Promoting staged self-directed learning (SSDL) among Malaysian tertiary learners through online discussion in completing group assignment

Developing self-directed learning skills among Malaysian university students has become one of the primary aims of adult education. However, we cannot assume that university students have already learned self-regulation, time management and project management upon entering campus. Neither have they learnt to be a self-directed learner by themselves. It is the teacher or instructor that must develop strategies that could support these students in becoming a self- directed learner by letting them to be responsible on their learning. To overcome this issue, Brockett and Hiemstra [3] suggest the use of online discussions to improve students' interactions and collaboration that would eventually help them to become a self-directed learner. Thus, the purpose of this study was to address the question of how the use of online forum could promote self-directed learning among Malaysian tertiary students based on a conceptual framework developed from the integration of the staged self-directed learning (SSDL) [8] with the community of Inquiry model [7]. A purposive sampling of 35 students taking a multimedia subject at a Malaysian government university was selected. These students were further divided into 8 small groups. The main instrument used in this study was the online forum that captured online conversations from 8 small- groups. The transcripts derived from the online discussions among the students and the teacher/instructor were analysed using coding procedure developed from Garrison and Anderson's [7] interaction analysis model. The findings indicated that the use of online forum could foster the development of learners' skills of self-directed learning.