Harnessing the wisdom of YouTube: how self-directed learners achieve personalized learning through technological affordances

Previous research links personalized learning with gains in student motivation and learning outcomes. Understanding the methods and processes students use when they engage in informal learning can help instructors facilitate personalized learning more effectively and efficiently. Toward that end, our study develops a theoretical framework for understanding the role of technological affordances in self-directed, informal learning. Using a qualitative survey (N = 154), we document how learners perceive particular types of accessibility and adaptability and demonstrate how learners achieve personalization through a stepwise actualization of these affordances. Teaching students how to actualize the affordances of accessibility and adaptability, in that order, will help instructors meet the increasing demand for personalized learning.