The effect of Self-Directed Learning Motives and Students’ Cooperation on the success of Online Learning: The moderating effect of Resource Availability

Abstract

Technology and online education have become increasingly crucial components of education worldwide in the twenty-first century. Though online education is not a common practice in Sri Lankan higher education, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced it to embrace it. Self-directed learning motives and students' cooperation become critical factors in determining online learning success. As a developing country, however, resource availability will be a matter of achieving the intended outcomes in online learning. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of selfdirected learning motives and students' cooperation on the success of online learning, while also assessing the moderating effect of resource availability. Using a quantitative approach, an online survey was carried out to gather 229 respondents from fifteen public universities in Sri Lanka during the Covid 19 pandemic, and the data were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. The study discovered the positive effects of self-directed learning and students' cooperation on the success of online learning. However, resource scarcity is eroding these connections. This study adds to the theory by expanding on the existing literature on self-directed and corporative learning on online platforms. It gives policymakers, government officials, educators, instructors, and students with insights into how to improve online education.

Scoping Review of Self-Directed Online Learning, Public School Students’ Mental Health, and COVID-19 in Noting Positive Psychosocial Outcomes with Self-Initiated Learning

“…Articles returned from a 30 May 2023 Google Scholar search of "self-directed learning, online learning, mental health, public schools, COVID-19" as well as those returned from a search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science on 28 June 2023, plus the returns of ProQuest search conducted on 29 June 2023 of "self-directed learning, k-12 online learning, mental health, public schools, COVID-19"-listed in order of their return, with each of the following filtered out: (1) duplicates, returns not published in English or not in peer reviewed journals; (2) do not include any of public schooling, students or COVID-19, or (3) missing one or more of self-directed learning, online learning or mental health-examined for positive (+) or negative (-) assessments regarding each of self-directed learning, online learning, mental health and whether the articles mention the importance of self-initiated learning or parental concern that learning be standardized-Yes = , No = . In this scoping review of articles containing "self-directed learning, online learning (for ProQuest, k-12 online learning), mental health, public schools, and COVID-19", the intent is to identify papers mentioning the relationship between self-directed online learning and the self-initiation of learning, as these factors have been found to promote academic success combined with positive mental health [31,32,39]. In addition, it was to recognize those articles stressing parental concern regarding maintaining standardized learning, as this type of concern by parents during COVID-19 has been found to reduce their children's academic success and promote negative mental health [33,40].…”

“…To be discussed is if these articles mention the importance of self-directed learning being self-initiated and parents relaxing their concern that learning be standardized. Self-directed learning has been found to have a positive outcome in public school students during COVID-19 if the online learning undertaken was self-initiated [31,32,39]. Otherwise, self-directed learning has a negative result [33].…”

“…Of the articles included in this study 8 (26.7%) focus on self-initiated learning and 15 (50%) mention parental concerns regarding their children continuing with standardized schooling expectations (see Table 1). As positive mental health in public school students has been found in those students who self-initiate their learning without expectation from their parents that they focus on maintaining standardized school work [31][32][33]39,40], it is relevant to now turn to a discussion of the articles returned in the scoping review that mention self-initiated learning (or refer to learning based on what the student personally values) and those that refer to parental concern that standardized learning is retained.…”

“…When assessing the role of self-initiation with respect to self-directed learning in relation to online learning and the mental health of public school students during COVID-19, it is a limitation that less than half of the articles returned (13 or 43.3%) in the various searches performed considered self-initiation. As self-initiated self-directed learning has been found to be necessary to result in positive mental health [31,32,39], this lack of considering self-initiated learning is a limitation that calls for further research in this area. Similarly, as a reduction in parental concern with standardized learning has been found to promote positive mental health in students [33,40], it is a limitation that so few of the articles even considered parental support of self-initiated learning (5 or 16.7%) and, of these, merely 2 (7.6%) had parents who agreed that self-directed student online learning should be self-initiated during the COVID-19 lockdown.…”

“…A significant relationship has been demonstrated among digital literacy competence, academic performance, and selfdirected learning readiness [30]. Unlike high academic achievement through standardized learning, high academic performance with student-initiated self-directed learning during COVID-19 was found to produce positive psychosocial outcomes [31,32]. However, for those students who did not self-initiate their self-directed learning and did not exhibit self-directed learning readiness, the effect of self-directed learning during COVID-19 has been found to be detrimental [33].…”