Self-directed learning

Wow. There's more to self-directed learning (SDL) than I had imagined. I understood the fundamentals of SDL, and was aware that I had applied it in my own learning. I didn't, until recently, have a grasp on the correlation between SDL and cooperative learning.

Grow's (1991) Staged Self-Directed Learning Model (SSDL) explains a lot of what I had experienced as a college instructor, introducing cooperative learning to business students. I use cooperative learning and SDL to teach project management fundamentals and Internet-related skills courses.

One of the most confusing things for me was how, in the same class of 15-30 students, I could be simultaneously rated in their feedback as 'extremely helpful 'and 'a great instructor' and as 'of no help' and 'a terrible instructor'. How could these two extremes be represented in the same group being taught the same material in the same class?

Using Grow's (1991) SSDL Model, I found I had inadvertently created a mismatch between my instructional style and the learning styles of some of the students. The mismatch was between my 'facilitative' style, decribed by Grow as T3, and the S1 'dependent' learning style of some students in the class. According to Grow, T3/S1 teacher/student mismatches are severe, often resulting in "students [who] may resent the teacher for forcing upon them a freedom they are not ready for" (1991, p. 13)

Now I have a model to apply to my instructional delivery tools and processes that allows me to better match my instructional style with the various learner styles in the class.

For more information on the SSDL model, see Gerald Grow's Spring 1991 article in Adult Education Quarterly.

Grow, G. (1991, Spring). Teaching learners to be self-directed. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3). Retrieved September 30, 2007, from http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/SSDL/SSDLIndex.html