ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a comparison of the findings from the case stories synthesised in Chapters 8 and 9, with the draft framework for self-determined learning presented in Chapter 2. The framework was found to be lacking an essential feature: the skills needed to find and use resources. Four essential skills that adults need to become effective self-directed learners are identified and explained. Next, the personal resources that allow learners to be persistent and confident that they can achieve their goal are explored further by revisiting and discussing the significance of the learners’ motivation, the nature of their engagement, and their need for positive self-efficacy. Each of the case stories is reviewed to identify and describe the kinds of learning relationships that assisted the authors to resolve their issue. The final part of the chapter identifies and explains the ways through which other people – educators, guides, counsellors, friends, and colleagues – can support self-directed learners to take the actions that can make their learning task easier, thereby ensuring that, as far as possible, learners persist in their self-directed path to resolve their need to learn particular aspects of science and technology.
