I really enjoyed your take on the importance of the presence of an educator through direct instruction. I agree that students can easily get off track and misinterpret assignments without it. Moreover, your take made me reflect on the effectiveness of some of my economics classes that shifted to a more inquiry-based approach. It made it more complicated to link and engage difficult concepts in my learning process. However, on the flip side, direct learning often strips students of the ability to be active in their own cognitive processing. More specifically, students cannot structure their learning in a way that works best for them. Ultimately, like any learning design, there are inevitably pros and cons. From what I can see, you have aimed to address direct learning’s possible cons by encouraging students to create and individually explore within your learning resource.
I really liked the fact that you acknowledge the limitations of direct instruction (creativity and independent thinking). Like all learning designs, there are flaws and addressing them ensures that we utilize the different designs in the proper setting to maximize the learning of the student. Furthermore, I agree that your chosen topic, “How to Succeed in University”, is a fluid concept that will be emphasized heavily based on the individual’s learning process (more inquiry-based approach). The reason being is that university consists of different programs, schedules and difficulty levels, so the tips provided from direct instruction can only guide you so far.
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