Orientation to self-directed learning: Paradox or paradigm?

Taylor, Imogen; Burgess, Hilary

doi:10.1080/03075079512331381820

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…Merely taking an active role may mean a great change in the learner's study habits and cause anxiety [1]. Self-directed learning is likely to need time to mature [17] and may depend on a proper orientation phase [14]. Student ability to be self-directed has been argued to be a situational matter, which further complicates course designs: a student can be highly self-directed in one subject of study, but much more dependent on expert direction in another [7].…”

Section: Contextualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues with a course that emphasizes self-direction

Isomöttönen

Tirronen

Cochez

2013

Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

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In this paper, we examine a master's level course that emphasizes self-direction on the part of students. The course is run by weekly group assignments and requires independent work such that only one mandatory classroom session is arranged each week. Our specific research interests are how students responded to the setting of this kind and whether they demonstrated self-direction during the course. We surveyed the students' view of the course, their group work experience, and their study habits, and analyzed the resultant survey data for themes. The results suggest that while the pass rate was considerably high and the course was regarded as well-organized by the students, there were several concerns related to whether we could prompt self-directed study habits.

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Section: Contextualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues with a course that emphasizes self-direction

Isomöttönen

Tirronen

Cochez

2013

Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

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“…Time-management is a critical skill for all students, particularly part-time ones. Indeed, a commonly-held view is that part-time and mature students have more problems to cope with than do traditional students and that, as a consequence, they have greater problems with time-management skills (e.g., see Blaxter and Tight 1994;Taylor and Burgess 1995;Wheeler and Birtle 1993). However, despite the fact that nearly all of the study manuals that we have consulted recommend that students -of all ages -develop timemanagement skills (see Box 1), there is actually very little research on the topic of students' skills in this respect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison between the time-management skills and academic performance of mature and traditional-entry university students

1996

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Time-management skills are acknowledged to be important but there has been little actual research on this topic with students. In this study we examined the scores obtained from 293 first-year students of psychology on a British version of an American time-management scale. The students were divided into three age groups: traditional-entry students -aged less than 21 years (N = 172); borderline mature students -aged 21-25 years (N = 50) and older mature students -aged more than 25 years (N = 71). Our analyses indicated (i) that women students in general reported significantly greater time-management skills than did men students, and (ii) that our older mature students reported significantly better time-management skills than did the other two groups. Academic performance, however, was only modestly predicted by age and scores on one component of the time-management scale.

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“…First, we would have needed to better orient the students to the study habits required by our course model to properly set their expectations. Encouraged by the study by Taylor and Burgess [1995], we should demonstrate the study skills needed and leave room for sharing and discussing precourse experiences. We assume the latter could contribute to the emergence of self-directed study groups.…”

Section: Discussion and Suggestions For Further Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Merely taking an active role may mean a great change in the learner's study habits and cause anxiety [Akerlind and Trevitt 1999]. Successful self-directed learning may require a proper orientation phase [Taylor and Burgess 1995] and still take time to mature [van den Hurk et al 1999]. Furthermore, self-direction has been argued to be a situational matter.…”

Section: Self-directed Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching programming by emphasizing self-direction

Isomöttönen

Tirronen

2013

ACM Trans. Comput. Educ.

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Lecturing is known to be a controversial form of teaching. With massed classrooms, in particular, it tends to constrain the active participation of students. One of the remedies applied to programming education is to use technology that can vitalize interaction in the classroom, while another is to base teaching increasingly on programming activities. In this article, we present the first results of an exploratory study, in which we teach programming without lectures, exams, or grades, by heavily emphasizing programming activity, and, in a pedagogical sense, student self-direction. This article investigates how students reacted to the active role required of them and what issues emerged in this setting where self-direction was required. The results indicate three issues that should be taken into account when designing a student-driven course: the challenge of supporting students' theoretical synthesis of the topics to be learned, the individual's opportunities for self-direction in a group work setting, and mismatch between individual learning processes and academic course scheduling. ACM Reference Format:Isomöttönen, V. and Tirronen, V. 2013. Teaching programming by emphasizing self-direction: How did students react to the active role required of them? ACM Trans. Comput.

show abstract

Orientation to self-directed learning: Paradox or paradigm?

Cited by 24 publications

References 5 publications

Issues with a course that emphasizes self-direction

Issues with a course that emphasizes self-direction

A comparison between the time-management skills and academic performance of mature and traditional-entry university students

Teaching programming by emphasizing self-direction

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