Locus of Control

What is Locus of control you might be asking yourself?  I was, once I saw it on the course activity sheet.  Locus of control describes an individual's sense of "empowerment".

We were given a survey to complete that was based on the Rotter Internal-External Control Scale, which measures our sense of control over self and life events.

I usually find self diagnostic tests difficult to complete as I am indecisive and sometimes take them two or three times before I decide that that is my actual score.  I took this one twice, once this morning when I woke up and again this afternoon in reverse order to see if my score changed and I got the same score both times, so I am going to say that this one wasn’t too difficult for me to decide.

This survey had 29 questions, each having two statements that you had to choose which one suited you more.  The lowest you could score was 0 and the highest was 23.  Higher scores (i.e. "Internal" locus of control) reflect a sense of personal empowerment and are associated with a more optimistic outlook.  Lower scores (i.e. "External" locus of control) reflect an individual's sense of being "done to" or even victimized.

My SCORE was: 14

• ·         On the high end of the 10 – 14 range; Both external and internal locus of control.  – closer to the 15 - 19; Internal locus of control than the external.  Being in the 10-14 range means that I am feel either empowered and/or victimized at times. 
• ·         This seems about right in describing me.  I feel as though I would have been somewhere in the middle.  I more optimistic than not, but sometimes feel as though certain things are out of my control.  It really depends on the situation.  Also, I would say that at this point in my life that score reflects how I feel.  If I would have taken this survey around 8 months ago I believe I would have received a much lower score as I was having a hard time in life and struggling with a lot of stressful issues.

Within the survey:

• ·         I found the six "filler" items (Nos. 1, 8, 14, 19, 24 and 27) that didn’t affect my score one way or the other to be the easiest to answer.  Too bad they weren’t questions that affected my score.  
• ·         I felt there were a lot of questions involving politics and I don’t have many opinions on politics one way or the other.  Those kinds of statements turned me off just reading them. 
• ·         It seemed to me that there were many questions about luck versus hard work, as if they were inferring that if you believed in “luck”, whether it is good or bad luck, that your score would be lower and lean more towards external locus.  
• ·         I did like how, when I took it twice, I got the same score both times.  Which shows me that the questions that did effect my score were ones that I had made a definite decision on.

Now that I have read up on Locus of Control in Education, what I have learned is that when it comes to education, locus of control refers to the kinds of attributions we formulate for our successes and/or failures in educational tasks.  If someone believes that their successes/failures are due to factors such as effort or ability, that are within their own control, then that person has an internal locus of control.  If someone believes that their successes/failures are due to factors such as fate or luck, which are outside of their own control, then that person has an external locus of control. 

I feel that when it comes to education I would definitely be more internal.  I believe that my success or failure is within my own control.  If I don’t put forth the effort and don’t complete things that should be completed than it is my own fault that I don’t get a good grade, luck has nothing to do with it.

When it comes to completing tasks successfully, internals are more likely to continue working at a task that they have succeeded at.  On the other hand, externals are likely to stop working on a task that they are successful at and move on to a dissimilar task.  According to Bender (1995), “Continued failure in spite of continued attempts at school tasks leads to an external locus of control.  Further, a high external locus of control, in turn, leads to a lack of motivation for study and school in general.” 

When it comes to completing tasks successfully, I can see myself being both internal and external, depending on the task.  I have often continued working on tasks that I am successful at because I was successful.  I have also, moved on to other tasks because I was so successful that It wasn’t interesting or worth it to complete successfully again.

As you can see, locus of control plays an interesting role in education.  Understanding its effects can lead to more effective and worthwhile schooling for students and less frustration for teachers.

Knowing that I am both somewhat external and internal when it comes to my locus of control and knowing that some students are external, some internal, and some both, should help lower some of the frustrations that are associated with teaching.  Perhaps having students take this short survey at the beginning of my class would help me figure out in what ways I can make the class seem more "fair" to them.

References:

Bender, W. N. (1995).  Learning Disabilities:  Characteristics, Identification, and Teaching Strategies.  (2nd Ed.).  Needham Heights, Mass: Allyn & Bacon.

 ISTE Nets T - standard 2 b. This survey allows teachers to design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments for the enhancement of learning for their students. Also, teachers engage in professional growth and leadership.  Requiring students to complete the Locus of Control survey would show teachers evaluating and reflecting on research, and making effective use of a digital tool.