Mallory

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Mallory McDonald	Ezohn Smith  Takisha Carlton

Self-Directed Learning Literature Review

Mallory McDonald

Introduction

The study of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) is a rather recent yet powerful idea in the world of education. As defined by Knowles, SDL is a form of study where learners are leading the planning, execution, and evaluation of their learning tasks (Abdullah, Koren, Muniapan, Parasuraman, & Rathakrishnan, 2008, pp. 67). Ever since Tough wrote the first extensive description of SDL as a study, researchers, practitioners, and writers have been intrigued. It’s not a new phenomenon; adults learn on their own all the time. The difference is now it’s in the spotlight for being brought into more formal learning settings. Before SDL was brought to light, adult educators had often been using research about how children learn and applying it to adults (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, pp. 105; Merriam, 2001, p. 4). This literature review will focus on developing self-directedness in adults and fostering their ability to successfully reach the SDL goals.

Goals of Self-Directed Learning

The main goals of SDL as it exists today are, one, to improve self-directedness in adult learners’ skillset; two, to promote transformational learning; and three, to foster “emancipatory learning and social action” (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, pp. 105-107; Merriam, 2001, p. 4). Brockett and Hiemstra’s Personal Responsibility Orientation (PRO) model embodies the first goal. As summarized by Merriam et al. (2007), the PRO model as it intertwines with humanistic philosophy is about taking responsibility for one’s learning and using one’s autonomy to make decisions about his/her learning process (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 108). The second goal is all about critical reflection. Mezirow (as cited in Merriam, 2001) claimed that learners must be mindful of the different dimensions and contexts for their needs and wants, including their history and cultures. Such understanding is required in order for learners to become autonomous self-directed learners, and adult educators play a major role in supporting learners in becoming self-directed. A smaller handful of writers focus on the third goal and want to see more social and political actions come from SDL, as opposed to the individual emphasis (Merriam, 2001, p. 9). In order for these goals to be achieved, learners need to hold a set of characteristics as prerequisites of successful SDL.  

Themes

Characteristics of Self-Directed Learners: Autonomous, Motivated, Self-Regulated, and Reflective

SDL cannot happen without some degree of autonomy. Chene (as cited in Merriam et al., 2007) discovered three factors that define an autonomous learner. These are “independence, the ability to make choices and critical judgments, and the capacity to articulate the norms and limits of a learning society” (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 122). Merriam et al. (2007) lists four variables that impact whether an adult learner can demonstrate autonomy in a learning situation: their technical skillset for the task, how familiar they are with the content, how competent they feel as learners, and how committed they are to learning at that particular moment. Because of the variability of how any given individual would rate themselves on these four factors in different contexts, one may be autonomous in one situation but lack autonomy in a different situation (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 123).

There are two pieces of motivation that come into play for adult learners participating in SDL: the motivation to participate in the first place, and the motivation to stay on task. Motivation for a learner to get started with a learning process and actually continue through the process is influenced by both internal and external factors. Intrinsic motivation is far more powerful when it comes to learners taking responsibility for their learning (Garrison, 1997). Motivating factors could include job advancement, developing friendships, or the simple pleasure of learning something new. Tying in one of Knowles’ aspects of andragogy as it relates to motivation, authenticity and relevance of learning activities help with motivation because the learners can see why the task will benefit them (Abdullah et al., 2008, p. 68-67).

Self-regulation is defined by Pintrich (as cited in Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007) as “an active, constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behaviour, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features in the environment.” Essentially, self-regulated learners take responsibility and control of both their thoughts and behavior. Self-regulation and self-direction are closely linked; Long (as cited in Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007) emphasized that self-regulation is crucial for effective self-direction (Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007, pp, 19, 21). Self-regulated learners are involved in three processes while learning: self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction. These are the ways that a learner monitors him/herself, and then they are to progress accordingly; indeed, self-regulation is arguably advantageous to academic outcomes (Garrison, 1997).

