Cultivating a Digital Promise: Promoting Reflective and Reflexive Activities to Enhance Self-Directed Learning for the 21st Century
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University of Johannesburg
South Africa -
University of Johannesburg South Africa
Abstract
Self-directed learning skills are known to influence successful learning outcomes in a higher education environment. Moreover, first year students entering higher education lack self-directed learning skills, as these are not always developed at school level. A digital promise tool was used for a first-year student cohort to reflect on their personal learning experiences and behaviour over a period of two semesters. The researchers used the augmented community of inquiry as the theoretical framework in this study, focusing on the student learning presence. Two cycles of data were collected using student reflective and reflexive responses. The first cycle included developing a digital promise, where students reflected on their typical learning behaviour and commitments during their journey. After this cycle, opportunities were given for students to adjust their digital promise for the second semester. The results from the student reflections indicated an increase in self-motivated and self-directed student learning during the second semester.
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Author Biographies
Professor Heather Morris-Eyton is an Associate Professor in the Sport and Movement Studies Department in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg. With more than twenty years’ experience lecturing within the higher education space, the scholarship of teaching and learning is foregrounded in her passion for education, especially as it relates to sport.
Dr Erica Pretorius is a senior instructional designer at the Centre for Academic Technologies at the University of Johannesburg. She spent 20 years in the teaching profession before becoming an academic. She is involved in lecturer training and support promoting excellence in teaching practice, working towards the idea of teaching students to think rather than mere memorisation.
