Learning Support System That Encourages Self-Directed Knowledge Discovery

Abstract

Self-directed learning in an appropriately designed environment can help learners retain knowledge tied to experience and motivate them to learn more. For teachers, however, it is difficult to design an environment to give to learners and to give feedback that reflects respect for their independent efforts, while for learners, it is difficult to set learning objectives on their own and to construct knowledge correctly based on their own efforts. In this research, we developed a learning support system that provides a mechanism for constructing an observational learning environment using virtual space and that encourages self-directed knowledge discovery. We confirmed that this system contributes to a learner's structural understanding and its retention and to a greater desire to learn at a level comparable to that of concept map creation, another active learning method.