Getting to grips with self-paced learning

In recent years there has been a push towards adopting vocational education and training (VET) programs to meet the need to develop a more highly skilled workforce for Australian industry. This has emerged against a backdrop of political and industrial reforms focussed on enabling Australian industry to compete in the global economy. Educators have been urged to assist in this development by adopting a more flexible approach to training delivery. This has generally meant providing students with increased choice of what to learn, how to learn it, where to learn it and when to learn it. A justification for these reforms is to prepare students for the modern workplace where workers will be required to work in a more independent manner.

This booklet provides the reader with an insight into how self-paced learning programs are being implemented and how teachers and students evaluate their effectiveness. It also provides a model for implementing self-paced learning programs.

The book is divided into five parts. We begin by reviewing some general principles about how new information is learned. We then briefly review research on self-paced learning. Case studies are presented to examine how self-paced learning is currently being applied and how its effects are evaluated by teachers and students. We then develop a model for the implementation of self-paced learning programs and conclude with an annotated bibliography to assist the reader find more information.