I have done reliability tests on the instrument that I'm using.  The alphas seem to be very good ranging from .805 to .964.  I'm satisfied with the values.  Three lecturers in my department have checked the instrument for content validity.  (Factor analysis using Promax rotation had been done by the original authors; the loadings ranged from .41 to .94)

Each participant will write up our own paper, and send it for publishing.  Then I will write up a combined paper.  By this, we will have 2 papers ethically!

I have done reliability tests on the instrument that I'm using.  The alphas seem to be very good ranging from .805 to .964.  I'm satisfied with the values.  Three lecturers in my department have checked the instrument for content validity.  (Factor analysis using Promax rotation had been done by the original authors; the loadings ranged from .41 to .94)

Each participant will write up our own paper, and send it for publishing.  Then I will write up a combined paper.  By this, we will have 2 papers ethically!

Dear Miranda, your research is interesting. Perhaps, the students concerned have to be trained in SMLT first i.e. Self-directed learning teams. As you know, this is a growing area and is becoming very popular in learning as well as working. 

Dear Prof Debi, I have been calling them CL teams, 4 or 5 students are in each team. Over the years, our students did not perform well in university.  Our director said 90% are just average, so I have only 10% good students who really know what they want and know where they are going :)

Dear @Miranda, I will help in research as I have done until now! Wish You good results, successful research and very happy birthday! :)

Thanks dear Profs Ljubomir, Debi et al.  I have done my part for the motivation research, thanks to all of you.  I think Javier will collect more data in September and do his part.  Of course, I expect to have to do lots of corrections.  Even Prof G who published the questionnaire I used, with 3 other co-authors, did modifications.  But I will learn through this, and value the learning.  All of us are very cognitive people :)  

It is difficult to count on first year university students with respect to self-directed learning "SDL". There have been attempts, in an open university in my country, to encourage the students to depend on themselves in learning the details in their courses while the instructor's job, in 16 meetings/semester, is to give the basics of each chapter in a textbook which explains the subjects in an easy lengthy way. Add to it, a course entitled "Learn How to Learn" was made compulsory, by that university, to all students. Unfortunately, this trial failed because the students are used to be spoon-fed many years before. There was also a hope that the students well have SDL in the second year level onwards but, because this did not come by a joint effort by all the university instructors, it is not working well. At best estimates, there has been a very partial success in SDL in few courses.

Dear Miranda, this is a very interesting idea. So far, I have used only The Self-Rating Scale of Self-Directed Learning (Williamson). I am particularly interested in this topic and in self-regulated learning.

Dear Dr Nizar, thanks for being very honest about your students.  Mine are the same, I agree very well with you: "Learn How to Learn" was made compulsory, by that university, to all students. Unfortunately, this trial failed because the students are used to be spoon-fed many years before. There was also a hope that the students well have SDL in the second year level onwards but, because this did not come by a joint effort by all the university instructors, it is not working well. At best estimates, there has been a very partial success in SDL in few courses."

@Ana, do you have a softcopy of the scale or a link?

This is the link for the Williamson scale.

For SRL I used The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al, 1993) and Inventory of Learning Styles (Vermunt).

the link:

http://tccl.rit.albany.edu/knilt/images/3/39/Williamson.pdf

Dear Miranda,

I am interested! 

Nola

Distance education is an opportunity educational alternative to traditional educational systems, taught in the classroom (school and university). Through distance education you can meet a demand for training that would otherwise be destined to remain unanswered (this is the case, for example, young people started early to work; those living in places where it is difficult to access to education and to traditional training, the handicapped, for whom such access may not be possible); as well as it is possible to respond to particular needs from the users: in particular, through the distance training the student enjoys greater independence, having the ability to scan in a very flexible manner its learning activities (both from the point of view content both from the point of view of time), in order to draw their own personal learning process.

With the rapid development of communication technology in recent years has produced a significant acceleration in the transmission of educational messages. It was also possible to establish new forms of mediated interaction (reciprocal actions that take place between people who are located in different spaces) and between the structure that assumes the role of teacher and pupils and between pupils and students.

Currently, distance education represents a very substantial fraction of the overall training. Its potential audience is vast and it is destined to grow, especially if you consider the constant increase in demand for training by adults (continuing education, retraining workers, teacher training).

