Elsa Mentz

BELINDA BANTHAM — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 09:56:57 +0000

Elsa Mentz BELINDA BANTHAM Wed, 10/31/2018 - 11:56

Self-Directed Learning

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Elsa

Research Director

Mentz

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School of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education

I started my professional career as high school Mathematics teacher and have been involved with teacher training for the past 25 years. For the past 16 years I have been actively involved with the training of Information Technology teachers and have already published two books and several research outputs in this field.

I am the Director of the Research Focus Area Self-Directed Learning since 2014.

As professor in Computer Science education my passion is education and specifically the studying of teaching-learning strategies for effective teaching to promote self-directed learning among students. Self-directed Learning is a process where the individual takes initiative and responsibility for his/her own learning by consulting specific resources, formulating objectives and by continuously evaluating whether these objectives have been achieved. In a world that is notably characterized by rapid change in the field of knowledge and technology, the employees of the future should be equipped with skills to study independently and for life. Students should be empowered with skills to accept the responsibility for their own learning for life by diagnosing their needs for learning and to put plans into practice in order to realizing them. South Africa can only progress in the numeracy and literacy ranks if we think innovatively and pay attention to making students self-directed learners. The teacher or lecturer should facilitate this process.

One of the teaching-learning strategies that is the focus of my research is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a teaching-learning strategy that empowers students to share in each other’s learning, but at the same time, to enhance their own learning process and self-directedness. I was privileged to receive two big research project awards, of which one was international, of more than R1 million to research the above-mentioned aspects.

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