ESSAY PLANNER before submission remove the instructions (in br.docx

ESSAY PLANNER
**before submission remove the instructions (in brackets),
only include your work
Add a ‘working title’ here.Introduction
Opening Sentence: (One sentence on the essay topic – time,
place, context: where is the issue/what is the issue/when is/did
it occur? Be SPECIFIC. Avoid broad sweeping statements such
as “The whole world faces a crisis…” OR “Since the dawn of
time…”.)
Essential background information that the reader needs to get
the CONTEXT/SIGNIFICANCE. Do NOT go into huge detail
here. The body paragraphs are for detail and explanation.
Guide the reader into your specific thesis focus.
Thesis: (Clearly state your argument with the position you are
taking and the implications/because/so what/why this is
significant. Avoid the use of personal pronouns. Do NOT
phrase this as a question – it is the answer to your initial
research question)
Body
(One point discussed per paragraph)
Key Point 1: (Topic sentence to introduce focus of paragraph.
Do NOT include quotes or references in the topic sentences.
The topic sentence should be YOUR words and allow the reader
a snapshot of the main idea of the paragraph)

Explanatory Sentence: (Why is this important to the focus of the
essay? Links to thesis)
Evidence: (Basic explanation, Examples, quotes, to support
point, counter argument)
Linking Sentence: (States how the point in this paragraph can
be further supported by the next key point or link it back to the
thesis)
a snapshot of the main idea of the paragraph.)
point, counter argument.)
thesis.)

a snapshot of the main idea of the paragraph.)
point, counter argument.)
thesis.)
Conclusion
(What the essay was about – link to thesis. Remind the reader
of the main argument)
Summary of Key Points.NO new information – you can restate a
key point or use new words/paraphrase a main point but do no
introduce new ideas:
Concluding Sentence: (Final stance on essay topic.)
Reference List
Edit your Reference list to show the 5 + 1 (minimum) sources
you plan to use, as cited in your plan

Assignment Pack
CU1000 English for Academic Purposes
Study Period 53
2019
James Cook University
School of [Insert School] [Insert Subject Code]

SOURCES FOR CRITICAL ESSAY
Read the instructions in the Subject Outline before commencing
the final
written assignment – critical essay.
Topic
Discuss the most important characteristics of a successful adult
learner enrolled in
tertiary education in a digital era.
N.B. ‘An adult learner’ refers to anyone seventeen or over who
is enrolled in a
university or other formal tertiary education institution.
Use at least five (5) sources provided below.
Plus at least one (1) originally sourced academic text
(i.e. a text you found yourself)
3
Final Essay source material

Please note when reading this material:
The numbers that appear in front of the quotes are page
numbers. APA style requires you to
quote page numbers after every direct quote.
Ellipses (…) indicate material has been omitted that is not
relevant to the topic; as the
instructions above state, you only need to draw on the material
provided here.
Citations are not provided in APA style. You must demonstrate
your knowledge of APA by
ensuring the citations conform to APA style in the in-text
citations and reference list in the
essays. In some cases, your ability to find citation information
online may be tested.
However, there is no need to research any further material.
Source one
Title: Garrison’s model of self-directed learning: preliminary
validation and the relationship
to academic achievement

Author: Sabry M.bd-El-Fattah
Source: Spanish Journal of Psychology 13.1 Nov 2010 p.586-
601
587: Self-directed learning (SDL) is a central concept in the
study and practice of adult
education (Brockett & Hiemstra, 1991)…However, SDL has
largely been defined in terms of
external control and facilitation, rather than internal cognitive
processing and learning.
To address these concerns, Garrison (1997) proposed a SDL
model which integrated external
management (contextual control), internal monitoring (cognitive
responsibility), and
motivational (entering and task) factors associated with learning
in an educational context.
According to Garrison (1997), self-management concerns task
control issues including the
enactment of learning goals and the management of learning
resources and support. Task
control is determined by balancing the factors of proficiency,
resources and interdependence.
Proficiency represents the abilities and skills of the facilitator
and the learner. Resources

encompass a range of support and assistance available in an
education setting.
Interdependence reflects institutional or subject norms and
standards as well as a learner’s
integrity and choice. Self-management of learning represents a
collaborative experience
between teacher and learner. The teacher maintains an
appropriate dynamic balance of
external control necessary for successful educational outcomes.
Another component of Garrion’s SDL model is self-monitoring.
It addresses the cognitive
and metacognitive processes which include monitoring the
repertoire of learning strategies as
well as awareness and an ability to think about thinking. It is
the process where the learning
takes responsibility for the construction of personal meaning
through integrating new ideas
and concepts with previous knowledge.
Lastly, motivation helps initiate and maintain effector towards
learning and the achievement
of cognitive goals.
4

The literature on SDL asserts that self-directed learners
demonstrate great awareness of their
responsibility in making learning meaningful and monitoring
themselves (Garrison, 1997).
They were found to be curious and willing to try new things,
view problems as challenges,
desire change, and enjoy learning (Temple & Rodero, 1995).
Guthrie, McGough, Bennett,
and Rice (1996) reported that in a Concept-Oriented Reading
Instruction (CORI) program,
self-directed learners demonstrated the ability to search for
information in multiple texts,
employ different strategies to achieve goals, and to represent
ideas in different forms
(drawing and writing). Morrow and Young (1997) observed that
with proper planning and
implementation, self-directed learning can encourage students
to develop their own rules and
leadership patterns. Thus, self-directed learners take
responsibility for the construction
588: of personal meaning, initiation and maintenance of effort
toward learning tasks, and
achievement of cognitive goals, and therefore they are more

