Self-Directed Learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic
Self-Directed Learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic

Author: Josef de Beer

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2023-03-01

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1776342321

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The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of pre-service teacher education, with a specific focus on research into the enhancement of self-directed learning, and contributes to the discourse on creating a disposition towards self-directed learning during the social and academic integration of first-year students within higher education institutions. Two chapters also deal with research on the development of self-directed learning and nuanced understandings of the chosen professions of Law and Health Sciences students. The target audience is scholars working in the fields of teacher education, self-directed learning, engaging pedagogies, problem-based learning, cooperative learning and gamification. Whereas social constructivist learning theory served as an overarching theoretical framework for the virtual excursions, the various chapters in the book also draw on other secondary theories, such as self-determination theory, social interdependence theory, gender theory and the with fitness model of Kounin (1970).

Self-Directed Learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic
Self-Directed Learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic

Author: Yolani Geldenhuys

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781776342310

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The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted teaching and learning at higher education institutions (HEIs), and this book disseminates research findings on a series of cross-campus online initiatives of the North-West University (NWU) to ensure high-quality self-directed learning, whilst simultaneously attending to the need for inclusion and diversity in this challenging context. The golden thread running through the 13 chapters is how this HEI responded to the pandemic in a creative way through its investment in online virtual student excursions, based on problem-based, cooperative learning and gamification principles to support self-directed learning. Whereas virtual excursions usually refer to learning opportunities where 'a museum, author, park or monument is brought to the student' (Hehr 2014:1), the virtual excursion in our context is an activity system (Engeström 1987) where students' learning is scaffolded across the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky 1978) and where their 'social and pedagogical boundaries are stretched or expanded' (De Beer & Henning 2011:204). Students engage as Homo ludens, the playing human (Huizinga 1955), in learning activities embedded in an ill-structured problem, and through reflective activities, they are encouraged to reflect on their own naïve understandings or biases. This 'tension', or in Veresov (2007) parlance, 'dramatical collisions', provides a fertile learning space for self-directed learning.

Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century: Implications for Higher Education
Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century: Implications for Higher Education

Author: Elsa Mentz

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2019-12-12

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1928396879

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This book is devoted to scholarship in the field of self-directed learning in the 21st century, with specific reference to higher education. The target audience of the book includes scholars in the field of self-directed learning and higher education. The book contributes to the discourse on the quality of education in the 21st century and adds to the body of scholarship in terms of self-directed learning, and specifically its role in higher education. Although all the chapters in the book directly address self-directed learning, the different foci and viewpoints raised make the book a rich knowledge bank of work on self-directed learning.

Innovative curriculum design
Innovative curriculum design

Author: Neal Petersen

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2023-09-29

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1779952813

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The focus of this book is original research regarding the implementation of problem-based learning and pedagogies of play as active approaches to foster self-directed learning. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in mind, educational institutions need to rethink teaching and learning for the future. As such, active engagement can be encouraged, as evident in this book, where problem-based learning drives learning through real-world problems, while pedagogy of play focuses on innovative environments where the action of play and learning are integrated with the aim of developing SDL. The following are addressed in the chapters: an overview of problem-based learning and pedagogy of play, metaliteracy, playful problem-based learning tasks, computational thinking in game-based tasks and geometry, solving puzzles, applying LEGO®, using drama as the pedagogy of play and implementing educational robotics. The empirical research findings disseminated in this book aim to inspire academics in the research focus area of self-directed learning with active learning approaches in the school and tertiary classroom that hold affordances to enhance 21st-century skills. Active learning is an umbrella term for pedagogies that mainstream student engagement, such as problem-based learning, cooperative learning, gamification, role-play and drama. This scholarly book highlights various engaging pedagogies.

Blended learning environments to foster self-directed learning
Blended learning environments to foster self-directed learning

Author: Christo van der Westhuizen

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2023-03-31

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1776342410

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This book on blended learning environments to foster self-directed learning highlights the focus on research conducted in several teaching and learning contexts where blended learning had been implemented and focused on the fostering of self-directed learning. Several authors have contributed to the book, and each chapter provides a unique perspective on blended learning and self-directed learning research. From each chapter, it becomes evident that coherence on the topics mentioned is established. One of the main aspects drawn in this book, and addressed by several authors in the book, is the use of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework when implementing teaching and learning strategies in blended learning environments to foster self-directed learning. This notion of focusing on the CoI framework is particularly evident in both theoretical and empirical dissemination presented in this book. What makes this book unique is the fact that researchers and peers in varied fields would benefit from the findings presented by each chapter, albeit theoretical, methodological or empirical in nature – this, in turn, provides opportunities for future research endeavours to further the narrative of how blended learning environments can be used to foster self-directed learning.

Rethinking Hybrid and Remote Work in Higher Education
Rethinking Hybrid and Remote Work in Higher Education

Author: Roy Y. Chan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-11-01

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 3031366328

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This timely volume explores the current and future state of hybrid and remote work in higher education from national, regional, and global perspectives. Today, colleges and universities worldwide must ensure that they have adequate information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, equipment, and systems to adapt to the “new normal” post-COVID-19. Hybrid and remote work can be a source of boosting productivity and advancing institutional change in higher education. Common within the management and leadership literature, hybrid and remote work is an understudied phenomenon in higher education administration. This book investigates the rapid rise of remote and hybrid work during and after the global pandemic and what it means for the future of higher education in the United States and abroad. By developing a comprehensive, research-based knowledge and framework this book seeks to equip and empower teacher-scholars and practitioners to operate safely, securely, and efficiently in a remote or hybrid environment.

Advances in Technological Innovations in Higher Education
Advances in Technological Innovations in Higher Education

Author: Adarsh Garg

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2024-03-29

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1003859755

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The evolution of technology in education can no longer be comprehended simply by looking at the use of computers and networks. Technology is not just a supplementary tool to the conventional method of education. Education has to undergo a complete transformation with technological innovations for the sustainability of quality education as a system and not in silos. Sustainability in education also necessitates a more workable strategy to realize socially viable educational policies and practices which can focus more on personalized learning. Due to various factors like emerging technologies; changing needs of the learners; policy reforms for enhancing employability; and emphasis on uninterrupted education as in the case of the pandemic scenario of COVID-19, there is a need to steer a major transition in the education system. The education system has to be real and proficient for it to be instrumental to nurture an informed and knowledgeable society. This book on technological innovations in higher education is organized, largely, based on the diversity of higher education ecosystems that are supported by technological innovations. Various author viewpoints give insights into the full potential of technology as well as its risks in interrelated areas of higher education to work towards sustainability of value-based quality education across the globe.