Self-Directed Learning
A relatively new wave in education is the concept of
self-directed learning which proceeds from the idea that people learn best when
they have a stake in their own placement. It is believed that they will learn
better if they have control of what level and what direction their learning
takes. I have not fully researched this concept, but I am challenged with
accepting it. If students are unconsciously incompetent (don’t know what they don’t
know) how can they successfully select where they should be placed? Students often
overestimate their comprehension levels or underestimate the amount of help
they truly need. For example, in my tutoring class I have a student who
informed me that she did not need to be in the basic class because her credits
from high school have all come in and it was determined that based on her
credits, she does not need remediation. However, she has not received a passing
grade on any of the assignments this semester and will undoubtedly fail the
class. I find it hard to believe that the reason for her failure is because she
did not place herself in that classroom but someone else made the selection for
her. Should I expect that when she goes
to ENG 101 she will suddenly understand the concepts of complete sentences and
paragraph structures? I worry that this innovation will leave students behind
or pass them along when they have not truly mastered the concepts of writing.
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