Students' perceptions of self‐directed learning and collaborative learning with and without technology

Abstract

This study explored students' perceptions of self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CL) with/without technology in an information and communications technologysupported classroom environment. The factors include SDL, CL, SDL supported by technology, and CL supported by technology. Based on the literature review, this study hypothesized that students' perceptions of learning without technology positively predict their perceptions of learning supported by technology. An instrument was developed and two studies, a pilot study and a main study, were undertaken. The pilot study surveyed 219 secondary school students and established the factors through exploratory factor analysis with good validity and reliability. The main study surveyed 500 secondary school students to confirm the factors and to establish the relationships between these factors through structural equation modeling. The results validated the four-factor structure model and revealed that students who reportedly engaged in SDL and CL in face-to-face contexts also engaged in these forms of learning in technology-supported contexts. The findings indicate that students' learning without technology support is related to their use of technology for learning. It may be advisable for teachers to develop students' learning processes in the face-to-face context without technology before engaging them in technology-supported learning.

The Utilization of Open Educational Resources in the Collaborative Learning Environment to Enhance the Critical Thinking Skill

“…Several factors causing the significant enhancement of critical thinking skills were high student's enthusiasm and appreciation towards this learning strategy. This finding is relatively same to the other research in many areas (Lee et al, 2014;Piedra et al, 2015). So far, there is a tendency that learning at schools less utilizes ICT including by using OER from the internet.…”

“…As a consequence, critical and creative thinking skills, the knowledge analyzing and synthesizing abilities to solve technical, social, economic and other issues become important. Anticipating the change of global environment, the educators currently see that collaborative learning gives a lot of advantages for students (Blasco-Arcas et al, 2013;Halili et al, 2015;Lee et al, 2014;O'Sullivan, 2017). This technique is primarily related to edges on other aspects except for new knowledge acquisition, but more on social skills element (Gilboy et al, 2015;Hämäläinen & Laine, 2014;Ku et al, 2013;Zheng et al, 2014).…”

Revised Community of Inquiry: Examining Learning Presence in a Blended Mode of Delivery

“…Extensive research (Dynan et al, 2008;Hayes, Smith, & Shea, 2015;Lee, Tsai, Chait, & Koht, 2014;Shea & Bidjerano, 2012;Shea et al, 2012) regarding learning presence as an additional construct of the CoI framework has revealed two important gaps that are addressed in this article. Firstly, the existence and establishment of learning presence has been primarily examined in fully online courses and not explicitly in blended learning courses.…”

Factors related to college students’ self-directed learning with technology

“…It corresponds to the fundamental principles of higher education, including personal autonomy, personal responsibility, and personal growth (Wilcox, 1996). Given the pervasive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education, nowadays, SDL with technology warrants further investigation because SDL as a process is particularly enhanced with the affordances of ICTs (Candy, 2004;Lee, Tsai, Chai, & Koh, 2014;Teo et al, 2010). The use of ICTs influences students' decisions on SDL practices by enabling them to access a wide range of information resources, locate and evaluate information, follow their interests, and interact with experts and peers.…”