likely to be promoted as high
achievers (Garrison, 1997).
Several studies have reported a significant positive relationship
between SDL and academic
achievement in a traditional classroom setting (Darmayanti,
1994), a non-web based distance
learning setting (Hsu & Shiue, 2005), a web-based learning
setting (Haron, 2003), and a
distant education setting (Harriman, 1990). Other studies have
reported a significant positive
relationship within a specific content areas including nursing
(Savoie, 1979), social and
political sciences (Anderson, 1993), business (Morris, 1995),
business, communication,
public administration, and hospitality management (Ogazon,
1995), and biology (Haggerty,
2000). In a recent study, Stewart (2007), for example, found a
positive relationship between
SDL readiness and the overall learning outcome ratings in
project-based learning in
engineering with self-management being the strongest predictor.
593: This means that increasing a learner’s control through self-
management brings with it

elevated responsibilities, particularly with regard to the learning
process itself and the
construction of meaning. The immediate benefit of increased
self-management is increased
awareness of the need to make learning more meaningful, that
is, to take greater
responsibility in the monitoring of the learning process itself. It
is difficult to get learners to
accept responsibility for meaningful learning outcomes when
they have little control of, and
input into, the learning process (Garrison, 1991, 1997).
594: Finally, the analyses of the present study indicated a
relationship between SDL aptitude
and academic achievement. These findings can also be
explained within the framework of the
self-regulated motivational literature which indicates that
successful learners have more
effective and efficient learning strategies for accessing and
using their knowledge, are self-
motivated, and can monitor and change their strategies to
improve their learning outcomes
(Corno, 1989; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990). When learners
recognize their learning needs,

formulate learning objectives, select contents, draw up learning
strategies, procure teaching
materials and media, identify additional human and physical
resources and make use of them,
and they themselves organize, control, inspect, and evaluate
their own learning, they are more
likely to perform highly on learning tasks.
5
Source two
Sanacore, Joseph. (2008). Turning reluctant learners into
inspired learners. Clearing House:
A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas , 82(1),
40-44. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/196893799?accountid=1628
5
40: Creating a foundation for academic success requires a
number of factors, and in the
forefront is motivation. Although some students come to school
highly motivated, others are

reluctant to learn.
According to Protheroe (2004), reluctant learners do not
complete tasks, do avoid challenges,
and are satisfied with just getting by. They are often capable of
excelling but do not seem
concerned about achieving in school.
…Another related issue is how these individuals perceive
themselves. If they consistently
receive negative comments about their school performance, they
may develop low self-
esteem, low-efficacy, or learned helplessness. When students
believe they are incapable of
completing meaningful assignments, their motivation to learn
diminishes.
41: What is motivation?
Ryan and Cooper (2007b) write that “the intrinsic rewards of an
occupation are the internal
psychic or spiritual satisfactions one receives from one’s work,
such as a personal sense of
accomplishment or an enjoyment of the work itself” (5).
Although seemingly idealistic when

applied to students, moving from reluctance to inspiration
requires a serious shift in
classroom philosophy and practice.
…Specifically, teachers need to remind themselves that
emphasizing external constraints
weakens intrinsic motivation and performance. These
constraints include surveillance,
deadlines, bribes, threats, evaluation by others, and rewards.
How can we turn reluctant learners into inspired learners?
One major goal of educators is to increase their students’
independence and interest in
learning. Although tokenism can be useful to immediately hook
reluctant learners, teachers
should not forget the big picture.
Create a learning environment that is encouraging and
challenging.
Whether we are teaching or learning, we all benefit from
support. Reluctant learners, in
particular, thrive on a balance of being praised for specific
accomplishments and challenged

to attain high expectations.
42: Provide students with opportunities to make learning
choices.
Students’ self-determination flourishes when they have some
degree of power and control
over classroom activities, but their self-determination is
compromised, or negated, when
teachers require them to rigidly follow curricula, rules, and
assessments.
By giving students freedom to act responsibly, we increase their
autonomous behavior, which
in turn elicits cognitive flexibility, high task interest, positive
emotion, creativity, and
persistence (Clifford 2007;Deci and Ryan 1987).
Increase students’ participation in classroom activities.
Some students participate minimally during classroom activities
because they are bored, shy,
embarrassed, nonresilient, passive, or learning disabled.
Furthermore, individuals who fail
http://search.proquest.com/docview/196893799?accountid=1628
5

6
repeatedly or who perceive academic requirements to be
irrelevant to their lives might refuse
to demonstrate effort in fulfilling curricular requirements.
43: Encourage students to love learning. If teachers provide
optimal conditions for enjoying
learning, students will likely develop intrinsic motivation to
learn. Encouraging intrinsic
learning, however, can sometimes be as much of a challenge for
teachers as it is for students
attempting to develop an inner desire to learn.
Source three
Bruce, Christine S., Hughes, Hilary E., & Somerville, Mary M.
(2012) Supporting
informed learners in the 21st century. Library Trends, 60(3), pp.
522-545.
522: This paper elaborates the idea of informed learning (the
kind of learning made possible
through evolving and transferable capacity to use information to
learn), as an important

aspect of information literacy, and a key to realising the
potential of the information society.
…In the last ten years information literacy has taken the
international political stage,
receiving a high level of profiling that has ushered the agenda
into a new era. The United
Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), the
United States
National Forum for Information Literacy (NFIL), and the United
States National Commission
for Library and Information Science
523: (NCLIS) in particular have engaged in international and
crosssectoral advocacy,
establishing the value of information literacy in all parts of
society. At the same time, we
have seen the widespread adoption of information literacy and
lifelong learning as required
graduate attributes in many educational institutions and
professional associations.
525: Attention to the question of diversity and contextualisation
[of information literacy
learning] must involve asking: what does effective information

use look like across contexts,
national borders, complex organisations, and community sub-
cultures, including the
innovative cultures emerging in digital landscapes.
526: The idea of informed learning was developed to direct
attention towards those
interpretations of information literacy that involve using
information to learn. The notion of
learning lies at the heart of information literacy.
…Informed learning may be defined as using information to
learn. It is learning through
engaging with or interacting with information.
527: Thus, informed learning is a holistic pedagogy (Bruce &
Hughes, 2010), which builds
upon information skills and develops effective, critical,
creative, reflective and ethical
information use for learning in any of life’s paths.
…It [informed learning] encourages learners to become aware
of themselves as information
users, of what informs them and how they are being informed
and transformed, as learners.

