Assessment is a key driver in the learning process. Assessment that supports the development of SDL skills is deliberately designed to capitalise on the impact of assessment for learning, assessment of learning, and assessment as learning – ultimately utilising assessment as pedagogy to promote lifelong learning. The sub-programme, working across disciplines, focuses on developing assessment activities that foster SDL skills. Within the current GenAI context, this sub-programme also focuses on GenAI-embedded assessment and its impact on and potential for the development of SDL skills. We want to prepare students who are capable reflective practitioners, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. As assessment shifts from educator-initiated to peer- and self-assessment, assessment literacy and feedback practices form crucial areas of research within this sub-programme.

Blended learning is pervading education, compelling educators to confront existing presuppositions about teaching and learning in education.  Leaders of higher education are being challenged to position their institutions to meet the connectivity demands of prospective students as well as their growing expectations and requirements for quality learning experiences. Given the increasing evidence that internet information and communication technologies are transforming societies, there is good reason to believe that this will be the defining transformative innovation for higher education in the 21st century.  A blended learning approach provides innovative options to address the varying needs of the next generation within the framework that SDL provided.

Cooperative learning is a well-planned, purposeful teaching-learning strategy where learners work together in small groups, in a harmonious manner, to realise their full potential and to assist their peers in the group to also reach their full potential in learning.  It is a student-centred, active-learning approach that uses structured situations in which the group members interact in a non-competitive manner to accomplish a common goal. For cooperative learning to be effective and successful, the following basic elements must be incorporated into each cooperative learning activity: positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, appropriate social skills, and group processing. In the process of working together, students can develop skills that concur with the competencies of a self-directed learner. In this subprogramme we focus on ecooperative learning research to enhance Self-Directed Learning (SDL).

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a learner-centred teaching-learning strategy that focuses on students investigating problems, rather than being directly instructed by lecturers or teachers. The PBL process is anchored by an ill-structured, real-world problem (i.e., one to which there are many solutions), which is presented first. The students may be organized into small tutorial groups where they function as members of a team. Solving real-world problems in PBL groups requires critical, innovative and reflective thinking as well as individual accountability, interpersonal skills and collective ownership. Working in groups, formulating learning goals, searching for resources and discussing and analysing the problem with fellow group members may provide opportunities for the development of self-directed learning skills.

This sub-programme focuses on understanding and strengthening the cognitive, metacognitive, and self-regulated learning processes that enable learners to become self-directed across diverse educational contexts. Cognition refers to the mental strategies learners use to think, learn, remember, interpret information, and solve problems. Metacognition builds on these processes by enabling learners to become aware of, monitor, and regulate their thinking and learning. Through metacognitive awareness, learners learn how they learn, which supports purposeful planning, monitoring, reflection, and adaptation during learning tasks.

Self-regulated learning is understood as the interaction of cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and behavioural processes through which learners take increasing responsibility for their own learning. Reflection plays a central role in this process, as learners conceptualise tasks, set goals, monitor progress, and evaluate outcomes. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies often operate simultaneously; for example, self-questioning can support both content understanding and the monitoring of comprehension and learning progress. Effective learning therefore depends on the integrated development of cognitive skills, metacognitive knowledge, and self-regulatory practices.

Research within this sub-programme aims to promote self-directed learning by examining how these processes are developed, modelled, and supported in real educational settings. Over time, the research focus has expanded to include diverse quintile schools and a wide range of role players, including learners, teachers, parents, and school management teams. Studies span the educational continuum from Grade R through primary and secondary schooling, as well as into higher education, with a particular emphasis on literacy development, inclusive education, emotional and behavioural challenges, and teacher professional learning.

By exploring cognition, metacognition, and self-regulated learning across contexts and phases, this sub-programme contributes theoretically and empirically to understanding how self-directed learning can be fostered sustainably in diverse South African and international educational environments.

Research on self-directed learning foregrounds the individual learner, while recognising that learning is socially constructed through interaction with others. This subarea focuses on indigenous knowledge holders and on preparing student teachers to respond effectively to diverse learning needs through culturally sensitive and inclusive pedagogical practices. Indigenous knowledge holders have long demonstrated strong self-directed learning practices, yet these knowledge systems are frequently marginalised within multicultural and STEM education contexts shaped by dominant Western worldviews. Such epistemic (knowledge) exclusion may contribute to learner disengagement in culturally diverse classrooms. The subarea explores epistemological border-crossing by integrating the arts into the natural sciences and framing this work within STEAM approaches, such as puppetry, to engage with indigenous knowledge and ethical issues. Central to this work is the development of teachers as inclusive practitioners and agents of change who exercise professional agency to address systemic constraints, including limited resources, through innovative approaches such as science-on-a-shoestring. Third-generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) informs the research as an analytical lens.

In this subarea, our research builds on the theories underpinning SDL in all education sectors. We focus on how SDL can be conceptualised within curriculum transformation, development, design, and implementation. Curriculum transformation within the context of SDL implies a process of learning that create a deep change in learning behaviour, attitude and practice of an independent individual within a challenging environment for the development of SDL skills.  The ways in which the curriculum domains of development, design and implementation can support SDL should be further researched.  Our research aims to inform the 21st century workplace and learning environment in order to enhance lifelong SDL.  Without a thorough knowledge of theories and praxis of SDL, it is not possible to inform scholarship on SDL within the unique South African landscape.

"Pedagogy of play" emphasizes the educational benefits of play by arguing that play describes the two essential principles that are at the foundation of education; spontaneous and natural direction on the one hand, and intention, on the other hand. There has been a lack of research on teaching via play, despite the fact that there is a lot of research on learning through play. The unwavering stance to free play and free choice has long made the connection between play and education a difficult issue. Pedagogies of play is viewed as a vehicle to facilitate self- directed learning. Although there have been some recent theoretical and legislative shifts, it is now more important to better understand the various objectives and nature of play in educational settings, as well as the role of educators in preparing for and being involved in student- and facilitator-initiated tasks. This subarea will lead the development of the theoretical foundation of pedagogies of play, as well as the natural links to develop SDL. The subarea focuses on using play-based strategies, such as puppetry, drama and storytelling, game-based learning, and gamification, as well as educational building blocks and robotics to enhance self-directed learning.  

The establishment of a Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) within the Research UnitSelf-Directed Learning at the North-West University (NWU) was approved by UNESCO in 2018. The research for this Chair focuses on Open Educational Resources (OER) (peer-reviewed shared online resources that include material, books, videos, lessons and even full courses) and Multimodal Learning (also sometimes described as blended learning where face-to-face and e-learning modalities can be mixed. The objectives of the Chair is to (1) promote research on the development, as well as the use and affordances of OER and self-directed multimodal learning through the adaptation of materials for use in both formal and informal learning contexts; (2) build, maintain and extend an OER community in South Africa and link it with other OER initiatives to support the international OER network; (3) build and expand capacities in the region notably by training OER and Self-Directed Multimodal Learning cadres in the SADC countries to become empowered and capable of instructing others online; (4) produce and disseminate research on OER and Self-Directed Multimodal Learning and related issues such as access and multiliteracies; (5)  cooperate closely with UNESCO and existing UNESCO Chairs on relevant programmes and activities; and (6) strengthening inter-university cooperation and international partnerships.