Manuel Literature Review

Literature Review

Tashina Manuel

Ball State University

LITERATURE REVIEW

Name	Commented on…
Tashina Manuel	DeArtha Chambers Raeanne Schlotterbeck Terry Rood Nichole Mann Michael Szajewski

Introduction

            Adult education has in recent years, have begun to include self-directed learning as a major area of research in adult learning.  In early research on self-directed learning, the focus was on verifying that adults do indeed learn on their own, as well as focusing on the ways adults go about learning on their own (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007, p.106).   Research on self-directed learning has now come a long way in a short time.  There is now literature on more in-depth models, as well as growing debate on what the goals of self-directed learning should be (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 105-106). 

General Themes

            One major theme regarding self-directed learning, is it’s inclusion in technology, as well as how technology can and does play a major role in self-directed learning.  Due to a technology driven learning environment, self directed learning is more relevant in education now, more than ever.  According to Bryan (2015), “In today’s technology enhanced learning environment, the teachers, the mentors, and even the friends may be continents away from the learner” (p. 42).  Collaboration in the digital world can intuitively seem to decrease the benefits of self-direction; however, electronic collaboration actually heightens the need for learners to be self-directed (Bryan, p. 43).  When learning through collaboration with others, there needs to be a self-directed learning component among the skills of each individual.  This self-directed learning component is needed, so that a student will be able to contribute his or her experiences and actively learn from others in a technology-driven learning environment.  The technology factor in self-directed learning, not only refers to a technology-driven learning environment.  It also can refer to any learning environment.  In most learning environments, technology plays a major role, because of our society being loaded with information.  Several studies have proven that self-directed learning is a major factor for predicting learners’ academic success in non-Web-based distance learning. The inclusion of technology in a curriculum in some way, is enough to help develop skills for self-directed learning.  Therefore, regardless of whether technology is being used to foster new learning in a closed classroom or via a Web-based platform, self-directed learning can improve the capacity of the learner (Bryan, p. 44).

            A second major theme in self-directed learning, is that this type of learning is a tool that can promote lifelong learning.  One active learning technique that is showing great promise in the preparation of students for life after college and well into their careers, is self-directed learning (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis & Fleming, 2014, p. 20).  A major focus of college learning, is the preparation to be better employees in the workplace.  College students who are taught how to be proactive and self-directed learners will be more prepared as employees to anticipate their company’s needs, adapt their learning to meet their own learning styles, and obtain the necessary skills, knowledge, and capabilities to create value for their clients, employers, and organizations (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis & Fleming, p. 20).  A higher level of motivation is a catalyst for greater self-directed learning readiness (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis & Fleming, p. 22).  Normally, a learner wants to gather, learn and apply information for the betterment of his or her life and career.  If the learner sees a possible positive outcome from engaging in self-directed learning, believes that a desired outcome is highly probable, and believes that this investment of effort in self-directed learning will achieve the goal, then the learner will willingly engage in self-directed learning (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis & Fleming, p. 22).   In a study of several self-directed learning projects among graduate students, many of these students reported gaining skills and growing their businesses as a result of the project.  Many students reported advancing their careers and became better leaders in their careers.  The self-directed learning project motivated these students (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis & Fleming, p. 28).  Motivation is a main ingredient in self-directed learning.  The student has to have a larger purpose behind engaging in self-directed learning, in order for him or her to be motivated to engage in it and carry out the complete process.

            A third major theme in self-directed learning is the need for a practitioner to develop an actual design of a self-directed learning space.  According to Pata, (2009), “…common learning spaces for self-directed learners may be characterized, shaped and utilized at the targeted university courses as part of an ecological learning design framework” (p. 23).  A learner’s self-directing competencies should be priority, when developing new graduate level courses.  Based on a learner’s own personal and work objectives, self-directed learning frameworks should be adapted to these objectives by the learner.  With the help of teachers, there are several steps in an ecological learning design framework for supporting self-directed learning in the new social Web.  According to Pata, (2009), these steps include the following:

1. Define the learning and teaching niches for your students by collecting their affordance perceptions of their learning spaces dynamically in the course of action. 

2. To support the conscious self-managed development of learner-determined spaces, provide students with the tools of visualizing and monitoring their activity-patterns and learning landscapes, and enhancing public self-reflection and collaborative grounding of learning affordances.

3. To maintain coherence of the current niche, introduce cycles of re-evaluation of learning affordances of the learning space within your course.

 4. Try to influence the niche re-emergence by embedding activity traces and ecological knowledge relevant to evoke affordances for certain niches or select activity systems where these traces are naturally present. 

5. Use same social learning environments repeatedly to gain from feedback left as activity traces and embodied knowledge of earlier learners. (p. 28)

Learners’ actions and their perception of their learning environment should always be considered when developing a learning design framework.  The steps above demonstrate how to do this, as learning design frameworks constantly evolve.