Informed learning occurs as people encounter information, as
they engage with information
in any context and work with it to ‘form’ their information
using experiences. Informed
learning is grounded in, and emerges from, the information
practices of professional,
community or academic life. Information
528: practices are here interpreted as broad processes of
information use, such as
organizational or personal decision-making, collaborative
design, evidence-based practice,
7
disciplinary research, professional and private problem-solving,
or more focussed activities
such as preparing a travel itinerary, report writing, web-page
development, musical score
composition, or art work creation (Bruce, 2008). By extension,
informed learning is also
grounded in interactive, collaborative information practices
associated with information
exchange and knowledge creation through interactive web

technologies.
…Once learners (in whatever role, for example, as parents,
citizens, researchers, or
employees) recognise what constitutes information in their
context, and how they are using
that information to learn, they can be more in charge of their
information environment and
how they encounter, source, control, engage with and learn from
information.
Information might take the form of pictures, sound, or text and
it could be static, moving, two
– or three - dimensional. It may take the form of research
outcomes or community discourse;
it may be an element of our physical environment (Lupton,
2008) or our physical presence
(Lloyd, 2010).
529: Our global information society is one in which much
information is available. An
information literate society is one where people are empowered
to use information for
personal, social, political or economic benefit.
Informed scholars, an informed workforce and an informed
citizenry are key benefits to be

gained from an emphasis on informed learning across society.
Informed scholars are
informed learners in formal learning communities, such as
schools, universities and research
centres, who engage with information to learn in various ways.
An informed workforce,
similarly, is one that adapts to change, innovates and uses
knowledge creatively and wisely
for many purposes. An informed citizenry is a community of
citizens that uses information
effectively to learn for health, financial, educational, political,
recreational and other
purposes. The following sections identify key experiences of
these groups.
Informed scholars use information to learn individually and
collectively. This occurs
naturally throughout the transformative inquiry processes in the
disciplinary,
multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary information practices
associated with study and
research.
530: In contemporary profit and not-for-profit environments,
organisations worldwide are

experiencing increasing complexity. Therefore, workplace
communities must necessarily
become engaged in informed learning. In maintaining
competitiveness or market-niche and in
anticipating current and potential clients’ expectations,
awareness of and capacity to use
information to learn as individuals, in teams and within the
wider organisation is vital.
531: In the wider community, people need to use information to
learn for everyday life
purposes in a wide variety of contexts. For example, individuals
engage in informed learning
to pursue interests around health, finance, politics, recreation or
religion, in settings that
include libraries, cultural heritage centers, voluntary
organizations, social clubs, and online
forums.
535: Supportive scholarly contexts, such as schools, universities
and research centres, are
learner-centred and foster collaborative and independent
learning. Vital elements of informed
learning in scholarly contexts include: reflective learning,

which promotes inquiry, reflection,
and problem-solving; thoughtful and effective management of
information resources; self-
directed learning individually and in teams; research-based
learning which activates and
extends prior learning; and curriculum that encourages
reflection on the implications for self
and others of learning.
8
Students continuously engage in thoughtful dialog and
reflection about what they are learning
as they engage with their information environment. They are
encouraged to consider how
their learning is influenced by different sources and
technologies and understand which
information processes best suit their learning needs and styles.
(Bruce, 2008; Bruce &
Hughes, 2010; Jacobs, 2008).
Informed educators act as learning guides and consultants to
their students, fostering
independent research and co-creation of new knowledge. They

ensure students are equipped
with understandings and capabilities to take advantage of a
range of established and emerging
technologies and to interact safely, responsibly and
productively in online
environments. Informed educators embrace social and cultural
diversity, creating inclusive
learning environments that enable students to share varied
knowledge and experiences and so
develop rich, inquiring and mutually respectful world views.
Librarians, technologists,
learning designers, learning support staff as well as discipline
based teachers must all work
together to support such contexts.
537: While ICTs [information communication technologies] are
important and influential
sources of information, they often represent barriers for those
struggling to use the
technologies due to limited capabilities or access. Today’s
digital/virtual environments make
it harder for people to be information literate (Lorenzo &
Dziuban, 2006). The sheer volume
of content and software available makes successful and creative

use of what is available an
ongoing challenge. A British report shows that while people
may use technology extensively,
they do not have the capabilities required to make the most of
their information
environments, due to limitations in their information literacy
(Rowlands & Nicholas, 2008).
High levels of technology without informed learning or
information skills of the conceptual
kind may mean that we become poor learners.
538: A writer must seek history, context, inspiration,
collaboration and review with or
without technology. While technology may simplify or make the
process more complex, it
may also act as a barrier or may add new facets to the
experience.
Source four
Humanities 2.0: E-Learning in the Digital World
Guerlac, Suzanne
Representations; Fall 2011; 116; ProQuest Research Library

pp. 102-128
102: The global economy is changing at a dizzying pace, largely
because of the accelerating
speed of information technology.
…Knowledge, in this context, is redefined. It no longer serves
us with the task of solving the
mysteries of the physical world, of constructing an orderly
sense of the past, or of shaping a
share culture heritage. It is now placed in the service of, and
often identified with, innovation.
Knowledge implies the effective management of information
and the conversion of it into
capital. Learning is re-definted in accordance with software
platforms that link corporate
training for employees and the delivery of content. E-learning
gathers both together in a new
business of education that is now tracked by financial
specialists as a new profit sector.
103: The global competition in e-learning generates new
software capabilities, which in turn
stimulate domestic demand for online alternatives to traditional
education at all levels.

