terms and with only a loose
structure. But those kinds of learning that have, as their purpose improving one's competence to
perform in a job or in a profession must take into account the needs and expectations of
organizations, professions, and society. Learning contracts provide a means for negotiating
reconciliation between these external needs and expectations and the learner's internal needs and
interests.
Furthermore, in traditional education the teacher and the institution structure the learning activity.
The learners were told what objectives they are to work toward, what resources they are to use
and how they are to use them, and how the accomplishment of the objectives will be evaluated.
This imposed structure conflicts with the adult's deep psychological need to be self-directing and
may induce resistance, apathy, or withdrawal. Learning contracts provide a vehicle for making
the planning of learning experiences a mutual undertaking between learners and their helpers,
mentors, and often, peers. By participating in the process of diagnosing their learning needs,
formulating their objectives, identifying resources, choosing learning strategies, and evaluating
accomplishments, the learners develop a sense of ownership in ( and commitment to) the learning
plan.
Finally, in learning through supervised field experiences especially, there is a strong possibility that
what is to be learned from the experience will be less clear to the earner and the field supervisor
than what work is to be done. There is a long tradition of field-experience learners being
exploited for the performance of menial tasks that the paid workers don't want to do. The
learning contract is a means for making the learning objectives of the field experience clear and
explicit for both the learner and the field supervisor.
How Do You Develop a Learning Contract?
Step 1: Diagnose your learning needs.
A learning need is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in regard to a
particular set of competencies.
You may already be aware of certain needs as a result of a personal appraisal process or the long

accumulation of evidence for yourself of the gaps between where you are now and where you
would like to be.
If not, it might be worth your while to go through this process: First, construct a model of the
competencies required to perform excellently the role (e.g., parent, teacher, civic leader, manage,
consumer, professional worker, etc.) you are concerned about. There may be a competency
model already in existence that you can use as a thought-starter and check-list; many vocations
are developing such models. If not, you can build your own model, with the help of friends,
colleagues, supervisors, and expert resource people. A competency can be thought of as the ability
to do something at some level of proficiency, and is usually composed of some combination of
knowledge, understandings, skills, attitudes, and values. For example, ability to ride a bicycle
from my home to the store is a competency that involves some knowledge of how a bicycle
operates and the route to the store; and understanding of some of the dangers inherent in riding a
bicycle; skill in mounting, pedaling, steering, and stopping a bicycle; and attitude of desire to ride
a bicycle; and the valuing of the exercise it will yield. Ability to ride a bicycle in a cross-country
race would be a higher-level competency that would require greater knowledge, understanding,
skill, etc. It is useful to produce a competency model even if it is crude and subjective because of
the clearer sense of direction it will give you.
Having constructed a competency model, your next task is to assess the gap between where you
are now and where the model says you should be in regard to each competency. You can do this
alone or with the help of people who have been observing your performance. The chances are that
you have already developed some competencies to a level of excellence, so that you can
concentrate on those you havent developed to that point.
Step 2: Specify your learning objectives
You are now ready to start filling out the first column of the learning contract, Learning
objectives. Each of the learning needs diagnosed in Step 1 should be translated into a learning
objective. Be sure that your objectives describe what you will learn, not what you will do to learn
them (e.g., To read five books is not a learning objective, but a strategy for using resources; the
learning objective would describe what you want to learn by reading five books). State your
objectives in whatever terms are most meaningful to youcontent acquisition, terminal behaviors,
or directions of growth.
Step 3: Specify learning resources and strategies
When you have finished listing your objectives, move over to the second column of the contract,
Learning Resources and Strategies, and describe how you propose to go about accomplishing
each objective. Identify the resources (material and human) you plan to use the strategies
(techniques, tools) you will employ in making use of them. Here is an example:

Learning Objective: To improve my ability to organize my work efficiently so that I can

accomplish 20 percent more work in a day.

Learning resources and strategies: (1) Find books and articles in the library on how to organize
work and manage time, and read them. (2) Interview three executives on how they organize their
work, then observe them for one day each, noting techniques they use. (3) Select the best
techniques from each, plan a days work, and have a colleague observe me for a day, giving me
feedback.
Step 4: Specify evidence of accomplishment
After completing the second column in the contract form, move over to the third column,
Evidence of Accomplishment of Objectives, and describe what evidence you will collect to
indicate the degree to which you have achieved each objective. Perhaps the following examples of
evidence for different types of objectives will stimulate your thinking about what evidence you
might accumulate:
Type of objective

Examples of Evidence
Knowledge
Reports of knowledge
acquired, as in essays, examinations, oral presentations,
annotated bibliographies
Understanding
Examples of utilization of
knowledge in solving problems, as in action projects,
research projects with conclusions and recommendations,
program planning, organizational change proposals, etc.
Skills
Performance exercises,
simulations, demonstrations, use of videotapes of
performance, etc.
Attitudes
Attitudinal rating scales, role
playing, simulation exercises, critical incident cases, diaries,
etc.
Values
Value rating scales,
performance in value clarification groups, critical incident
cases, simulation exercises, etc.

Step 5: Specify how the evidence will be validated

After you have specified what evidence you will collect for each objective in column three, move
over to column four, Criteria and Means for Validating Evidence. For each objective, first
specify the criteria by which the evidence is to be judged. The criteria will vary according to the
type of objective. For example, criteria for knowledge objectives might include depth,
comprehensiveness, precision, clarity, accuracy, usefulness, scholarliness, etc. For skill objectives
the criteria might include poise, speed, precision, flexibility, gracefulness, style, imaginativeness,
etc. For attitudes and values they might be consistency, immediacy of action, confidence in action,
etc. After you have specified the criteria, indicate the means you propose to use to have the
evidence judged according to these criteria. For example, if you produce a paper or report as

evidence of a knowledge objective, whom will you have read it and what are their qualifications?
Will they express their judgements by rating scales, descriptive reports, evaluative reports, or
how? If you are getting a rating of your accomplishment of a skill objective, whom will you have
observe you performing the skillsstudents, peers, experts; and what kind of feedback about
your performance will you ask them to give you? One of the actions that helps to differentiate
distinguished from adequate performance in self-directed learning is the wisdom with which a
learner selects his or her validators.
Step 6: Review your contract with consultants
After you have completed the first draft of your contract, you will find it useful to review it with
two or three friends, supervisors, or other consultants to get their reactions and suggestions. Here
are some questions you might ask them to react to:
--Are the learning objectives clear, understandable, and realistic; and do they describe
accurately what you propose to learn?
--Can they think of other objectives you might consider?
--Do the learning strategies and resources seem reasonable, appropriate, and efficient? Can
they think of other evidence you might consider?
--Are the criteria and means for validating the evidence clear, relevant, and convincing?
Can they think of other evidence that you might consider?
Step 7: Carry out the contract
You now simply do what the Contract calls for. But keep in mind that as you work on it you may
find that your notions about what you want to learn and how you want to learn it may change. So
dont hesitate to revise your contract as you go along.
Step 8: Evaluate your learning
When you have completed your contract you will want to get some assurance that you have in
fact learned what you set out to learn. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to ask the
consultants you used in Step 6 to examine your evidence and validation data and give you their
judgement.
Permission has been granted to use this document with learners.