Enhancing Self‐Directed Learning through Educational Technology: When Students Resist the Change

SUMMARY

‘As a general matter, innovation represents change, and there is usually built‐in resistance to change’ (Maier and Weidner, 1975, p 70). Where the introduction of computers in learning involves providing students with greater autonomy as learners, this commonly conflicts with students’ past educational experiences and can require a shift in their conceptions of what learning involves and what constitutes appropriate roles of students and teachers. Student resistance to the inevitable stress of such change is to be expected, irrespective of the potential learning benefits of introducing the technology. Factors which can aggravate or alleviate such resistance are discussed, with some illustrations from a computer‐facilitated, problem‐based course in Forestry.