9
106: With e-learning the discourse of public education—access,
affordability and so on—
flips over to become a discourse of revenue production and cost
effectiveness in the business
of education.
108: In 1994, the sociologist Martin Trow noted the “tendency
of ICTs [information
communication technologies] to blur and weaken institutional
and intellectual boundaries of
all kinds.” One of the most significant boundaries was the one
between public and private/
the combination of higher tuition, increased enrollments and the
e-learning solution bring the
public university closer and closer to the business model of for-
profit institutions of higher
education.
110: Obviously, e-learning is best suited to “right answer”
disciplines such as basic

mathematics, foreign languages, business at an introductory
level, engineering and computer
services, as well as skills training. Blended approaches [use of
both online and face-to-face],
however, can incorporate experiments with the potential of
digital media to enrich teaching
and research in the humanities.
Countering those who, Cassandra-line, announce the demise of
the humanities (Stanley
Fisher being the most vocal, younger voices embrace digital
tools they believe capable of
regenerating the humanities, which they feel have been
weakened by decades of conflict over
issues relating to the cannon, multiculturalism,
interdisciplinarity and the critique of
humanism.
113: Carol Twigg of the National Center for Academic
Transformations estimates that three-
quarters of the costs of colleges and universities are personnel
costs. What is the point of this
expense, which gets passed along to students who incur a
massive debt, if most of what one

learns, as John Seely Brown maintains, will become outdated in
five years? What is the point,
when Web 2.0 has taught us that the best way to learn is not
from specialists or professionals
but peer-to-peer collaborations? The new model for learning is
Wikipedia, where
collaboration occurs on a massive scale, and knowledge, always
subject to revision, is
universally available to be remixed or adapted as one sees fit.
115: The task of the humanities becomes one of creating and
critically examining new modes
of knowledge production.
Source five
Karakas, Fahri and Alperen Manisaligil. 2012. Reorienting self-
directed learning for the
creative, digital era. European Journal of Training and
Development. Vol 36, no. 7. Pp.712-
731.
712: As the scale of economic and social changes in Europe
demand new approaches to

education and training, the significance and centrality of self-
directed learning (SDL) in
European workplaces is increasing.
713: SDL has been defined as “a process in which individuals
take the initiative, with or
without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs,
formulating learning goals,
identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing
and implementing
appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning
outcomes” (Knowles, 1975, p. 18). It
has also been defined as an independent pursuit involving a
philosophy of personal autonomy
10
and self-management (Candy, 1991); learners’ psychological
processes that are purposefully
directed to gain knowledge, solve problems, or develop a skill
(Long, 1994); self-directed
study where an individual accepts responsibility for designing
and pursuing an educative
activity (Houle, 1988, p. 92); a training design where trainees

master packages of material at
their own pace without instructor’s aid (Piskurich, 1993); and
the most basic response to
newness, problems, or challenges in the environment
(Guglielmino, 2008).
Empirical research has demonstrated a number of positive
effects of SDL in the workplaces
including increased performance (Artis and Harris, 2007), cost
savings in training and
development programs (Durr, 1992; Guglielmino and Murdick,
1997), increased ability for
critical thinking and questioning (Candy, 1991), increased
confidence and problem solving
capabilities (Durr, 1992), sharing knowledge and building
networks with others (Rowland
and Volet, 1996), stronger affective commitment (Cho and
Kwon, 2005), and a sense of
meaning at work (Kops, 1997).
714: The dramatic shifts in technology and the workplaces are
transforming the landscape
and dynamics of SDL. Some of the technological shifts include
the popularisation of online
learning or web-based learning, digital tools, Web 2.0

technologies, social networking tools,
and social media (Song and Hill, 2007). The new learning
environments are convenient,
versatile, enjoyable, non-linear, interactive, and
user-tailored (Fischer and Scharff, 1998; Candy, 2004). In this
context, self-directed
learners’ responsibility, control, and effectiveness are higher
than the past (Vonderwell
and Turner, 2005). Furthermore, with the help of these
technologies self-directed
learners are constructing knowledge instead of recording or
memorising it (Harel and
Papert, 1991).
Web 2.0 technologies (i.e. web-based interactive and connective
read/write
technologies) are at the heart of this new digital ecosystem. The
new generation
internet tools, so-called Web 2.0 technologies (O’Reilly, 2005)
have fostered the growth
and popularisation of web-based communities, social
networking sites, video sharing
sites, wikis, and blogs. Web 2.0 technologies have changed the
digital ecosystem such

that information is constantly being generated, updated, and
converged into new
patterns and forms expanding the utility and life of the original
content.
715: We describe five transformations that characterise the
changing landscape of
learning in the creative digital age:
(1) virtual collaboration;
(2) technological convergence;
(3) global connectivity;
(4) online communities; and
(5) digital creativity; which we will describe in terms of their
implications for SDL
716: Virtual collaboration
The first transformation is virtual collaboration, which is best
described in the
path-breaking work of Tapscott and Williams (2006):
“Wikinomics”. Wikinomics is defined
as the new art and science of collaboration (Tapscott and
Williams, 2006)

where billions of connected people collaborate and participate
in innovation, wealth
creation, and social development on the virtual global platform
of the Internet.
717: These trends have been changing the nature and the face of
SDL. In the past,
self-directed learners pursued learning in relative isolation
(listening to radio or TV,
11
receiving information by post, or using CDs). SDL now takes
place in collaborative
virtual environments where users share knowledge, offer each
other resources,
recommend learning tips, and exchange ideas with each other.
Technological convergence
The second transformation entails the convergence of new
technologies of information
and communications. Technological convergence is the
principle that the various
media, such as radio, TV, newspapers, CD players, video