Similarly, the view of distance learning is now somewhat diversified with the rapid succession of technological innovations, in fact, next all'antesignana training by correspondence (distance learning first-generation) have proliferated a large number of solutions and different types (distance learning of second and third generation).

It should also be noted that, in a first step, distance education has fulfilled only a vicarious role, since it offered educational opportunities made only to those who could not walk the streets of traditional training.

In recent years, on the contrary, the distance training is no longer only a makeshift solution: for many young people who have already benefited from a long period of education, it presents itself as training opportunities further, alternative to that offered by the traditional universities; as well as for many adults it is a preferred option to build (or rebuild) their repertoire of cultural and professional skills.

After this historical excursus, @Miranda and friends, how can we avoid to sustain and encurage the interest of research in this field?

Thanks Ana.  Williamson Questionnaire seems quite good, on first glance, but let me study it.  Dear Enzo and Nola, thanks for interest and support.  We have to work hard, otherwise it may not bear fruit.  It's best each one write up our own paper first, but we share the same objectives and use the same questionnaire. We don't have to work at exactly the same pace, but we need to agree to complete in a year at the most.  Thanks to all dear friends.

Dear Miranda, I used the Williamson scale on a sample of 121 undergraduate Romanian students because I wanted to see if it can predict academic performances and if its subscales are related to personality traits. It seemed promisingly. I will be happy to work with other scales, also. If you still need a Romanian sample for your instrument, I will be happy to help you.

Dear Ana, thanks very much.  I will read through the Williamson scale and get back.  I will also read your papers related to this matter.  I attach here my other project on motivation.  I have completed my part of our 'agreement' with colleagues who were keen on that motivation research. So I go on to SDL, because motivated students are self-directed.  Thanks again to you and all dear friends on RG and those who work behind the scenes..

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Who_is_keen_on_a_collaborative_study_on_K12_students_motivation_to_study_science_Do_you_have_resources_or_review_articles_on_this?_tpcectx=profile_questions

Dear Nola, Ana, the questionnaire I have been using is Thompson and Sheckley (1997), Table 1.  I have 1 hardcopy.  Do you have a softcopy?  Please place it here if possible, thanks.  We see if we can find the most suitable instrument, ok?

Thompson, C. & Scheckley, B. (1997). Differences in classroom teaching preferences between traditional and adult BSN students. Journal of Nursing Education, 36 (4), 163-170.

I cannot acces the full article.

Dear Ana, do you mean you want the paper by Thompson and Sheckley? I will try to find a soft copy for you. But I need to search. Is it this one you mean?  Let me know, thanks.

Yes, Thompson and Sheckley article, but when you will have time, it is not urgent.

Dear Ana, I managed to find the paper just now.  Here's the softcopy.  3 of our department teachers checked the items of Table 1 for content validity.  I just quote the loading values obtained by T&S (1997).  Then I got good reliability values.  Do you agree that the questionnaire applies equally well to college students, although it's from a nursing journal, originally used for nursing students?  Please let me know, thanks.

Hi Miranda, the link won't work for me. I don't think I can help much except to add a couple of musings on the topic. This is a current problem for me with my year 12 chemistry students. They are a particularly bad example of the phenomenon you describe. Not all of them. There are some fine examples of self directed learners in the group.

I wonder if the problem is a natural product of the social milieu of the time. Eg currently in Australia the following characteristics are in play:

1. An emphasis on performance through media attacks on education

2. A degree of fear for the future esp of employment.

3. Easy access to information, devaluing effort and creating a mistaken view of 'knowing'.

4. The parenting style called 'helicopter parenting' where adults manage every aspect of children's lives for too long.

5. Education as a 'service' to 'clients', devaluing techers as expertsgiving advice to the role of servant to the student;s success. Students find it too easy to rely on and then blame the teacher.

I don't think that teachers cause the problem, though the structure of the system surely has something to do with it. Teachers though are too slow to try to repair the misunderstandings. The problem is one of 'messages' that students take from what happens to them at school and from the outside world. To turn the problem around in a general sense will require us to construct curriculum and pedagogy differently to create a direct link between effort and success. The link is there currently but not made overt. We need to let the students make more mistakes and value those mistakes, not protect them from their mistakes, which sends the message that experimentation with thinking is not a good idea, better to do what the teacher says. Teachers are of course also positioned by the social conditions. We protect students from their mistakes because those above us want performance figures that look impressive.

