The image is the raw material of the twenty-first century. Images infiltrate all social and cultural spaces. Its digital-mediated realities drive communication, industry and knowledge. Images saturate life and adolescent learners are familiar with the participatory nature of image production and its social, educational and personal communicative…

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Engineering programme is a new course (degree programmme) established in 2016 by a university that had not previously taught engineering. This start from scratch occasion was taken as an opportunity to build an all-new programme structure and philosophy. Students at CSU Engineering complete a sequence of three…

The notion of language learners as informed consumers developed by Cohen and White (2008) takes up the issue of how best to develop the knowledge, skills and awareness of language learners given the infinite variety of language learning opportunities. The informed consumer approach focused not only on developing awareness of both formal and…

Agency, understood as the capacity to act independently and to make one's own choices, is considered central to children's development. Thus, education, and hence education curricula, have a role in the development of learner agency. While curriculum development is a key focus for educational theory, research, policy, and classroom practice, the…

Recent significant changes in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analysis have a wide impact in many areas of human societies, not least in education. Advances in efficiency of new technologies, with impacts in renewable energy and transport affected by environmental concerns and climate change mitigation, demand a…

This longitudinal qualitative study investigates how cultural experiences of staying in Japan may affect attitudes and self-directed learning of kanji among learners of Japanese as a foreign language. Six beginner learners pursued semester-long weekly kanji learning sessions and their diachronic behaviours were observed and recorded for attitudes…

Purpose: As educational technologies are more widely adopted in higher education teaching and learning, publishers often include online resources to accompany their textbook offerings. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study forming part of a larger ongoing evaluation of the third party software product WileyPLUS.…

Since independent study groups can be important in providing spaces for students in creative disciplines to develop a critically reflexive approach to their creative practice, tutors in an Australian university introduced independent group learning to students studying in creative disciplines. However, student responses to the experience of…

This paper reports on an assessment of knowledge of SDL in primary (elementary) South Australian school students, fifty-six of whom were assessed to be high reasoning. The goals of the study were to identify the effectiveness of teaching and assessing knowledge of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) in high reasoning students, investigate whether there…

Because of geographical isolation, a number of Queensland children cannot attend regular primary schools, and their education must be based at home. In 1979, 1,528 children were enrolled in the Primary Correspondence School. Children in the program receive lesson papers, textbooks and audio-visual items in the major subject areas of language arts,…

Examines the structure, validity, and reliability of Guglielmino's self-directed learning readiness scale. Reviews related literature and refutes Guglielmino's thesis. Reports data derived from an administration of the scale that reveal problems in wording and show that the scale measures a homogeneous construct not associated with readiness for…

In adult education, there can sometimes be a dilemma between notions of learner self-direction and learning that is important for public safety. The dilemma posed is one not well resolved by education theory. Although a few theorists have broadly recognised the tension, they tend to offer little in the way of guidance towards its resolution,…

Microcomputers are advocated as a primary teaching tool for independent and correspondence study, provided suitable software is available and consideration is given to initial student attitudes, peculiarities in computer communication, and the low predictive power of psychological tests in computer-based learning. (Author/MSE)

Based on insights gained from an Australian program of adult migrant English language education, it is argued that independent learning centers (ILCs) can be effective in assisting adult learners to develop both independent learning skills and language skills. The principles of independent learning and contemporary understanding about learning…

Examines a junior teacher internship project in which a group of third-year Australian university students of Japanese participated regularly in first-year-Japanese classroom activities. Discusses learner autonomy and cooperative learning, the project procedures, and project evaluation in terms of reactions by both first-year and third-year…