Self-directed learning is learning in which the conceptualization, design, conduct and evaluation of new content is directed and driven by the learner itself. This is an essential skill for students in the 21st century. Many large undergraduate courses use an online homework system to engage the whole class in the course material simultaneously. A…

The self-paced nature of asynchronous online learning (AOL) is recognized as an obstacle that disrupts student success in the learning environment. Without on-time interventions provided by instructors, students find it challenging to use learning strategies tailored to the learning environment, and their use of self-regulated learning (SRL)…

Adult music learners may expect to be more independent and therefore more inclined to engage in self-directed learning than younger learners; however, adults may not feel encouraged or supported to self-direct. In this qualitative study, the relationships between six adult instrumentalists and their teachers were examined using Grow's Staged…

This study joins recent research that explores the phenomenon of teacher learning through complexity and variability. Our paper furthers this line of enquiry by exploring how literacy teacher learning unfolds in self-directed professional development. In particular, we use concepts from actor-network theory (ANT) to help understand the ways two…

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted weaknesses in our education system and has prompted renewed conversation about the structure of education. This article argues that the conversation should be more geared to the why of education (i.e., the purpose of schools) rather than the how (i.e., the multiple ways of delivering education both for…

The nature of the links between students' motivation and their perception of parental concern about school performance is still controversial, and whether these links affect long-term self-directed learning behaviors and academic performance remains unclear. We tested the reciprocal associations between parental concern about performance and…

This empirical qualitative study investigates whether the introduction of heutagogy in contemporary nursing education can foster the development of the digital self-determined learner, who is prepared to work and live in the fourth industrial age and beyond. The impact of heutagogical design on learner process and outcomes is explored through…

Incorporating authentic engineering practices into educative experiences in elementary school has the potential to positively impact student consideration of STEM careers and increase student self-efficacy in later engineering study. Additionally, as students move from primary to secondary grades, their interest in STEM topics tends to decline. To…

We perform a large-scale randomized controlled trial to evaluate the potential of machine learning-based instruction sequencing to improve memorization while allowing the learners the freedom to choose their review times. After controlling for the length and frequency of study, we find that learners for whom a machine learning algorithm determines…

This research examines the effect of having a tracking technology in a learning management system (LMS) that reports the effect of perceiving other students' interactions on a learner's intention to keep using LMS in the future. The main underlying theory is herd behaviour theory which argues that crowd behaviour affects the perceptions of the…

The role of soft skills at school is still debated, but they have emerged as important factors for students' academic achievement and life satisfaction. This study focuses on the combined influence of soft skills (in terms of adaptability, curiosity, leadership, initiative, perseverance, and social awareness), extracurricular activities,…

Developments in the affordances of the Internet provide language learners with easy access to learning resources as well as interactions with native speakers. This emerging learning landscape thus creates favourable conditions to learners who want to engage in self-directed language learning. This in-depth single case study reports on the…

Academic emotions play an important and complex role in self-regulated learning (SRL). However, few studies have examined how academic emotions unfold in different phases of SRL and how the changes in these emotions influence learning performance. The current study examines 98 students' academic emotion trajectories and profiles across the three…

This study examined how task complexity affected the temporal characteristics of self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviours in clinical reasoning. Eight-eight (N = 88) medical students participated in this study. They were required to diagnose two virtual patients of varying complexity in BioWorld, an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) designed to…

Background: The use of crowdsourcing in a pedagogically supported form to partner with learners in developing novel content is emerging as a viable approach for engaging students in higher-order learning at scale. However, how students behave in this form of crowdsourcing, referred to as learnersourcing, is still insufficiently explored.…