Reflection is regularly needed during SDL in order to regulate the learning process. Pilling-Cormick & Garrison (2007) argue that metacognition forms a bridge between reflective inquiry and both self-directed and self-regulated learning. Metacognition, or thinking about and understanding one’s thoughts and the thinking process, supplies the necessary cognitive tools that allow learners to fuse reflection and action (Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007, pp. 23-26). Reflection also plays a role in understanding one’s satisfaction with the learning task, and realizing whether or not they are learning. In the SDL study by de Bruijn & Leeman (2011), adult learners didn’t naturally take the time to reflect during the learning itself. Thus, it may be necessary for the educators to provide opportunities for reflection (de Bruijn & Leeman, 2011, p. 698, 700).

Meeting Learners Where They Are

The characteristics that have been discussed are not present in all learners, and the presence that does exist are of varying levels. Even if an adult is a competent self-directed learner in one area, it should not be assumed that he/she has the same SDL ability in a different context. Guidance might be necessary in the first stages of a SDL task (Merriam, 2001, p. 10). Grow’s model, Staged Self-Directed Learning (SSDL), exemplifies the four categories on a spectrum under which learners likely fall. Stage 1 is dependent learner, where a teacher’s direct instruction is necessary. Stage 2 is interested learner who may be motivated and confident but who does not yet have the competency to learn independently. Stage 3 is involved learner. The involved learner has intermediate self-direction as well as the basic knowledge and understanding to explore a learning task with some guidance. Finally, stage 4 is the self-directed learner who is motivated and ready to take full control of planning, implementing, and assessing their own learning independently. It is critical for educators to meet learners at the stage they fall under, and support them in moving to the next level if they are not already at stage 4 (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 117).

Guglielmino (as cited in Merriam et al., 2007 and Abdullah et al., 2008) developed a readiness scale for SDL, which consists of 8 factors:

Openness to learning opportunities, self-concept in an effective learner, initiative and independence in learning, informed acceptance of responsibility for one’s own learning, love of learning, creativity, future orientation, and ability to use basic study skills and problem-solving skills. (Abdullah et al., 2008 p. 68)

This Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) can provide valuable insight to educators and employers. People who score lower on the scale should be provided opportunities to improve their self-directedness (Merriam et al., 2007, p. 122).

In addition to SSDL and SDLRS, other factors must be considered when determining the readiness of an adult to be self-directed in their learning. Several barriers could exist that are outside of the educator’s control. Smith (as cited in Abdullah et al. 2008) categorized barriers into 3 umbrellas: situational, institutional, and dispositional. Situational barriers could include finances and other responsibilities. Institutional barriers could be time conflicts with the program availability or less preferred requirements from the learning institution. Dispositional barriers might be the student feels too old to learn or he/she had bad experiences in a previous learning environment (Abdullah et al. 2008, p. 70).

Implications

In order for educators to support adults in becoming self-directed learners, we need to meet students where they are and foster autonomy, motivation, self-regulation, and reflection. As these attributes flourish, the learners’ abilities to be self-directed will benefit.

Autonomy Implications

The process of learning should surround the learner’s needs, and educators should be facilitators or guides; they should not present themselves as the content experts (Abdullah et al. 2008, p. 68). Asking guiding questions to the students that lead them to figuring out answers themselves is a way to help them build autonomy and confidence in relying on themselves. Giving choices to learners for tasks or readings, and at the next level having them create assignments, would also promote autonomy and control.

Motivation Implications

Motivation is typically more dominant when learners are entering the first stages of learning as opposed to during the learning process itself, since there must have been a reason why they decided to learn something in the first place. Once the learning process has started, students should be given “an opportunity to understand why specific objectives are worthwhile, if not to select relevant objectives from among several options, shape approaches, and select appropriate learning tasks” (Garrison, 1997). Additionally, providing feedback to the learners can be motivating. Feedback is “valuable for students as [it] provide[s] an impression of their knowledge and skills, an awareness of their growing competence and an aid to making further choices” (de Bruijn & Leeman 2011, p. 699).

Self-Regulation Implications

Prior to a learner being self-regulated, they likely need an external regulator. The educator can be that external regulator and model self-regulation. Gradually, the educator can step away from that role while maintaining their role as facilitator. This is not so easy; many teachers in de Bruijn & Leeman’s study (2011) struggled to hold the balance, and student reactions didn’t make it any easier. The learners didn’t have an issue with the teacher being in control and regulating the students, but once the external regulation was weaned away, some students felt very uncomfortable. Students with formal education backgrounds found self-regulation much more manageable than those without (de Bruijn & Leeman 2011, p. 699). To avoid this anxiety, transparency with students about the importance of this skill and purposefully modeling self-regulation, including goal setting, self-observation, self-judgement, and self-reaction would be invaluable.

