Ms Suman's class

“The purpose of education is to enhance individual effectiveness in society and give learners practical knowledge and problem-solving skills” (John Dewey). According to John Dewey (1897), the purpose of education should not revolve around the acquisition of a pre-determined set of skills, but rather the realisation of one's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good. He notes that ‘to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities’ (1897: 77-80). Personally, I also believe that by providing choices and opportunities to students will allow them to develop at their own pace and to follow their own interests. All the interference and guidance on the part of parents and teachers only produces a generation of robots. My article takes up the model of Self Directed Learning (SDL) in my Educational setting, and explores the possibility of constructing a supportive environment for students to learn on their own, in which the proximal development of student can take place, and the role of the teacher as a mentor in helping to build such an environment.

Today, when the velocity of knowledge is accelerating I believe that though a teacher in school can provide extrinsic motivations to students, such as rewards and positive learning environment, it may be more pivotal to determine ways to empower students to take charge of their own learning processes (Flint & Johnson, 2011). Clearly, though external motivators do help in behavioural motivation yet cognitive motivation is essentially intrinsic and more effective as knowledge is constructed by the learner due to his or her own interest in learning (Berkeley website). Therefore, teachers at Indus stress more upon constructivist motivation in their classrooms in which learners will set their own goals and inspire themselves to reach these goals thus, taking the responsibility for their own learning.

What is self-directed learning?

According to Knowles (1975) self-directed learning is a process "in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes." (p. 18)

When the model of SDL was introduced at my school this fall, my grade nine students were a bit apprehensive about it and underwent a transformation that began with negative feelings like uncertainty and disappointment and now after four months I can see them relaxed into the joy of learning with confidence and skills for lifelong learning. When providing students full autonomy to manage their learning, it is important that they also own the process of learning and use that as a tool to meet their learning objectives.

At the start of each week, I share with students the learning objectives of the topic along with the various resources which they will use throughout the week, this includes videos, website links, practice problems, guided questions and lecture notes. I also share the different strategies to accomplish these goals, students are encouraged to choose the strategy and resources that work best for them as a learner and thus, allow them to move through the content at their own pace. Students show evidence of what they have learned in the form of summarised notes or mind maps, and when they complete their learning goals, they take an assessment. A student reflects on each Friday on weekly progress, which includes their own learning processes, the depth of knowledge, what worked well and what can be improved and identify areas that require further development. 

Teacher's role in the class is that of a facilitator, coach, and fellow learner; the students learn by doing and by discovering. “Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results” (Dewey, 1916:179-182). Students move quickly through material they readily understand and the teacher provides personalised support and scaffold when they struggle with specific concept. Consequently, helping them in the learning process and meeting their learning goals. In some cases, I teamed the grade nine students up into small groups and asked them to pursue the topic independently as teams, coming to me only when they needed help. According to Leal (1993) allowing learners to explore ideas through peer discussions is a process that can yield new and valuable insights even without fully intact answers. However, the teacher instead of homogenous grouping should form groups comprising mixed ability students. In mixed ability groups, the below grade level and ESL student’s social interaction with more knowledgable others who are the higher achieving students, will foster both their content knowledge development and language acquisition. For example, confining support learners to the world of the support children (Kozulin, 1990) severely restricts their development because this type of isolated environment considerably limits students’ potential for interaction with the rest of the world. The learner will be able to realise his or her full potential only when he or she will be able to experience the most diverse types of human interaction possible.

Through my observations I found that grade nine students are gathering much more information and learning in depth and sharing that knowledge with pride with their peers. This reminds me of the 'school in the cloud' concept of education researcher Sugata Mitra where he showed how children living in remote areas without any supervision and help could teach themselves to use a computer. Self directed learning also helps in changing the fixed mindset towards the growth mindset as it teaches the students that doing work is a really positive thing as it is going to help them to become smarter. Moreover, when children take ownership of their learning, they reflect genuine satisfaction with their learning, it has more purpose, which in turn lead to in depth learning (Larsen-Freeman and Long, 1991).

