THE USE OF NONHUMAN RESOURCES FOR SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING (TELEVISION).

Abstract

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283 p.

What planning resources are available for self-directed learners as they begin their projects? In 1979 A. M. Tough suggested four: self-planned, mentor, group, and nonhuman or mediated resources. In this study, research, in the form of intensive interviews, surveyed a population's planning behavior and the ways in which nonhuman resources were used. The end purpose was to examine planning behavior and how it affected the attitudes toward and use of nonhuman resources.The study was unique in that a group of media users was surveyed. It included adults who secured study materials for a teacher training program broadcast by a Chicago television station. Twenty persons were questioned about their planning behavior and their attitudes toward nonhuman resources as planners.The sample was predominantly White, over age 30, with middle-class characteristics. The learners displayed self-directed learning concerns similar to P. R. Penland's national population in 1977. Both sets of learners looked for planning help from the same sources. They showed concern about availability of learning opportunities and the exercise of control over their projects.The learners in this sample were not always analytical in their planning. But, overall, they showed balance in defining a need or problem, choosing an adequate planner, initiating action, and evaluating the results.The planning behavior process in itself does not appear to hold obvious clues to selection of planning modes. Rather, personal desire, immediate opportunity, and sudden change in the environment accounted for planning choices.Positive attitudes toward nonhuman resources were present, though learners used those resources for only 6.4% of their projects. It appears nonhuman resources are viable when the subject matter is important. Otherwise, users of nonhuman resources selected other planning modes.Observations drawn from the data suggest that research on planning behavior should (1) discover ways of orienting self-directed learners toward better planning activity, (2) determine whether use of nonhuman resources really interferes with self-directed learning and becomes an extension of formal learning, (3) explore the influence of life-factors in making planning choices, and (4) study any relationship between uses and gratifications research and the choice of nonhuman resources.