recorders, telephones, mobile
devices, and the Internet, are all coming together to form one
global information
channel.
The implication of technological convergence is that employees
can use a variety of
digital tools and mobile devices available to them (including
iPhone, iPad, Blackberry,
social networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, and blogs)
for continuous learning
in their lives.
718: Global connectivity
The third transformation is global connectivity; which can be
defined as the ability to
link or connect to the internet – the global brain – providing
access to worldwide
online information resources just by sitting in front of and
clicking on your computer,
laptop, or mobile device.
One significant implication of global connectivity is that
individuals act and feel as
global citizens of a hyper-connected knowledge platform. There

is a natural affinity and
alignment between SDL and global
connectivity. As self-directed learners are embedded in a set of
relationships and
networks within the digital ecosystem, they are well equipped to
be active citizens and
informed decision makers in a hyper-connected society.
719: Online communities
The fourth transformation is the usage of internet platforms and
new media for social
change and community benefits. The new media, also called
“social media” has been
used extensively by social movements to educate, communicate,
lobby, protest,
fundraise, democratise information and increase social
awareness.
In sum, online communities enable self-directed learners to:
. pursue hobbies or share similar interests and passions with
like-minded people;
. expand their networks and meet new people;
. post queries and learn from experts or peers;

. engage in meaningful and lively conversations; and
. engage in issue-oriented non-partisan social activism.
720: Digital creativity
The final transformation is the increasing importance of
creativity and innovativeness
in digital platforms and future business models. Creativity is
becoming increasingly
significant to find new ways to bridge and resolve wider global
issues, social divides,
and poverty gaps of the twenty-first century (Waddock, 2007).
721: In this new paradigm, self-directed learners can:
. customise and design their learning based on their unique
needs, skills, and
interests;
. build on their inner creative abilities and strengths; and
. hold responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating
their own
12

learning processes (Brockett and Hiemstra, 1991; Park, 2009).
Source six
Cari Kenner and Jason Weinerman. ‘Adult Learning Theory:
Application and non-traditional
students.’ Journal of College Reading and Learning. 41 (2): 87-
96.
89: Adult Learning Strategy and Theory
Schraw and Moshman (1995) lay out three metacognitive
frameworks that identify how
people structure their own learning theories. These three
frameworks are tacit theory,
informal theory, and formal theory. Academic experts use the
formal theory when they apply
complex theoretical frameworks to generate new knowledge
(Schraw and Moshman, 1995).
As formal theory is rare and only found within the higher
realms of academic expertise, it
will not be discussed further in this article.
Tacit theory frames the acquisition of metacognitive skills as
occurring without any specific
learning framework. According to tacit theory, adult learners

acquire their metacognitive
skills from peers, teachers, and the local culture. Adult learners
likely have these skills deeply
ingrained into their conceptual framework, which may make it
difficult for them to change,
regardless of the degree of error resulting from a flawed tacitly-
developed learning theory
(Guzzetti, Snyder, Glass, & Gamas, 1993).
90: One step up the formalization chain of individual
metacognitive theory is informal
theory, describing the learner as possessing some recognition of
metacognition. Individuals
who use informal theory still acquire their metacognitive skills
over time from their peers and
their environment, but they have at least a rudimentary
conscious thought process regarding
their metacognitive framework (Schraw & Moshman, 1995). For
adult students, much of
their informal metacognitive strategies develop in workplace
environments, where
metacognitive development is recognized by their peers as a
sign of wisdom, which brings
together intelligence, experience, and reflection (Prewitt, 2003).

Adult learners beginning their post secondary education are
likely to have a gap in their
academic development process.
91: Instead of continuing to acquire academic knowledge and
skills, they have increased the
development of practical knowledge in the workplace.
While this practical knowledge is useful in navigating daily life,
it likely proves inadequate in
meeting the specific challenges of the academic environment.
Entry level coursework can provide activities for adult learners
to compare academic and
non-academic knowledge. Specific questions that can encourage
adult learners to compare
their practical knowledge with the skills needed in their
academic career can include
analyzing citation usage in academic writing but not in
professional memos and the role of
first person in different writing forms. Other material that can
be presented in this framework
include introducing the role of bias and informational versus
persuasive writing styles. These
additional assignments can demonstrate that not all written

material needs to be taken as the
ultimate truth.
92: Framing
As adult learners are likely to be more task and goal-oriented
(Knowles, 1984), it is important
to frame their reintroduction to collegiate learning in such a
way that they can see the benefits
as directly relating to their academic careers.
13
93: By understanding their existing learning preferences, adult
learners can compare the new
study strategies taught in the developmental courses with their
previous learning models.
Since many adult learners will have models based on practical
knowledge from workplace
environments, the newer models should prove superior in the
academic environment.
Source seven
Littlejohn, A. H. Beetham and L. McGill

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
‘Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in
theory and practice.’ 2012.
Volume 28. 547-556.
547: Digital forms of information and communication are
transforming what it means to
work, study, research, express oneself, perhaps even to think.
These transformations
challenge the core business of universities – to produce and
disseminate knowledge through
research and teaching – and could have a profound impact on
learning.
These changes are framed by a number of societal trends. First,
workplaces are being
transformed such that production and practice are increasingly
knowledge
driven (Hardt&Negri 2008, p. 290). Not only are workplaces
making extensive use of
networked technology, they are beginning to model themselves
on such technologies,
becoming distributed, dynamic and highly mediated
environments (Fiedler & Pata 2009).

