Helping Students Become Self-Directed Learners Online
As institutions shift to remote teaching, students who have become accustomed to in-person university classes are going to need to adapt to the new world of self-directed learning. They’ll receive directions from a number of instructors with new course plans and assignment deadlines that, to many, will be overwhelming. Students will require strategies for making sense of new expectations and managing their final workloads. For many, this, along with the uncertainty of the global crisis, will cause stress and anxiety that may impact their learning.
To be self-directed means taking ownership of one’s own learning. Students are required to set their own goals and objectives, make plans and identify strategies, and appropriately evaluate their progress. While learners in a face-to-face course are still required to prioritize tasks and manage their time, they often receive as-needed, in-person reminders and tips for academic success, and feel as though they know when and where they can receive guidance from their instructor.
A great example of the importance of an instructor in the process of self-directed learning is from the hit Netflix TV show Nailed It. Novice bakers try to replicate an elaborate cake using only their own skills, planning, and knowledge of baking. They each work through the learning process with little-to-no help from an expert, and the outcome typically results in a humorous fail. While the context might be different, the same feelings of failure that exist in these baking challenges can arise in our learners. Without the presence and guidance of an instructor, students will often find it difficult to meet expectations and achieve the intended learning outcomes. So, what does this mean for you and how you approach remote teaching?
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Switching to remote teaching means that you’ll still need to consider how you communicate reminders to your students, how you’ll create a learning environment where your learners feel free to seek easy and timely feedback from you, as well as prepare students to manage your course’s expectations and requirements independently. Gretchen Kreahling McKay (Dimeo, 2017) describes three different types of “presence” in online courses that you can begin to use in your remote teaching: “cognitive presence, which is essentially content and what students will learn and do; instructor presence, commenting and interacting with students; and social presence, which is a way for students to get to know each other.” Sometimes we forget about the importance of instructor and social presence, but student engagement and motivation depend on faculty interaction with the students, as well as peer interaction between learners.
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It’s worthwhile to remind students that they’ll need to be self-directed for their remote and online courses. You can provide them with some strategies to help them stay on-track:
If you’re requiring students to watch asynchronous videos or complete readings, suggest that they use the previously scheduled class-time (for example, 2:30-3:45 p.m., twice a week) to accomplish these tasks.
Encourage students to use a calendar or create a timetable schedule and visually block off times to work on each final assignment.
Checklists can be very satisfying. Recommend that students create daily checklists to break down and prioritize the tasks they need to complete.
Provide students with an opportunity to create a goal for the remainder of the term. It might only be the goal to survive the semester, or perhaps some students will hope to take the opportunity to learn something new or stay on top of their work.
Keep communicating with your class. They’ll be more motivated if they hear from you. According to Jacqueline Kelleher (Dimeo, 2017), “We need to build connected, caring communities for our online students and the extent to which we respond and provide reassurance that we are here for them goes a long way in establishing relationships and building a sense of trust.” In stressful times, it’s even more important to stay connected and maintain the relationships you cultivated in the face-to-face classroom.
Encourage your students to engage with each other and share how they are coping and planning with the transition to remote learning. Their peers can be a wonderful source of support and can offer great tools and tricks to help them tackle moving to self-directed learning.
You also get to be a learner through this process. Catherine Spann (Dimeo, 2017) explains the best advice she ever received about online instruction was, “Rather than aiming for perfection, aim to learn.” So, why not use the example of Nailed It for your transition to remote teaching as a humorous connection with your students!
Other Resources
Dalhousie University (2020), Remote Teaching for Students
Regan A. R. Gurung (2020), A Memo to Students on Punching through the Pandemic
Rivka Swartz (2014), 5 Effective Ways to Communicate Expectations Online