A Guide To Learning Independently Custom Book (4e)

A Guide to Learning Independently 4 e describes techniques to help students succeed in formal education. It helps with learning tasks such as writing assignments, reading textbooks, making notes and concentrating when studying, as well as offering a range of suggestions as to how students can meet the requirements of their teachers and courses. It is also designed to help students discover their own learning goals and how they learn best.

The text rests on the premise that it is possible for a person to change the way they approach their learning. It is directed to the individual student because it is the individual who must write the essays and reports, pass the exams and organise themselves in order to be successful in the tertiary education system.

List of tables
About the authors
Thanks
Preface to the fourth edition
Read this first! 
1. You
2. Planning when and how you study
3. Becoming an independent student
4. Asking your own questions
5. Learning and remembering
6. Choosing and analysing a topic
7. Researching a topic
8. Using libraries and other information sources 
9. Reading
10. Listening to lectures
11. Participating in discussion groups
12. Developing your writing
13. Writing essays
14. Writing scientific reports
15. Using conventions
16. Learning from evaluation
Appendix: Discrimination: Sexist language and attitudes
Quotation sources
Student learning reference books
Index

• Chapter 2, ‘Planning when and how you study’ has been expanded as a result of extensive feedback from students and lecturers.
• Chapter 3, ‘Becoming an independent student’ considers the implications for students of government policies on the role of universities.
• Changes to the nature of learning because of new technologies are dealt with in the appropriate chapters. For example, the chapter on libraries and information sources has been substantially revised. Throughout the book attention is drawn to the possibilities that computer-mediated communications offer for student–student interaction and for more flexible learning.
• The conceptual framework of the book retains key elements from the previous editions, but themes that have increased relevance in higher education have been emphasised— lifelong learning, collaborative learning, the role of critical thinking and learning independently. In addition, the content takes into account some of the recent developments in educational theory and the increasing impact of higher education being offered globally and by providers other than universities.
• In the first edition of the book, students were urged to link content with process—that is, to link what they are learning with how they learn it. Research into student learning has strengthened this basic premise, and it has been reinforced in this edition.
• Updated Further Reading lists have been included at the end of each chapter.
  

• The book can be used individually or collaboratively.
• The first five chapters focus on the individual.
• The next five chapters look at how students can find, take in and evaluate information and ideas when pursuing their own and other people’s questions. These chapters deal with analysing and researching a topic, finding and using a range of information sources, reading and listening to lectures.
• The last six chapters look at communicating, using, critiquing and presenting. They deal with participating in discussion whether face-to-face or on-line, with developing writing, and with compiling essays and reports.
• The importance of clear goals in shaping learning is considered.
• Ideas on the way in which changing global markets impact on the learning environment have been integrated throughout the book.
• The book frames the development of students’ learning within a critical thinking context, and the authors reinforce the centrality of reflection and thinking critically. Such an emphasis is increasingly necessary in fast-paced times and as students interact with instantaneous multiple technologies which discourage sustained attention.