STUDENT-CENTRED OR TEACHER-CENTRED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: WHITHER SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING (SDL)?

Abstract

Past research has found that students rejected Self Directed Learning (SDL) as they perceived it wasted much of their time without knowing the results of their efforts. A similar phenomenon has been observed among the teachers. Hence, it raised the need to understand how students and teachers perceive SDL. Furthermore, are our students SDL readied (SDLR) and our teachers SDL lesson readied (SDLeR)? This research used 4 scales (SDLRSbio, SLeRSbio, PLS and TSS) and interviews with Malaysian pre-university students and teachers to investigate understanding of SDL, SDLR and SDLeR in the biology classroom. Qualitative data revealed that pre-university teachers and students neither seemed unaware of nor understand the notion of SDL. Students think that SDL is an extracurricular activity which provides more information in the related subject. Meanwhile, many teachers equate SDL to Student-Centred Learning (SCL). To implement SDL, teachers and students need to understand SDL, SDLR and SDLeR. Nevertheless, statistical findings revealed that SDLR and SDLeR is not confined to learning styles or teaching approaches, that is, both are independent of the environment. Thus, whither SDL?