Second, work problems are becoming more complex such that
people have to constantly
build new knowledge to solve these problems, requiring
updating of expertise and continuous
learning (Fiedler & Pata 2009; Littlejohn et al. 2012). Third,
people are regularly and
repeatedly transitioning into new roles and careers,
necessitating lifelong learning (Kirpal et
al. 2007). Fourth, expertise is becoming more distributed,
creating a need to learn across sites
(Ludvigsen et al. 2011). Finally, learning itself is increasingly
mediated by technology and is
being redefined by technology.
Digital literacy is, therefore, becoming central to what higher
and vocational (further)
education can offer. By ‘digital literacy’ we mean the
capabilities required to thrive in and
beyond education, in an age when digital forms of information
and communication
predominate.
549: The formulation of literacies as ‘social practices of using
codes for making and
exchanging meanings’ (Street 1996) reappeared continuously

throughout the literature.
‘Social practices’ here signify not only that the relevant
activities involve other people, but
that they are situated in specific social and cultural contexts
from which they derive their
meaning and on which they are significantly dependent for their
performance. Similarly
‘making and exchanging meanings’ are informational and
communicational activities whose
value is determined by factors extending beyond the immediate
context. The word
‘knowledge’ can be used to denote this value, and has
historically been used to assert the
cultural value of meaning-making practices acquired through
formal education and training.
550: An understanding of literacies as situated knowledge
practices has several implications
for the development of digital literacies by learners, for which
there is some support in the
available research.
First, literacies must be foundational capabilities such as
reading, writing or numeracy on
which more particular skills depend. Literacies (and their lack)

will therefore have a lifelong
and lifewide impact. They are practices without which a learner
is impoverished in relation to
culturally valued knowledge. On these grounds, it makes sense
to talk about literacy, or
literacies, of the digital. Governments around the world have
begun to acknowledge an
14
entitlement to digital capability alongside the entitlement to
read-write literacy and numeracy
for their citizens.
Second, extended literacy practice should be developed
continuously. Literacies are acquired
through continued development and refinement in different
contexts, not through one-off
instruction (see for example Bruner 1990; Graff 1995). Personal
styles and preferences will
emerge, just as with writing or musical and artistic expression.
Third, the digital practice that emerges in a complex situation
such as a learning activity will

involve an interaction between personal capabilities or
dispositions and the environment
supporting action. There is emerging evidence, discussed in
detail in the next section, that
transferring digital capabilities from one environment to another
– from social life to learning
for example – is more problematic for learners than has been
acknowledged (Cranmer 2006;
Facer & Selwyn 2010). Tacit situational knowledge seems to
play a vital role in competent
performance, as does participation with competent others in
digitally mediated environments
(Fowler & Edwards 2005). The implication for learner
development is clear. Generic virtual
environments such as virtual learning environments (or learning
management systems) and
search engines support the practice of generic digital
capabilities. It is participation in subject
specific tasks, with (where relevant) subject-specialist
technologies, that enables learners to
become competent actors in specialized knowledge
communities.
Fourth, and relatedly, digital literacies must have a bearing on

individual identity –
specifically on how one adopts a stance towards knowledge in
digital forms.
551: Finally, literacies are continually evolving in response to
changes in the technical,
epistemological, and cultural order. Changes associated with the
‘digital’ age include the
need to adopt multiple modes of meaning making (Kress 2003;
Siemens 2006; Seely
Brown &Adler 2008) because of a multiplicity of available
media and the rise of hyperlinked
and hybrid media forms.
Therefore, digital literacy extends beyond technical
competence, such as the ability to form
letters in writing, or use a keyboard. Digitally based knowledge
practices are meaningful and
generative of meaning: they depend on the learner’s previous
experiences (Goodyear & Ellis
2008), on dispositions such as confidence, self-efficacy and
motivation (Candy 1991), and on
qualities of the environment where that practicetakes place,
including of course the available

digital technologies (Engeström 1999). Digital literacies are
both constitutive of and
expressive of personal identity.
However, other research has highlighted the difficulties of
transposing practices from social
contexts into formal learning (Cranmer 2006; Facer&Selwyn
2010). Some aspects of
learners’ everyday practices with technology are in fact at odds
with the practices valued in
traditional academic teaching and assessment, as we argued in
an earlier work (Beetham
2009). For example, academics report that learners struggle
particularly with tasks of
judgement and evaluation, and with issues of originality in
representing their ideas. These
have always been difficult issues for students, but they are now
being posed in a context
where identities are being constantly renegotiated online, where
new ideas become instantly
available in multiple fragments and copies and reinscriptions of
themselves, and where ‘the
power of the crowd’ dominates how opinion is expressed.

15
Source eight
Jeff Shephard and Barbara Mullins. 2012, ‘Balancing Act: A
Phenomelogical Study of
Female Adult Learners who successfully persisted to graduate
school.’ The Qualitative
Report. Vol 17, 1-21.
1: After a significant review of literature related to adult
learning, Cross (1981) found there is
“enough consistency in the findings to give a generalized
picture of what people say deters
them from participating in adult learning activities” (p. 98). She
grouped these deterrents into
situational, institutional and dispositional barriers, describing
them as follows:
Situational barriers are those arising from one’s situation in life
at a given time. Lack of time
due to job and home responsibilities, for example, deters large
numbers of potential learners
in the 25– to 45–year–old age group. Lack of money is a

problem for young people and
others of low income. Lack of child care is a problem for young
parents; transportation is a
situational barrier for geographically isolated and physically
handicapped learners.
Institutional barriers consist of all those practices and
procedures that exclude or discourage
working adults from participating in educational activities –
inconvenient schedules or
locations, full–time fees for part–time study, inappropriate
courses of study and so forth.
Dispositional barriers are those related to attitudes and self–
perceptions about oneself as a
learner. Many older citizens, for example, feel that they are too
old to learn. Adults with poor
educational backgrounds frequently lack interest in learning or
confidence in their ability to
learn. (p. 98)
p. 2 While some may argue the barriers described by Cross
(1981) are dated, we believe they
take on new meanings for adult learners in the 21st century.
4: It is widely known and accepted that higher levels of
educational attainment have a

