Students making choices about learning

Consider the following scenario: A student chooses between purchasing a printed learning package or a CD-ROM version from the bookshop. Alternatively the student may access the same material online. The learning package provides the learning activities and readings the student is expected to complete in preparation for their class session. Class attendance is optional. Each class begins with an activity based on the required work as outlined in the learning package. The activity is designed to improve the students' understanding of the information they have worked with before the class. Other core activities conducted in class focus on further developing the students' understanding of the subject matter. Bulletin boards have been made available to groups of students who prefer to conduct their own tutorials electronically. The teacher monitors these once a week. Lectures are conducted weekly with the topics and schedule available in advance. The same lecture is available online or on video. Students are advised of the lecture schedule in advance. Students can freely choose which lectures are relevant to their needs and where and when they will access them.

Some teachers can feel unsure of their responsibility in teaching and learning contexts. What if the students don't come to their lectures or their tutorials? Are they, as teachers, abdicating their responsibility? Can students be trusted to do the work?

Most University teachers want their students to take responsibility for their learning and expect their students to be self-directed learners who have the skills of self-management. Flexible teaching and learning provides a range of access opportunities and different modes of learning to students. Students can have choices about how and when they will access their learning. They can decide what they need in order to learn.

Cranton (1992) defines self-directed learning as

the process of voluntarily engaging in a learning experience, being free to think or act as an individual during that experience, being free to reflect on that experience, and being able to discern change or growth as result of that experience, regardless of the setting in which it occurs (p. 56).

Allowing students to make choices about their learning experience encourages them to develop their skills of self-management and their ability to be self-directed learners.

• Cranton, P. (1992). Working with adult learners. Toronto, Canada:Wall & Emerson.