Learning pathway 1: What is self-Directed Learning?
Overview
The overall purpose of this learning pathway is to explore and critique self-directed learning and begin to understand the meaning of openness in education. Bloom's taxonomies will be used to guide the development of learning outcomes that can be used to measure your cognitive processes.
In this section you will:
- Explore established definitions and information about self-directed learning;
- Critique self-directed learning principles and study pathways, debating their benefits, and potential obstacles;
- Identify the principles associated with openness in education (sharing, OER, open access, open teaching).
- Justify the use of Bloom’s taxonomies for measuring own cognitive processes; and
- Compose measurable learning outcomes for a personal study pathway.
Video signpost
- Self-directed learning
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It can be chaotic, unstructured and incredibly interesting. Learners choose what they want to learn and how they want to learn. .....
- Microblog reflection
- Take-home message:
Share your thoughts on this video on WEnotes below, OERu forums or Twitter and include the hash tag “xxx” in your post. For example:
- I didn’t realise … #xxx
- Self-directed learning is good for … #xxx
- Self-directed learning is no good for … #xxx
- I want to learn about self-directed learning, so I can … #xxx
(If using WEnotes, you do not need to explicitly add the tag to your post.)
You must be logged in to post to WEnotes.
Introduction to self-directed learning
- Definitions
- Link to adult learning - Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning.
Principles of self-directed learning
- Benefits and potential obstacles
- Merriam, S. (2001).Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education,89. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Brookfield, S. D. (1994). Self-directed learning. In YMCA George Williams College ICE301 Lifelong learning, Unit 1 Approaching lifelong learning. London: YMCA George Williams College.
Openness in education
- Principles by David Wiley - OER and sharing, open access, open teaching.
Why use Bloom's taxonomies?
- Explanation of the purpose of these.
Explore the three Bloom's taxonomies.
Start - Self-directed learning challenge
- Summary: Prepare a the first part of a draft study plan on a wiki page and share it with other participants.
- Time: 4 hrs
- Skills: Linked to final assignment and digital skills required for authoring in the wiki.
The purpose of this learning challenge is to:
- i) prepare and justify a plan for using self-directed learning and openness principles in your study pathway.
- Include personal learning goals or objectives (what you will do) and learning outcomes (what you will have learned at the end) for your selected study pathway.
- ii) Post the plan to a wiki.
- Note: This is formatively assessed and will become part one of your Study Guide.
- iii ) Comment on two draft plans produced by other participants.
Start here
- Introduction
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WikiEducator will be used as the wiki platform. Check out how to begin on the Using WikiEducator page. Register an account or proceed to the tutorial on how to do this.
A wiki page has two modes:
- The published mode – the view which a visitor to the wiki site will see; and
- The editing mode – which you will use when editing text on the wiki.
To activate the edit mode, you will need to register and log in to the wiki platform you have chosen. Click on the Edit link that appears near the top of the page. There are two ways you can edit a wiki page:
- Using the VisualEditor – accessed via the “Edit” link near the top of the page (on the right). Editing a page using the VisualEditor is easy and intuitive, but you will not be able to take full advantage of all the features of the Mediawiki software.
- Using wikitext– accessed via the “Edit source” link (next to the “Edit” link). We recommend that you familiarise yourself with what wikitext looks like and how it works, but you don’t need to learn all the markup now. However, for uploading images on WikiEducator which are not available on the Wikimedia Commons, you will need to use wikitext.
- VisualEditor resources
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- Wikipedia’s VisualEditor user guide (WikiEducator uses the Mediawiki wiki platform – the same software which hosts Wikipedia.)
- Wikitext resources
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Tasks - Self-directed learning challenge
- 1. Read articles about self-directed learning and prepare a blog post where you:
- a) discuss and critique established definitions of self-directed learning and the perceived benefits and barriers for adult learners;
- b) define self-directed learning in your context.
- 2. Read the article by David Wiley, and respond to the following questions.
- a) How do the three principles (OER, open access, and open teaching) apply to your learning?
- b) What can you do to ensure that you share your learning experiences with others?
- c) Post on your blog and respond to at least two other participants' blog posts.
- 3. Explore Bloom's three taxonomies and consider their use for measuring your cognitive processes.
- a) Write four learning outcomes that fit your study pathway, and justify your choice.
- b) Post to your blog and give feedback to at least two other participants' blog posts.
Outputs - Self-directed learning challenge
1. Develop and publish your study plan on the designated course wiki, setting up your own page linking from the course page.
- Share the url on the microblog facility for the course using the tag #xxx.
2. Publish a short blog post of approximately 200 words to share your experience and reflections on this activity.
- Include a link to your study plan.
- Apply the “xx” tag to your post (it is called a label in blogger). (This is needed for harvesting your post in the course feed.)
- Please register the url of your blog post so course participants can find your contribution to provide feedback and comments.
3. Post a comment in the wiki (discussion tab) providing feedback on two others' study plans.
- Preferably, try to find study plans which does not have any feedback comments.
- Note: The wiki convention is to post feedback on the corresponding discussion page in the wiki.