            A fourth major theme, is that self-directed learning has been shown to outperform more traditional forms of learning.  In a study of a German medical curriculum, it was found that direct instruction was outperformed by self-directed learning (Peine, Kabino & Spreckelsen, 2016, p. 158).  This helps to put a purpose behind researching the previous themes listed.  Self-directed learning is constantly being proven as a preferred method of learning.  The study included 244 medical students who were tested on the comparison of their direct instruction learning compared to later self-directed learning.  All students showed notable improvements through post-testing scores after learning through a more self-directed learning curriculum.  The self-directed learning curriculum included e-learning and self-study.  The study showed that students in modern study programs learn better through self-instructed methods than through conventional direct instruction methods. It was concluded that these self-study methods should be used more often.  Not only did these self-study methods show improved learning, they also showed better levels of student acceptance and higher scores in personal self-assessment of knowledge (Peine, Kabino & Spreckelsen, 2016, p. 158).

Implications

            Practitioners in education can apply the general themes of self-directed learning  directly in their practice, by studying the needs of their students, using technology to engage their students, and communicating an obvious connection of the positive outcome of their students’ self-directed learning to their own short-term and long-term professional goals.  Motivation in self-directed learning was described in one of the themes of self-directed learning.  Students can utilize self-directed learning more willingly and effectively, when they have the motivation to do so.  While a portion of this motivation needs to come from the student, the teacher can also play a role in helping students to identify this motivation.  The teacher can do this by asking the student to really think about his or her goals, and how and why they want to apply what they are learning to their professional life.  Once a student can identify why they are doing something, they will have more of a drive to engage in self-directed learning. 

The teacher can also apply the themes to practice by using technology.  The current society we live in, is very technology-driven.  This gives teachers and students the opportunity to have access to more information in record speed.  This has called for a need for self-directed learning, as well as helped create an environment for self-directed learning.  Teachers can now require more hands-on research from their students, which requires and helps to develop skills in self-directed learning.  Practitioners can also take this a step further and ask their students to apply their research to their own lives and discuss how they can use what they have learned to apply in the future.  Practitioners can utilize the availability of technology, that all students now have at their fingertips, to help engage them in self-directed learning.  They can use self-study and e-learning programs to help foster self-directed learning. 

Last, but not least, practitioners can also study their past and current students to help understand what their students need in their self-directed learning journey.  This will help the practitioner constantly keep up with changes and adjustments that need to be made to their class curriculum in order to foster the best self-directed learning environment possible.  The learning landscape is impossible to effectively develop, without the student’s input.  This is what helps self-directed learning to thrive.  Practitioners can use questionnaires to gather feedback from earlier students, in order to directly apply some of this feedback to the next time they offer the course.  They can also gather feedback from using the same social learning environments in each of their courses.  Practitioners should make it a priority to allow for student interactions through group projects and discussion boards.  This will allow for pertinent information regarding how effective the self-directed learning environment is, and what needs to be done to make it more effective.  This is all so important, because not only will this help students academically, but they can use this skill to positively affect their future careers.

Reflection

            One highlight to the above analysis, is that self-directed learning is not 100% in the hands of the student.  Although the student plays a large role in his or her self-directed learning, the teacher also has a major role in the student’s self-directed learning journey.  The student cannot proceed without some direction from the practitioner.  The practitioner gains the ability to give direction through research of what techniques he or she believes will work best for the students.  Once the practitioner sets in place a curriculum framework, the course can then be self-directed by the student, within the framework.  Another highlight, is that with the growing use of technology in the learning environment, some use of self-directed learning is a necessity.  Students have to educate themselves on technology, in order to use it effectively in the classroom. 

            In completing this assignment, I researched and read several articles on the topic of self-directed learning.  I narrowed the articles down to the ones that were most interesting to me, and the ones that I believe presented useful information for practitioners who want to learn more about self-directed learning.  I have learned that there is a plethora of information available about self-directed, but that I had to approach the challenge of narrowing it down to what has been presented in this assignment.  Self-directed learning is a growing subject in adult education, and will continue to prove useful for learners.

Summary

 

References

Boyer, S.L., Edmondson, D.R., Artis, A.B. & Fleming, D. (2014). Self-Directed Learning:

A Tool for Lifelong Learning. Journal of Marketing Education, 36(1), 20-32.

BRYAN, V. C. (2015). Self-Directed Learning and Technology. Education Digest, 80(6),

42-44.

Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S., & Baumgartner, L.M. (2007).  Learning in Adulthood: A

Comprehensive Guide. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

Pata, K. (2009). Modeling spaces for self-directed learning at university courses.

Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 12(3), 23-43.

Peine, A., Kabino, K. & Spreckelsen, C. (2016). Self-directed learning can outperform

direct instruction in the course of a modern German medical curriculum - results

of a mixed methods trial. BMC Medical Education, 16(1), 158.