Tag: Self-directed Learning

Join us at Achieving the Dream’s annual flagship event, DREAM, for a discussion of technology-enabled instructional strategies designed to grow students’ self-directed learning in online STEM courses.

Online courses have become an increasingly common feature of the higher education landscape, expanding access and offering flexibility for students.

Join us at the AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS), where we will discuss an ongoing empirical study of self-directed learning support in online courses at community colleges and broad-access universities.

In online courses, students are expected to take more ownership of planning their learning approaches and study methods, organizing their time, seeking help, and following through on coursework. In online STEM courses, these expectations are compounded by disciplinary cultures that have traditionally emphasized meritocracy and competitiveness.

As students increasingly enroll in online postsecondary STEM courses, instructors and students need new strategies to bolster academic success, particularly for students systemically marginalized in STEM and higher education.

A report on online learning based on responses from chief learning officers released last month found that a large majority of respondents have seen increasing demand for online options from students who are learning on campus.

Before joining the Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative as a fellow, my perspective on education was primarily that of a student: absorbing information without deeply considering the intricacies of teaching. However, this fellowship has been transformative. It has broadened my understanding of the myriad factors that shape effective learning experiences, including teaching methodologies, curriculum design, and peer interactions.

With the huge growth in online courses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty are increasingly aware that they need to adapt their teaching to the new environment of online instruction. But they may not know how to adapt and, in particular, how to support students’ skills in managing their own learning in online courses.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that online learning is here to stay, but it also revealed knowledge gaps around how to support all students to learn effectively online. As a result, educators are now highly motivated to develop new models for online teaching and learning that build students’ skills and motivation to learn.

Pima Community College in Arizona is a Hispanic-serving institution that enrolls about 43,000 students, many of whom are working and have families. With 40% of students fully online, and more in virtual and hybrid courses, the college ensures that online courses are not just pale imitations of in-person courses and that their design takes into account how students learn.