Facilitating self-directed learning amongst international students of health sciences: The dual discourse of self-efficacy

Abstract

This paper reports on a curriculum initiative that was designed to address the need for international students at an Australian university to access the range of learning services available to them outside of regular coursework. The initiative was motivated by the well-documented low rate of uptake of services across the tertiary sector, and by Principle 3 of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations’ (DEEWR) Good Practice Principles for English Language Proficiency for International Students in Australian Universities, which stipulates that students take greater responsibility for their learning and that universities inform students of the opportunities available to them. The paper explains how students were set the task of exploring the learning services in their environment. It also explains how this task was given discipline-specific validity for students of health sciences by embedding it within a thematic course unit focussed on the concept of “self-efficacy”. Data about the effectiveness of the initial implementation of the task are discussed. Preliminary findings indicated students saw value in attending services but required a clearer rationale for doing so as part of an in-course assignment.