14_Learner Autonomy and Online Learning

The Application of a course management system to enhance autonomy in learning English as a foreign language
Navaporn Sanprasert, 2010
Science Direct - 38 (2010) 109-123

This article focuses on a very specific cultural context (ESL students in a Thai university) and the attempt to implement increased learner autonomy in students using a blended approach of F2F and online learning.

The interest of the article lies in a few of the observations made based on the journal entries of students in the experimental group and some of the reflection around learner autonomy and motivation, which appear to improve when rightly scaffolded into online learning systems to give an additional "earning space" where students can operate.

Autonomy, which is defined as the extent to which learner demonstrate the ability to take control of their learning, has been justified by learner autonomy researchers during the past decades on the grounds that it can increase motivation to learn and consequently increases earning effectiveness. (p.109)

The researcher of this study indicates that the use of structured and well thought scaffolding activities can support greater learner achievement and to do so the use of a blended approach allows for the creation of an additional learning space that does not directly challenge the more traditional classroom and teacher settings.

Together with the concept of learner autonomy, the article brings to the conversation the idea of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. As students begin to take charge of their own learning, either by following invitations and directions by the instructors (reactive autonomy) or taking charge of their own learning decisions (proactive autonomy). The study focused on a few specific tools that allowed these observations to emerge, amongst them the use of reflective journals (blogs) and attention to individualized and timely feedback to their text entries.

A few additional highlights are listed below:

• as students' perception of increased independence grows so does self-directdness - this is an important observation as we try to consider ways to modify F2F curricula into online learning deliveries. The openness and independence that technologies allow us to work with, if effectively used and planned with, can increase learner's autonomy.
• the level of confidence in written contributions and the overall production of written texts in ESL students increased using the online submission and feedback tools.
• feedback, when timely and individualized increased confidence, production and improvement in writing skills.
• in this specific research, students in the experimental group did not report a modified understanding and perception of the teachers' presence (this was a first attempt and in a blended approach - as we have discovered in other articles in this blog, the teacher presence changes and remains a focus point of success).
• one last claim by the author of this article is the pivotal role that teachers play in initiating, scaffolding and supporting learner's autonomy.