Teachers have an imperative role themselves, they need to understand the concept of SDL in order to help the students to acquire the skills for SDL. The teachers should not interfere with the students's self-driven learning process, but should cede some control to students and act as a mentor to guide and provide emotional support. They should minimise any applaud or condemnation (Edutopia website). In addition to not interfering, teachers who want to encourage SDL should be comfortable with ambiguity, not only to abandon an anticipated march to the accurate answer but also let students play an active role in the pursuit for meaning that replaces it as “were all instructors to realise that the quality of mental process, not the production of correct answers, is the measure of educative growth” (Dewey, 1916). Lyman (1997) and Bolhuis (1996) believed that a teacher needs to encourage risk-taking, utilise or exploit students’ strengths and mitigate students’ weaknesses as it is more helpful for learners to accomplish a few objectives of importance to them than it is to fulfil all the objectives that are important to the teacher.

Today, all over the world, education is moving towards more examinations and more qualifications. It seems that high test scores obtained in exams define the quality of education gained. “Were all instructors to realise that the quality of mental process, not the production of correct answers, is the measure of educative growth something hardly less than a revolution in teaching would be worked” (Dewey, 1916:193-211). It is true that a formal education and the resulting qualifications are important but as Corno (1992) suggests that we as facilitators should avoid limiting learners efforts solely to getting good grades and allow them to pursue personal interests without the threat of formal evaluation because even if they make errors while doing so, the activities will keep up their inquisitiveness, surpass exasperation, and ultimately break down the hurdles to achievement. Therefore, teachers need to create a safe yet challenging emotional climate in the classroom based on the Brain Based Learning principles (Jensen, 2000) where students are made comfortable to ask questions, to share their thoughts and beliefs and are not worried about making mistakes. This leads to a continual active inquiry among students and between teacher and student. Therefore, active learning, as part of constructivist learning theory, is supported by the biology of the brain (Cercone, 2006). It also enhances social interaction that facilitates learning.

The SDL model being practiced at my school point to the fact that children can be trusted much more to take responsibility of their own learning. It is a self-taught and self-paced journey where students work hard because they want to. For instance, in grade eleven while planning a class on the structure of DNA I read somewhere that understanding life on a molecular level is greatly enhanced when students are given the opportunity to visualise the molecules especially understanding DNA structure. So, instead of instruction-based lecture I decided to use the cooperative learning, to help learners solve their learning problems and be independent learners. The strategy was to make a paper model of DNA structure in groups. The students formed their groups and learnt to make the paper model for DNA on their own by watching videos on youtube. The main feature of this process of learning was that students took significant responsibility for their own learning over and above responding to instruction (Boud, 1981). It was a defining moment for me because when I think about my education there were always learning advocates like teachers to nurture us in school and in college we had professors.

Why Self-Directed Learning ?

Today the paradigm shifts away from a trainer centric world to a learner centric where an individual is the catalyst for his or her own knowledge gathering and performance. There is a convincing evidence that students who design and accomplish their learning tasks, learn more things and learn better than students who wait for the teachers to tell them what to study and learn (Knowles 1975: 14). Secondly, the self-directed learning is well matched to our natural processes of psychological development; an essential aspect of maturing is developing the ability to take increasing responsibility of our own lives to become increasingly self-directed (Knowles 1975: 15). Finally, to meet the challenges in today's working environment in which one has to learn on its own, SDL is most important (Ramnarayan and Hande, 2005).