@Mark, Thanks for your musings.  I appreciate it: 'I don't think that teachers cause the problem, though the structure of the system surely has something to do with it. Teachers though are too slow to try to repair the misunderstandings. The problem is one of 'messages' that students take from what happens to them at school and from the outside world. To turn the problem around in a general sense will require us to construct curriculum and pedagogy differently to create a direct link between effort and success.'

Dear Miranda,

I read the article. I think the instrument applies to college students, not only to nursing students. It’s an interesting view, because the student needs to evaluate learning from the teaching methods perspective. So far I used only instruments measuring self-directed learning from the student perspective, learning as the initiative taken by the learner, intrinsic motivation, learning goals proposed by the learner, willingness to achieve those goals etc.

I think it will be interesting to compare the two perspectives, as another research direction. The teaching style is important, but I think self-directed learning is not only an outcome (the result of the teaching process), it is also associated with the learner’s personality, with his learning strategies and motivation, and with his tendency to engage in activities: a comparison between the students’ perception regarding the self-direction provided by the teacher and their current self-directed learning skills. 

But I think the questionnaire that you proposed could offer valuable information.

@Mark, I agree with you. Students' SDL is shaped between their environment and educational environment. It sourced from their past experiences and their current condition. Their past experiences including nurture from parents, and previous curriculum and educational system (in elementary, junior high school, and high school). Unfortunately, for current condition (in my country) was mostly influenced by teachers. However, it would also depend on culture which plays role in determining on how much teacher would influence them.

@Miranda, I have done a research on SDL. It is very correlated with their motivation. From two motivational theories, internal vs external and self determination theory, an internal-autonomous and individual (own) motivation would drive students easier to be an self directed students. However, this would be also depend on the educational system and curriculum on how they "treat" students.

Dear Ana, thanks.  Both questionnaires (T&S, Williamson) were from nursing journals.  I am glad you agree that it's just as applicable for college students.  While Williamson is great to measure SDL, T&S gives insight on classroom experiences that encourage SDL.  Before I started this discussion, I only had T&S, now thanks to you we have both instruments.  Let's be good at sharing!

@Hikmawati, I went to your RG page, but did not see your paper.  Please upload or send us a softcopy, thanks.

It might be useful to look at environments that have successfully facilitated self-directed learning. The alternative schools I studied are organized very differently from traditional schools and my data suggests that they have supported intrinsic motivation which is in sharp contrast to all the traditional schools that have been studied for over 30 years. The work of Mark VanRyzin with EdVisions schools also shows maintenance of engagement which is conceptually similar to intrinsic motivation. The Fortus & Vedder-Weiss paper also shows similar findings.

My work focuses on self-directed learning in K-12 and I favor Self-Determination Theory as a framework. If you are looking for leverage to increase the levels a self-direction amongst your students then the Basic Human Needs sub-theory in SDT provides a good starting point since the needs are universal and non-derivative.

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Thanks @Don.  I managed to download the 1st and 2nd papers only.  I will read and get back.  The 3rd paper is interesting, I'm doing an on-going research on motivation for science learning, as you can know from my threads.

I am very much happy that many research Paper have come out pertaining to Self Regulated learning. It is very much useful in the present scenario. My area of research  is also in this area. I hope for a fruitful discussion over this topic.

Yes, thanks Johnson.  Please add the ones you have.  

excellent papers. Thank you Don.

Dear Ana and friends, this article by Pintrich and DeGroot has a SRL questionnaire.  Has anyone used it, and can tell us the benefits?  But Williamson is more recent.

http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/projects/ireport/articles/self-regulation/self-regulated%20learning-motivation.pdf

Miranda, this is excellent; you have a process going to which I am not privy.  Tell me about your logistics.  Are you usig SPSS; SAS?  Do you have a research assistant?  Maybe we need to talk offline.  I need nuts and bolts about processes.  I would like to be involved to get a pub out of this.  

This is good Nola.  Ana and I have been putting useful things that we have.  We share willingly.  Please contribute resources and ideas, like we have been doing, ok? If we share we will be fine and get a paper out of it.  But we are working hard.  A lot of my time is used now to improve another paper, so I'm not often on RG.  I have no research assistant nor research grant, but my generous encouraging RG friends have helped me to publish a bit, thanks to all of them.