positive effect on individuals, society and higher education
(Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson,
2009; Nevill & Chen, 2007; Wendler et al., 2010). Income
levels for individuals are
positively correlated with educational levels; higher educational
levels increase contributions
to and participation in society; and participation in higher
education benefits academies via
increased enrollment rates and completion levels which has a
positive effect on funding.
5: In the study presented here, Cross’ (1981) barriers for adult
learners were utilized as a
framework for discussion with adult learners who have
successfully persisted in their
graduate studies while maintaining multiple responsibilities in
addition to their academic
pursuits.
18: The three interviews with Alice, Betty, and Charla suggest
that the barriers identified by
Cross (1981) 30 years ago are still relevant for graduate adult
learners. However, it appears
that institutional barriers may be less of an issue than at the
time of her writings due to more

learning options for adult learners due to advancements in
technology. For example, Alice
was able to take advantage of an online program to complete her
graduate studies. However,
Betty still had to succumb to inflexible course schedules in
order to complete her graduate
degree. This was a result of her choice to attend an on–campus
program at the same
university where she completed her baccalaureate degree. While
Betty may have been able to
complete her degree via an online program and mitigate the
barriers associated with the
inflexible course schedule and commuting, her comfort level
with a familiar setting – the
campus, faculty and administrators – took precedent.
The institutional barriers that Charla encountered began to form
a dispositional barrier related
to her confidence level and created doubts in her ability to
persist. While Alice may have had
some slight hesitation regarding her abilities to complete a
master’s degree, it was quickly
surmounted when she successfully completed her first major
assignment. Choosing to attend

16
the same university where she completed her baccalaureate
degree gave Betty a sense of
comfort that enabled her to overcome her initial concerns with
the perceived rigors of
graduate school. Like Alice, Betty’s initial experiences in the
classroom made her more
confident and comfortable with graduate studies.
Interview data related to the situational barrier provided rich
material for understanding how
graduate adult learners successfully persist and complete
graduate studies. As most graduate
adult learners will surely have to balance family and work with
their academic desires, keys
to successful persistence can provide hope and
19: The keys to overcoming situational barriers included the
importance of family support,
the ability to prioritize activities and tasks and the unforeseen
benefit of attending graduate
school as an adult.

Source nine
Education and Information Technologies 10:1/2, 109–121, 2005.
Self Organising Wayfinding Support for Lifelong Learners
COLIN TATTERSALL ∗ , JOCELYN MANDERVELD, BERT
VAN DEN BERG, REN´E
VAN ES, JOS´E JANSSEN and ROB KOPER
109: Lifelong learning refers to the activities people perform
throughout their lives to
improve their knowledge, skills and competence in a particular
field, given some personal,
societal or employment related motives (Field, 2001). The
European Commission has
designated lifelong learning as one of its priorities, identified
targets for lifelong learning in
Europe, and is monitoring the implementation of strategies in
its member states (European
Commission, 2003).
110: However, taking on new responsibilities is not without its
challenges. Brookfield (1985)
notes that although self-directed learning “has connotations of
autonomy, independence and

isolation”, investigations have highlighted that “adults would
like more, rather than less,
assistance in their learning pursuits”. Similarly, Candy (1991)
writes that self-directed
learners are often challenged to assume certain responsibilities,
and that when deciding how
to approach learning tasks, the self-directed learner is
“confronted with the problem of how to
find a way into and through a body of knowledge that is
unknown at the outset. Without the
benefit of any explicit guidance, a self-directed learner is
obliged to map out a course of
inquiry that seems appropriate, but that may involve a certain
amount of difficulty and
disappointment that could have been averted.”
We use the term “Educational wayfinding” to describe the
cognitive, decision-making
process carried out by self-directed learners as they assume
responsibility for choosing
and sequencing their learning events.
111: As a response to this issue of financing support for
lifelong learners, a significant
amount of research has explored the application of information

technologies to lifelong
learning support (Dicheva and McLoughlin, 2003; Sinitsa,
2000). Much of this research
revolves around the use of the World Wide Web in lifelong
learning, facilitating the creation
of distributed networks of learning resources (Zahariadis and
Voliotis, 2003). These
educational hypermedia systems (De Bra, 2002) are part of the
Adaptive Hypermedia
research area (Brusilovsky, 2001; Cristea and De Bra, 2002).
The authors of a recent
CEDEFOP thematic workshop report (CEDEFOP, 2003) contend
that Adaptive Hypermedia
Systems (AHSs) are “particularly suited to implementing
lifelong learning . . . because they
17
can tailor the learning environment and content to each
individual learner’s needs and
aptitudes”.
112: The previous section reviewed three sources of wayfinding
support—course designers,

attempting to predict efficient paths for lifelong learners,
learner support services, providing
flexible advice but at price, and adaptive hypermedia systems,
still challenged to prove their
practical application. A fourth source can be found in the “other
learners”, a point noted by
Brookfield (1985) when he states that the “successful self-
directed learners . . . place their
learning within a social setting in which the advice,
information, and skill modelling provided
by other learners are crucial conditions for successful learning”.
Source ten
Learn Inq (2007) 1:41–49
DOI 10.1007/s11519-007-0001-5
The paradoxical future of digital learning
Mark Warschauer
41: There is little doubt that this rapid diffusion of new
technologies will broadly
impact the nature of learning and literacy. As Ong (1982) wrote,
‘‘Technologies are

not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of
consciousness, and never
more than when they affect the word’’ (p. 82).
42: However, technology does not transform learning and
literacy by itself, but only in
conjunction with other social and economic factors. This
transitional stage suggests that the
future of learning in the 21st century will be quite complex, as
we strive toward post-
industrial forms of knowledge acquisition and production
without having yet overcome the
educational contradictions and failings of the industrial age. In
the remainder of this essay, I
examine the paradoxes that emerge when we examine three
widely accepted beliefs about the
future of digital learning, related to what people learn, how they
learn, and where they learn
in the digital era.
The first paradox relates to what students need to learn in the
new digital classroom.
A wide range of organizations (e.g., North Central Regional
Educational Laboratory