Someone has aptly compared knowledge to radioactive atoms as it decays over time. A large fraction of what we learn is going to be obsolete within a few years which means that much of what is important today may be irrelevant tomorrow. Therefore, there is a need for continuous knowledge replenishment as the information and skills a person has acquired at the age of twenty may be gone in five years. The most prevailing problem in todays world is the exponential growth in knowledge and because any course cannot teach everything, and continued additions can lead to what Abrahamson (1978) describes as "curriculum hypertrophy." The SDL approach can be used to tackle this issue by inculcating in students the skills to learn and reeducate as knowledge develops. This has led to an increasing emphasis on acquiring skills for lifelong learning. "These include the ability to analyse problems, define what needs to be learnt, know how and where to access information, evaluate information, and be aware of the one's own limitations. The rationale is that students who develop such skills will be equipped for whatever the future holds" and will keep up to date even if the school stops (Ramnarayan and Hande, 2005).

On the whole, I believe that the purpose of education in the present century is to equip students with the power to think effective and objectively. “Thinking is the method of intelligent learning, of learning that employs and rewards mind” (Dewey, 1916:179-192). I want my students to know that they belong and that they are crucial to the process of learning. As the children matures, they have an increasing desire for independence and autonomy. SDL may be one way of fulfilling that natural desire by providing students full autonomy to manage their learning and help them achieve authentic and meaningful learning experience that will last through adulthood even after the school stops (Abdullah, 2001). Based on the above considerations, a teacher need to reflect how the space they are creating through SDL make every student learn social competencies, self-esteem, and how to learn independently -- three important 21st-century skills (Edutopia website). I strongly believe in giving students liberty, supporting their interests, letting them exercise their choices and watching them experience organic learning that evolves effortlessly (Wired website).

References:

Abdullah, M.H. (2001). Self- directed learning [ERIC digest No. 169]. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication. (ERIC Docu- ment Reproduction Service No. ED459458)

Abrahamson, S. (1978) Diseases of the curriculum, Journal of Medical Education, 53(12):951-957.

Bolhuis, S. (1996). Towards Active and Selfdirected Learning. Preparing for Lifelong Learning, with Reference to Dutch Secondary Education.

Boud, F. (1981) Developing student autonomy in learning. London: Kogan.

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Corno, L. (1992). Encouraging Students to Take Responsibility for Learning and Performance. Elementary School Journal; v93 n1 p69-83 Sep 1992.

Dewey, J., (1897) ‘My Pedagogic Creed’, The School Journal, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 77-80.

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http://www.edutopia.org/blog/children-in-charge-self-directed-learning-mirjam-schoning.

Flint, N.R., & Johnson, B. (2011). Towards fairer university assessment: Recognizing the concerns of students. New York: Routledge.

https://gsi.berkeley.edu/teachingguide/theories/social.html

Hunt, L.C., Jr. (1997). The Effect of Self-Selection, Interest, and Motivation Upon Independent, Instructional, and Frustrational Levels. Reading Teacher; v50 n4 p278-82 Dec-Jan 1996-97.

Jensen, E., (1995/2000) (revised) Brain-based Learning: The New Science of Teaching and Training. Rev. ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 2005. Teaching with the Brain in Mind. 2nd ed. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Kinsella, K., (1995) Understanding and empowering diverse learners. In: Reid, J.M. (Ed.), Learning Styles in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Heinle, Boston, Mass, pp. 170-194.

Knowles, M. S. (1975) Self-directed learning: A guide for learners and teachers, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Kohn, A., (2008) ‘Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find’, Independent School, p. 19-28.

Kozulin, A., (1990) Vygotsky’s psychology: A biography of ideas. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D. and Long, M.H., (1991) An introduction to second language acquisition research.New York: Longman.

Leal, D.J. (1993). The Power of Literary Peer-Group Discussions: How Children Collaboratively Negotiate Meaning. Reading Teacher; v47 n2 p114-20 Oct 1993.

Ramnarayan, K and Hande, Shyamala (2005) Thoughts on Self-Directed Learning in Medical Schools: Making Students More Responsible. New Horizons, 11 (3). Retrieved December 24, 2015, from http://www.newhorizons.org/journal/journal47.htm

http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/12/rethinking-education-self-directed-learning-fits-the-digital-age/