Dear Miranda, I am so glad that you have started such interest and positive responses about self-directed/regulated learning. I agree that it will be one of the most important competence of students and the main difference between success and failure (especially with focus on lower cost education and ICT). I have some experience with Pintrich MSLQ scale and it is good instrument. Pintrich was also awesome author and I enjoined reading his work (so sad that he died so young, he was really big in educational psychology, such a nice and clear writing, great integrative power, only after reading his textbooks I understood motivation in education). Unfortunately, in my country there is a big problem with public schools over-regulating students and they shifted towards defensive and depressive patterns, a problem in self-regulation overlooked by most SRL instruments (the "dark side" of self regulating towards non-academic goals, protecting your self esteem in hostile education environment or just giving up). Had to construct new measures to address this, possibly culturally specific issues (specific maybe for countries with history of recent war, totalitarian regimes and rigid and punitive educational systems forcing students away from proactive and into defensive self-regulation; it can be extended to problems that minorities with low SES face in some countries). Just in the middle of looking for cross-cultural partners on this topic. Wish you the best with your line of research. You are really doing great, important and hopefully influential work.

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Thanks Darko, I didn't expect any compliments at all.  But I hope to get partners for this research.  I have explained how each on can get 2 papers ethically from this.  I just dislike doing unethical things.  It's bad enough that my college doesn't provide a proper SPSS, although I have asked and asked; but some colleges have 1 valid copy of that.  But for myself, I get to share and use my friends' resources.

Dear Miranda, friends are great resource and there are lot of them on ResearchGate. My institution provided us with SPSS licences and I can  run an analysis or transform data or output into other data formats if you are ever in need of that help. In my opinion science is all about sharing. When I get back from vacations I will translate all my instruments to English and provide on RG data and data frames for SPSS, Statistica and other software. I intend to provide data frames even for open-source web surveys like LimeSurvey so everybody can use web or pen and paper questionnaire. Providing data cam be great start for cross-cultural studies, if everybody uses it ethically and contributes with co-authorship.

Thanks Darko.  Cross-cultural studies on learning will be interesting and quite useful.  People tend to think that Asian (Malaysians, Singaporeans) students are such hard working people; teachers will have an easy time.  Among my students, about 10% come into college in this good condition, but from the rest, I try my best so that when they leave us, there will be 20 % of self directed lifelong learners.

Dear Miranda,

I am working on the exploration of a model of teacher's autonomy support of English Learning in Chinese Context. The theoretical framework comes from Deci and Ryan's(SDT) Self-determined Theory. My proposal has been recommended to apply for the provincial grant. I am also looking for the parterners across culturally intending to make comparision study of the differentiated models of teacher's autonomy support in Foreign language learning, where the authority of teachers is more overwhelming. Your interest of cross-cultural study fits in my research. I'd like to expect more details with you.

Dear Dinah, do you have papers on comparison studies to share?  If so, please put them on this thread, thanks.  (For all to use as needed.  Ana and I have put several resources too.)

I'm afraid my area is more towards science, not English learning, but I did read the paper below.  My model isn't SDT of Deci & Ryan either.  All the best to you.

Cheng, H. & Lin, N. C. (2010). Exploring students’ perceptions of self-access English learning. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 2676-2680.

Miranda,

I will be teaching (possibly) First Year Students in the Spring.  There is potential for recruiting undergraduates from a variety of majors.  Is this in tune with you plans?  I would welcome the opportunity for collaboration.  It would probably take the remainder of the semester to get the proper permissions. 

Dear Nola, it's always good to collaborate.  I have written up a paper and sent it to a journal.  But we can never guess what may happen, right?  What I need is an example of how to write a comparative study, some framework to follow.  Can you find a softcopy for science education?  I have been busy looking for some papers on this.  Thanks.

Dear Habibah, I'm still writing it together with Ana Cazan.  We want to find a suitable journal to publish it.  Thanks.

Dear all, recently I have published a paper on motivation with Prof Enzo.  It's related to SDL; SD learners will be more intrinsically motivated, but Malaysian students are significantly more extrinsically motivated.  Dejenie came in with a comment that this is observed 'all over the world' at this present time.  And unfortunately, we just got to know that our SDL paper was rejected.  Now Ana and I are working to improve it on the comments of the 2 reviewers.  The comments did not agree at all, but we do our best.

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