Assessing readiness for self-directed learning

Students' readiness for self-directed learning as they proceed through an undergraduate engineering program is discussed. Most courses that students take in the undergraduate engineering programs do not ask them to undertake tasks that increase their readiness for self-directed learning. A cross-sectional study of engineering students in their first through fourth years showed that students' rediness for self-directed learning was independent of their academic standing. No gender differences were presented in the cross-sectional study and the data exhibited and increase in SDLRS scores between a pre-test and post-test in capstone courses in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.