scholarly journals “Still Sounds Quite a Lot to Me, But Try it And See”. Reflecting on my Non-Directive Advising Stance

Relay Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 98-107
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard

This reflective observation takes place at the self-access learning center (‘The SALC’) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan. The environment is supportive and there is a one-to-one professional advising service and also courses and modules on self-directed learning that students can take for credit.

2017 ◽  
pp. 169-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Rob Stevenson

If key aims of a SALC are to support learners and promote language learner autonomy, then the curriculum is an important tool in order to ensure that this is being systematically addressed. After explaining the context of the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan, the authors will briefly describe the self-directed learning curriculum, its evolution, and approaches to its evaluation. The development, implementation, and evaluation of a SALC curriculum is not straightforward as there may be political, financial, and technical challenges. However, with planning, persistence, and a gradual approach, a SALC curriculum can eventually become an integral part of a university program. Although the journey of this particular SALC is far from complete, charting its development so far could provide encouragement for SALC managers elsewhere, whose SALC curriculum may be at different stages of development.


2013 ◽  
pp. 142-153 ◽  

Welcome to this new SiSAL column, which will examine a long-term project conducted at one institution in depth over several issues. The focus of this column will be the curriculum design project currently being undertaken at the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Chiba, Japan. In my role as Academic Coordinator of the SALC from 2011-2013, I was in charge of leading this project in its initial stages, before I moved institution. As editor, it is from this perspective, as someone familiar but no longer directly involved in the project, that I hope to collate and introduce a number of columns from the learning advisors and teachers who are conducting the research and designing the new self-directed learning curriculum. In this first installment, a revision of an earlier article which first appeared in the IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG newsletter, Independence, (Thornton, 2012) I present the background to the project, the framework used to guide it and the results of the first stage, the environment analysis.


2014 ◽  
pp. 58-78
Author(s):  
Satoko Watkins ◽  
Neil Curry ◽  
Jo Mynard

In the fourth installment of the column following the self-directed learning curriculum development project at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan, Satoko Watkins, Neil Curry and Jo Mynard detail the process of conducting a pilot of a possible self-directed learning curriculum for freshmen students, that would meet the needs and principles established in the previous two installments. This pilot represents quite a shift for the learning advisors (LAs), as it would bring what has up until now been a largely self-study course into the mainstream classroom environment, taught by LAs. The installment offers an insight into the strengths and potential weaknesses of such a course, and how students responded to it.


Relay Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Hatice Karaaslan

This one-to-one advising session takes place at the Self-Access Learning Center (the SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan, as part of our one-week intensive Course 1 Getting Started Learning Advisor Training Program as visiting English language instructors from Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University School of Foreign Languages in Turkey.


Relay Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Yusei Takahashi ◽  
Rio Fukumura

The authors work in the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at our university as student staff. Specifically, our role is as Peer Advisors (PAs), and we have supported students by having advising sessions and events related to self-directed learning. In this article, we focus on an event that PAs have organized for two years and reflect on the progress. In particular, differences between the physical and online versions of the event are mainly discussed in terms of the number of participants, topics for each session and the method for event promotion. At the end of the article, each of our personal reflections is introduced.


2013 ◽  
pp. 208-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko Takahashi ◽  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Junko Noguchi ◽  
Akiyuki Sakai ◽  
Katherine Thornton ◽  
...  

As explained in the first installment of this report (Thornton, 2013), the learning advisor (LA) team at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) has engaged in redesigning a curriculum for the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) by following a framework adapted from the Nation and Macalister (2010) model. This framework, which is based on an investigation of student needs, aims to establish criteria in the shape of clear principles and goals. Following the Environment Analysis stage, detailed in the previous installment of this column (Thornton, 2013), this paper describes the needs analysis stage which was undertaken in 2012.


2021 ◽  
pp. 295-300
Author(s):  
Neslihan Atcan Altan

This paper presents a review of the plenary talks at the Self-Directed Learning and Advising in Language Education Conference, one primarily on advising by Jo Mynard of Kanda University of International Studies and the other on self-directed learning by Lawrie Moore-Walter and Christian Ludwig of IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group. It offers a brief overview of both sessions as well as underlining the highlights and the takeaways.


2015 ◽  
pp. 216-218
Author(s):  
Katherine Thornton

Welcome to the new column in SiSAL Journal. So far, this regular column has followed two different institutions as they reconceptualised aspects of their self-access services, in the case of Kanda University of International Studies (Japan), the self-directed learning modules offered through their SALC, and, in the case of the University of Bradford (UK), the reinvention of the self-access facilities as a social learning space. The upcoming column is a much bigger project. It will run for seven volumes of SiSAL Journal. Each issue will address a different aspect of self-access management, through reflective case studies from professionals who work in language learning spaces.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nesreen AbuAssi ◽  
Hanan Alkorashy

Self-directed learning and other prevalent learning styles are important aspects of nursing education because they help nurse educators to predict differences in learners’ needs, abilities, and interests. Moreover, nurse educators depend on these predictors when they choose the most suitable teaching strategies, which enable them to manage adult learners effectively. This study’s objective is to explore the relationship between learning styles and the willingness to adopt self-directed learning among nursing students in King Saud University (KSU). Using a cross-sectional descriptive correlational design, the study was conducted with 230 undergraduate nursing students (female and male) from the third to eighth academic levels at the College of Nursing at KSU, Saudi Arabia. Kolb’s learning styles inventory and the self-directed learning readiness scale were adopted to determine the effects of the self-directed learning approach. The study’s findings suggested that the majority of nursing students had a “Diverging” style of learning. The “self-control” subscale was used to determine the willingness for self-directed learning. It recorded the highest mean score compared to the subscales of “self-management” and “desire for learning.” However, no statistically significant association was found between learning styles and self-directed learning readiness. Additionally, the findings showed that the majority of the students who participated in this study had little interest in the self-directed learning approach. Thus, this study recommends that the nursing faculty needs to assess students for their preferred learning style and readiness for self-directed learning before and throughout the students’ enrollment in the college. Further, the nursing faculty should apply a variety of teaching methods to manage students’ learning needs effectively.


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