Self-directed learning is a core theoretical construct of adult learning. Importantly, self-directed learning represents a fundamental meta-competence for living and working in our increasingly complex and unpredictable world. Nonetheless, the construct of self-directed learning has become obfuscated. In order to redress this concern, this…

Aim/Purpose: This study of affordances in educational technology focuses on how the self-perceptions of teachers influence the creation of educational opportunities and how these are received by learners. Background: It is important to explore the affordances offered by teachers, when using educational technology, from the perspective of their…

This paper presents a social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time. Our perspective is rooted in the Danish tradition of critical psychology (Dreier, 1997; Mørck & Huniche, 2006; Nissen, 2005), and we use social practice theory to interpret the pathway of one adolescent whom we followed as part of a longitudinal…

A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) it is a combination of tools (usually digital) and resources chosen by the learner to support different aspects of the learning process, from goal setting to materials selection to assessment. The importance of PLEs for teachers lies in their ability to help students develop autonomy and prepare them for…

This article reports on findings from a comparative study on firefighter students' learning processes in a technology-supported distance training course and a traditional campus training course in Sweden. Based on student interviews and observations of exercises, the article aims to describe and analyse the impact on learning processes when…

Self-regulated learning (or self-regulation) refers to the process whereby learners personally activate and sustain cognitions, affects, and behaviours that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of learning goals. This is the first volume to integrate into a single volume all aspects of the field of self-regulation of learning and…

In on-demand education, students often experience problems with directing their own learning processes. A Structured Task Evaluation and Planning Portfolio (STEPP) was designed to help students develop 3 basic self-directed learning skills: Assessing the quality of own performance, formulating learning needs, and selecting future learning tasks. A…

Schools generally have been unable to keep up with the rapid technical changes in modern society. As a result, primary school age children worldwide are becoming self-taught independent e-learners and the gap between what they know and are able to do exceeds the learning outcomes for their schools' ICT (information communication technology)…

Discussion of learner control in distance education focuses on a study that examined six factors relating to three dimensions of control, i.e., independence, competence, and support. The use of factor analysis is explained, and the roles of teachers and the university in increasing learner control are discussed. (19 references) (LRW)

Education has traditionally been seen as a pedagogic relationship between teacher and learner. Although andragogy has provided many useful approaches for improving educational methodology and has been accepted almost universally, it still has connotations of a teacher-learner relationship. Some have argued that the rapid rate of change in society…