Teachers assume that by the end of primary school, students should know the essentials regarding shape. For example, the NSW Mathematics K-6 syllabus states by year six students should be able manipulate, classify and draw two-dimensional shapes and describe side and angle properties. The reality is, that due to the pressure for students to…

For the past eight years the University of Michigan has offered two different styles of biochemistry courses each semester, one a standard lecture-based and discussion-section (SLB) course and one a self-paced, non-lecture Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) course. We tracked student responses to selected exam questions that were used in…

For a TELE to become adopted by the vast majority of individual learners as a tool for learning, adoption at the institutional level must be considered, because the vast majority of a population of technology users depends on external stimuli to adopt the technology. This article analyses a case where a social simulation game, a prize-winning…

This article reports on extended research into the use of enquiry-based learning (EBL) and problem-based learning (PBL) in a human resource management undergraduate programme. The authors have collected and analysed qualitative and quantitative data over a three-year period, some of which have been previously reported (Reynolds and Benmore, 2003,…

Self-regulated learning is an important aspect of student learning and academic achievement. Certain parenting styles help children develop self-regulated learning and encourage them to exert control over their own learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Chinese parenting style and children's involvement in…

The context of Educational Psychology has seen profound changes over the last 30 years; due to these, self-regulated learning has become a current focus for research, and one of the essential axes of educational practice. Since Zimmerman and Schunk's (1989) publication, "Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: Theory, Research, and…

This is a manual for those considering the role of Tutor in an educational programme following Open and Distance Learning (ODL) methodologies. To introduce the concept of self-learning, the manual is designed to be self-instructional: (1) Self paced; (2) Easy to read; (3) Easy to follow the instructions; (4) Illustrated with examples to enhance…

Globalization has stretched the scope of the online learner population from a homogeneous profile of mostly adult, mostly employed, place-bound, goal-oriented, and intrinsically motivated to one that is heterogeneous, younger, dynamic, and responsive to rapid technological innovations. This paper describes the emerging characteristics of the…

This paper contrasts two types of "autodidact" located in the UK in different historical periods, which utilised different learning/research technologies to different ends. From the 1920s to the 1960s some working-class activists committed to the Communist Party of Great Britain became "educated" in Marxism (and more) through…

This article describes a programme of autonomous language learning (ALMS) introduced at Helsinki University Language Centre in 1994. The programme was developed to encourage students to become actively involved in their own learning in terms of deciding what they need and wish to learn, setting goals and objectives, achieving these objectives, and…

The transition from secondary school to postsecondary education poses numerous challenges for first-year university students. Two hundred and fifty second-year students attending a small Canadian university were surveyed regarding the ease or difficulty with which they adjusted, in the previous year, to the next phase in their formal education.…

The College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) decided to offer Pedagogy Doctoral students from Mexico a 3 week co-teaching research methods experience. Two professors, one from each institution (OSU and UPAEP), designed the syllabus to offer a co-teaching experience…

This study sought to discover the factors that influenced the selection and organization of learning experiences by medical students engaged in designing individualized curricula. Ten students of the Independent Study Program (ISP) of the College of Medicine at Chicago-University of Illinois participated in the study. Data were collected through…

A project management design for modularizing higher education at open universities was developed and tested. Literature in the fields of project management and development of modular curriculum materials was reviewed and used as a basis for developing a project-based approach to the process of developing modules for self-instruction. According to…

A study reanalyzed the 1977 original form of the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) developed by Guglielmino. It questioned whether there is an intracultural and intercultural factorial consistency, whether raters would reconfirm the eight-factor solution, and whether raters would reconfirm the main characteristics of a "highly…