Chinese baccalaureate nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning
Introduction
In a contemporary health-care environment characterized by rapidly changing developments and constantly increasing knowledge, professional nurses need to be able to focus on relevant aspects of various situations, simultaneously solving problems and making decisions in nursing care (Higgs and Jones, 2000). Higher education in nursing should prepare graduates with the capability to take on the increasingly challenging roles required in the nursing profession (Billings and Halstead, 2005). Baccalaureate nursing graduates are expected to identify the actual and potential health needs of clients, act in a professional and ethical manner when faced with complex situations, demonstrate professional knowledge and skills, and be responsible for their own personal and professional development. They are expected to engage in self-directed learning through identifying human and material resources, identifying their own learning needs, setting goals, choosing learning strategies, and evaluating results of the learning process (Zhang et al., 2010). Therefore, nursing education institutions should add the development of self-directed lifelong learners to their mission and goal statements. Knowledge and understanding of nursing students' self-directed learning abilities are critical for nurse educators (Li et al., 2009).
Self-directed learning (SDL) has been defined as a process in which learners take the initiative and responsibility in identifying their own learning needs, formulating learning objectives, pursuing learning resources and strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes (Knowles, 1975). SDL integrates self-management (management of actions and resources), self-monitoring (the process by which the learners monitor, evaluate and regulate their cognitive learning strategies), and motivation and volition in initiating and maintaining the efforts (Fisher et al., 2001, O'Shea, 2003). Self-directed learning readiness refers to the degree that learners possess the attitudes, abilities and personality characteristics necessary for self-directed learning. Readiness for SDL is individualized with varying degrees along a continuum (Wiley, 1983).
Advantages of SDL have been identified and include: increased choice, confidence, autonomy, motivation and the development of skills for lifelong learning. In a self-directed learning process, students are encouraged to develop the ability to assess their knowledge deficits and then seek out relevant resources to help them address these deficits. They may use their own knowledge, explore the available resources, and make an informed judgment when selecting the solutions to problems (Karimi et al., 2010). Reio (2004) investigated 121 seniors in a human development course and found that after controlling for the possible confounding effects of age, gender, and ethnicity, self-directed learning readiness and curiosity uniquely predicted the classroom learning performance.
Self-directed learning is not for all students and may cause anxiety and frustration in some students. Mature students are usually more self-directed than junior students. Students who score low in readiness for SDL are often more anxious when they are involved in independent projects or case studies. They prefer more teacher-led discussion, demonstration and lectures (Li et al., 2010). It is important to acknowledge that encouraging self-directed learning has inconsistent results and may lead to anxiety for students. Nursing educators should assess students' readiness for SDL for implementing suitable teaching strategies in nursing education (Li et al., 2010). Some authors discuss the relationship between education environment, students' self-efficacy and SDL ability among Chinese nursing students (He et al., 2010, Zhao et al., 2010), however, little literature explores Chinese nursing students' readiness for SDL. This study fills that knowledge gap. The purpose of this study was to describe baccalaureate nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning in China. The results of this study will enhance educators' understanding of Chinese nursing students' readiness for SDL. This understanding may lead to the creation of educational climates that will foster learner-centered approaches, gradually promoting student autonomy and mutual responsibility for student learning and, hence, reduce students' anxiety.
Section snippets
Design
This descriptive study was performed using a cross-sectional research design.
Sample
All baccalaureate nursing students studying at four nursing schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Macao were invited to participate in this study after they were informed about the purpose and process of the study. There were 896 students (32% in Beijing, 25% in Shanghai, 24% in Macao and 19% in Chengdu). Based on the standard deviation (18.34) and acceptable error (2.56) with a significance level of 0.05 reported
Students' characteristics
In this study, 485 of 536 students (response rate, 90.5%) completed all items of the demographic survey and the SDLR scale (Fisher et al., 2001 Chinese translation version). Students aged from 17 to 25 with a mean of 20.64 (S.D. = 1.42). More than half of the students have been involved in small group learning, SDL or PBL. The detailed numbers and frequencies from gender, each academic year and experience are summarized in Table 1.
Students' readiness for self-directed learning
Table 2 shows the measures of central tendency and dispersion for
Discussion
In this study, the results indicate that students possess the attitudes, abilities and personality characteristics necessary for self-directed learning. The attributes of Chinese nursing students, such as a strong sense of responsibility and perseverance, due diligence, rigorous self-discipline, outward enthusiasm, logical reasoning, and active thinking, enable students to take the initiative and responsibility in their own learning. They manage learning performance and resources, and monitor
Limitations
There are some limitations to this study. First, this is a local descriptive study with a moderate sample size from four cities in China. The results indicate the level of students' readiness for SDL locally and it is not clear whether these findings can be generalized to other students since different learning environment and approaches may influence students' readiness for SDL. Second, although the validity and reliability of the SDLR scale Chinese translation version was congruent with its
Recommendations
Factors influencing the engagement of students in SDL activities include their innate propensity for SDL, their familiarity with the subject matter, the possession of SDL skills, and their motivation for SDL (Huynh et al., 2009). Promoting SDL skills is a challenging process for faculty members and students. Nurse educators should assess the learning styles and preferences of their students in order to determine the appropriateness of SDL. To enhance students' readiness for SDL, perhaps more
Conclusions
In this study, more than half of the students exhibited a high level of readiness for SDL, but readiness for SDL varied among students depending on their year of academic studies. This existing variation in students' readiness for SDL is helpful in identifying student characteristics that might be used to modify learning activities for these students. Explicit instructions regarding the self-directed learning process may be needed in nursing curricula in order to foster the development of
Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge the Macao Polytechnic Institute (code RP/ESS-5/2008) for providing funding for this research.
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2021, Nurse Education TodayCitation Excerpt :Due to diversity of study years among these included studies, meta-analysis was not feasible. Among 12 included studies, 10 (Cadorin et al., 2015; Cheng et al., 2014; Choi et al., 2014; Liou et al., 2013; Noh and Kim, 2019; Qamata-Mitshali, 2018; Rezaee and Mosalanejad, 2015; Roh and Kim, 2015; Şenyuva and Kaya, 2014; Tao et al., 2015; Tseng et al., 2011; Yuan et al., 2012) examined teaching-learning stratgeies using pre-and post-experimental design and reported positive results on SDL performance. Only six studies had a control group (Cadorin et al., 2015; Choi et al., 2014; Liou et al., 2013; Rezaee and Mosalanejad, 2015; Tao et al., 2015; Tseng et al., 2011).
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2020, Nurse Education in PracticeCitation Excerpt :On the other hand, readiness towards SDL requires a level of personal attitude, self-discipline, learning ability and a desire for knowledge acquisition; all of these are deemed to play a significant role in successful SDL adaptation among nurses (Farokhi Far et al., 2002; Wiley, 1983). A plethora of evidence is available with respect to readiness towards SDL among nursing students (El-Gilany and Abusaad, 2013; Said et al., 2015; Yuan et al., 2012), yet little evidence is available among nurses (Gagnon et al., 2015; Malekian et al., 2016; Mayer et al., 2005). Mixed evidence was found among nursing students; supporting higher (Alharbi, 2018; El-Gilany and Abusaad, 2013; Said et al., 2015; Yuan et al., 2012) and lower (Alharbi, 2018; Lestari and Widjajakusumah, 2009) scores of SDLR.
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2019, Nurse Education Today