Fostering self-directed learning in the university setting

ABSTRACT This paper addresses instructional issues in fostering self-directed learning (an adult education concept) in the higher education classroom setting. A study of faculty members' beliefs and practices examined the nature and extent of instructor support for self-directed learning at a Canadian university. The majority (87%) of study participants did not support self-directed learning; among the small number of faculty members with attitudes that were fully supportive of self-directed learning, instructional practices did not always exemplify their apparently strong convictions about fostering students' self-directed learning. Results have implications for the ways self-directed learning is conceptualized in the adult education literature and the ways it is fostered in the higher education setting. Discussion focuses on identifying and examining the barriers to effective instructional support for self-directed learning in the modern-day university.