& the Metiri Group, 2003; Partnership for 21st Century Skills,
2004) and individuals
(e.g., Gee, 2003, 2004; Lemke, 1998) have argued that the
literacies of the print era
are being superceded by a new set of digital-age literacies, the
most frequently
mentioned of which are information literacy and multimedia
literacy.
Information literacy refers to the ability to define what sorts of
information are
needed; locate the needed information efficiently; evaluate
information and its
sources critically; incorporate selected information into one’s
knowledge base;
understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding
the use of information;
and access and use information ethically and legally (American
Library Association,
2000). Though the need for information literacy pre-dates the
digital era, its
importance has now greatly expanded in a world where vast
amounts of unfiltered
data are available online. The ability to draw on draw rote
answers is inadequate in a

world where yesterday’s answers are outdated faster than ever.
Education must
equip students to aim further ahead of a faster target.
43: Multimedia literacy refers to the ability to interpret, design,
and create content that makes
use of images, photographs, video, animation, music, sounds,
texts, and
18
typography (for overviews, see Daley, 2003; Kress, 2003).
Among other things, it includes an
understanding of frame composition; color palette; audio,
image, and video editing
techniques; sound–text–image relations; the effects of
typography; transitional effects;
navigation and interface construction; and generic conventions
in diverse media (Daley,
2003). In the 21st century, multimedia literacy is viewed as
important for occupational
purposes (with an increasing amount of jobs requiring
production of multimodal content),
civic purposes (with full participation in society enhanced by

the ability to interpret and
produce multimedia through blogging, podcasting, Website
creation, etc.), and artistic
purposes (with digital photography,digital video, and other
forms of new media emerging as
important forms of art and self-expression).
While the rationale behind the need for both information and
multimedia literacy is thus
clear, what often gets lost in discussions of new literacies is
their relationship to more
traditional literacies of print-based reading and writing. Two
points deserve consideration.
First, the same digital media that are fostering the need for new
literacies are also making
traditional literacies more valuable then ever before. For
example, the development of a
computer-based informational economy has brought about the
loss of millions of
manufacturing, mining, and agricultural jobs in the US that
demanded little or no literacy,
while creating in their place large numbers of office jobs
requiring substantial amounts of
reading and writing (see discussion in Warschauer, 2006).

Second, competence in traditional literacies is often a gateway
to successful entry into the
world of new literacies.
44: None of this negates the necessity of promoting multimedia
literacy and information
literacy in schools, but approaches need to be found that
simultaneously develop diverse
students’ reading, writing, cultural literacy, and academic
literacy, rather than relying on
basic drills (see, for example, Becker, 2000; Wenglinsky,1998),
haphazard cutting and
pasting from the Internet (Warschauer, Knobel, & Stone, 2004),
or production of superficial
PowerPoint presentations. Cummins’s (2001) framework for
academic language learning,
emphasizing maximum cognitive engagement, maximum
identity investment, and a critical
focus on linguistic meaning, form, and use, is particularly
suitable for combining new and
traditional forms of literacy.
45: A second element of conventional wisdom about digital
learning relates to how students

learn. Simply put, the belief is that the best forms of digital
learning involve autonomous
learning, following the mantra that the teacher must become a
guide on the side rather than a
sage on the stage.
Digital media undoubtedly provides greater opportunities for
youth to learn autonomously.
Yet the paradox is that people develop the ability to work
autonomously, whether in online or
offline realms, only through processes of being instructed or
mentored by others. This study
of network science, backed up by studies of other online
projects (Warschauer, 2003b),
strongly calls into question the notion of the teacher being a
guide on the side. Rather, the
teacher must be centrally involved, actively instructing and
mentoring students, especially at
the initial stages of work on a project.
46: In summary, the ability to learn autonomously will indeed
be critical in the digital future.
However, paradoxically, strong mentorship is required for
students to achieve this autonomy,

while an overemphasis on student independence can leave
students floundering.
19
The how paradox is closely related to the where paradox.
Autonomous learners can learn
anywhere. Particularly using digital media, people of all ages
can learn in out of school
settings like never before, through accessing online information,
using educational or
edutainment software, participating in online communities, or
playing individual or
multiplayer games. These powerful forms of out-of-school
learning are viewed as making
formal education less relevant, especially when schools prove
less
than fully capable of successfully incorporating new media in
instruction (see, e.g.,
Gee, 2003, 2004).
The paradox here is that, at the same time that new
opportunities increase for powerful out-

of-school learning, formal education is actually rising rather
than falling in its impact on
people’s lives.
48: Curricular and pedagogical approaches to educational
technology exist that can foster
improved digital learning for all. Such approaches emphasize
scaffolding in reading, writing,
and cultural literacy while providing access to new digital-era
literacies; involve strong
person guidance and mentorship from teachers and peers; and
serve to make links between
in-school and out-of-school learning, rather than devaluing
either (see examples and
discussion in Brown, Cummins, & Sayers, 2007;Warschauer,
2006; Warschauer, Grant, Del
Real, & Rousseau, 2004). Such approaches will not magically
overcome educational
inequity; that is a broader challenge involving much more than
good use of computers in
schools. But simplistic views of digital learning, which pit new
literacies against old,
autonomy versus mentorship, or home versus school, will only
serve to worsen educational

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