Reflection Implications

Since reflection is not always natural for learners, it is necessary for educators to provide opportunities for learners to reflect as part of the journey of becoming self-directed. Pilling-Cormick & Garrison (2007) suggested getting learners to think about themselves in low-pressure ways before they are expected to assess their learning. For example, having students write a paragraph about a time when they were proud of something they had done (Pilling-Cormick & Garrison, 2007, pp. 28-29). Easing more reflection opportunities into the learning process could enhance learners’ ability and frequency of reflecting without a prompt.

Conclusion

Self-directed learning is not an easy task for many adult learners. With the guidance of knowledgeable educators who purposefully foster and enhance characteristics that are foundational for SDL to occur, then the outcomes can be powerful. The goals of SDL are all about people being effectively self-directed, critical thinkers in formal settings and beyond. In order to reach such goals, learners need to be autonomous, motivated, self-regulated, and reflective throughout the learning process. It is imperative that adult educators are mindful of where learners might be on Grow’s SSDL or Guglielmino’s SDLRS as well as what other barriers might be present for each individual, especially those who are struggling to meet the expectations of SDL. Meeting students where they are and promoting autonomy, motivation, self-regulation, and reflection can make a world of difference when it comes to supporting people in reaching their potential to be self-directed learners.

Reflection

The highlights of this assignment for me were reading about how to support people in becoming self-directed learners, as opposed to the SDL models themselves. At first it felt like there was an overwhelming amount of articles to choose from, but I enjoyed browsing them and learning more and more with every click. Once I decided to focus my literature review on how to support learners in becoming self-directed, I wrote down the main ideas of about 8 sources (including the textbook) in column 2 of the table that Dr. Chang suggested for summarizing ideas. From there, I identified what characteristics had the most overlapped and seemingly the most importance.

Determining the themes and figuring out how to synthesize all my sources was a bit of a challenge. The process I went through was I chose one theme at a time, and highlighted relevant main ideas from each source that I could use. I highlighted with a different color per theme. Then I eliminated 2 articles that weren’t adding a noteworthy perspective because I had enough information in the other ones. This highlighting method made my paper go pretty smoothly once I started typing, because I had already organized which sources to refer to for each piece.

Themes	Implications/Applications
Autonomy	-Offering choices for tasks and readings so learners have some control -Asking guiding questions to lead learners to figuring out the answers/exploring ideas themselves -Instructors should be a facilitator or guide, not the expert of content
Motivation	-Have learners come up with the objectives. If this is not an option, get learners involved in breaking down the importance of each objective -Offering choices for tasks also builds motivation -Give meaningful feedback regularly
Self-Regulation	-Model self-regulation i.e. setting goals, saying your thinking process aloud, and have students do the same (but on paper rather than aloud) -Be an external regulator for the learners, and gradually let that go
Reflection	-Give low-pressure reflection assignments such as “write a paragraph about a time you were proud of yourself” to get learners to start thinking about themselves in a reflective manner -Have students write down or talk with each other about their learning progress or what they are learning from a task
Meeting Students Where They Are	-Have learners self-assess where they lie on Grow’s SSDL model or do Guglielmino’s SDLRS -Once you know their level, focus on pushing them through to the next level based on the characteristics they already possess and do not have unreasonable expectations of their SDL abilities

References

Abdullah, M. M. B., Koren, S. F., Muniapan, B., Parasuraman, B., & Rathakrishnan, B. (2008). Adult

    Participation in Self-Directed Learning Programs. International Education Studies, 1(3), 66-72.

de Bruijn, E., & Leeman, Y. (2011). Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education:

    Challenges to vocational educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 694-702.

Garrison, D. R. (1997). Self-directed learning: Toward a comprehensive model. Adult Education

    Quarterly, 48(1), 18-33.

Merriam, S. B. (2001). Andragogy and Self-Directed Learning: Pillars of Adult Learning Theory.

    New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 89, 3-13.

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A

    Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Pilling-Cormick, J., & Garrison, D. R. (2007). Self-Directed and Self-Regulated Learning: Conceptual

    Links. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, 33(2), 13-33.